A cousin of Emmett Tillis suing to try to make a Mississippi sheriff serve a 1955 arrest warrant on a white woman in the kidnapping that led to the brutal lynching of the black teenager.
The torture and killing of Till that summer in the Mississippi Delta became a catalyst for the civil rights movement after his mother insisted on an open-casket funeral in Chicago and Jet magazine published photos of his mutilated body.
Till, who was 14, had traveled south from Chicago to visit relatives in Mississippi in August 1955. Donham accused him of making improper advances on her at a grocery store in the small community of Money. A cousin of Till who was there has said Till whistled at the woman, an act that flew in the face of Mississippi´s racist social codes of the era.
Evidence indicates a woman, possibly Donham, identified Till to the men who later killed him. The arrest warrant against Donham was publicized in 1955, but the Leflore County sheriff at the time told reporters that he did not want to 'bother' the woman since she was raising two young children.
Weeks after Till's body was found in a river, her husband Roy Bryant and his half-brother J.W. Milam were tried for murder and acquitted by an all-white jury. Months later, the men confessed in a paid interview with Look magazine.
Now in her late 80s, Donham has lived in North Carolina in recent years. She has not commented publicly on calls for her prosecution.
I hope the old bitch burns in hell.
Syl said
Feb 11 6:26 PM, 2023
And also the men who backed her up and did this to him.
Magica said
Feb 11 7:37 PM, 2023
Bastards!
Maddog said
Feb 12 3:02 AM, 2023
Syl wrote:
And also the men who backed her up and did this to him.
I doubt they backed her up. I'll bet they told her what to say..
She was a 20 year old bride married to a piece of shit that got back to town to hear gossip about a black kid from Chicago hitting on his wife.
Unfortunately, people were already spreading rumors about the event.
She did as she was told after being confronted by her husband. Like most women would do in Mississippi in the 1950s.
It would be nice to think most women in her position would be honest. It probably wouldn't be realistic though.
I do think she should admit she made up the story and acknowledge the duress she was likely under..
Digger said
Feb 12 9:56 AM, 2023
Maddog wrote:
Syl wrote:
And also the men who backed her up and did this to him.
I doubt they backed her up. I'll bet they told her what to say..
She was a 20 year old bride married to a piece of shit that got back to town to hear gossip about a black kid from Chicago hitting on his wife.
Unfortunately, people were already spreading rumors about the event.
She did as she was told after being confronted by her husband. Like most women would do in Mississippi in the 1950s.
It would be nice to think most women in her position would be honest. It probably wouldn't be realistic though.
I do think she should admit she made up the story and acknowledge the duress she was likely under..
You know what...sometimes you gotta make your stand. She's had decades to own this and apologise. When you read up about the level of vicious racism in the States, it's like something out of the pits of Hell.
Maddog said
Feb 12 10:30 AM, 2023
Digger wrote:
Maddog wrote:
Syl wrote:
And also the men who backed her up and did this to him.
I doubt they backed her up. I'll bet they told her what to say..
She was a 20 year old bride married to a piece of shit that got back to town to hear gossip about a black kid from Chicago hitting on his wife.
Unfortunately, people were already spreading rumors about the event.
She did as she was told after being confronted by her husband. Like most women would do in Mississippi in the 1950s.
It would be nice to think most women in her position would be honest. It probably wouldn't be realistic though.
I do think she should admit she made up the story and acknowledge the duress she was likely under..
You know what...sometimes you gotta make your stand. She's had decades to own this and apologise. When you read up about the level of vicious racism in the States, it's like something out of the pits of Hell.
She has said that Emmitt in no way deserved what he got.
I imagine that's all your going to get out of an old lady that doesn't want to die in prison.
Its easy to engage in presentism, because we have a hard time understanding how people held such backwards beliefs decades ago. How minorities were treated. How women were basically property of their husband's.
I think it's important to understand what happened, learn from it, admit how horrific it was and try to treat each other equally, regardless of ethnicity, race, gender, sexuality or whatever.
I think for the most part, the vast majority of people do that now.
Digger said
Feb 12 11:55 AM, 2023
Maddog wrote:
Digger wrote:
Maddog wrote:
Syl wrote:
And also the men who backed her up and did this to him.
I doubt they backed her up. I'll bet they told her what to say..
She was a 20 year old bride married to a piece of shit that got back to town to hear gossip about a black kid from Chicago hitting on his wife.
Unfortunately, people were already spreading rumors about the event.
She did as she was told after being confronted by her husband. Like most women would do in Mississippi in the 1950s.
It would be nice to think most women in her position would be honest. It probably wouldn't be realistic though.
I do think she should admit she made up the story and acknowledge the duress she was likely under..
You know what...sometimes you gotta make your stand. She's had decades to own this and apologise. When you read up about the level of vicious racism in the States, it's like something out of the pits of Hell.
She has said that Emmitt in no way deserved what he got.
I imagine that's all your going to get out of an old lady that doesn't want to die in prison.
Its easy to engage in presentism, because we have a hard time understanding how people held such backwards beliefs decades ago. How minorities were treated. How women were basically property of their husband's.
I think it's important to understand what happened, learn from it, admit how horrific it was and try to treat each other equally, regardless of ethnicity, race, gender, sexuality or whatever.
I think for the most part, the vast majority of people do that now.
Most of us understand that mind sets were totally different and that you may well have feared for your own safety in these situations. I get that. But times change and it would have been perhaps the right thing to have gone directly to his family and apologised.
Syl said
Feb 12 12:32 PM, 2023
If women had all gone with the flow of the time, we would still be denied the vote and the law would still accept that rape within marriage was acceptable.
Wrong is wrong, and even back then, surely when a young boy is being blamed for a none event, the woman could have spoken the truth.
If not, she has had decades to confess and give his family some closure.
Anonymous said
Feb 12 1:13 PM, 2023
Syl wrote:
If women had all gone with the flow of the time, we would still be denied the vote and the law would still accept that rape within marriage was acceptable.
Wrong is wrong, and even back then, surely when a young boy is being blamed for a none event, the woman could have spoken the truth. If not, she has had decades to confess and give his family some closure.
This! ^^
Times change and expectations evolve accordingly. It beggars belief that this woman could see all the images of that brutally mutilated boy in his coffin, and remain silent for decades. Which leads me to believe she’s still every bit as soulless and feral as the men involved at the time.
I think this is all you're going to get out of her. I've never read the book, nor do I know how reliable it is. It was written 50 years after the murder.
They have tried to bring up charges against her since the first trial, and some still want to.
I just don't think it would be justice at this point. Trials require witnesses. Memories that are still reliable. None of that has existed for years.
I don't think that boy was going to survive long in that town regardless of what she said. There were already people talking and some of them have recanted what they said. The pot was being stirred by rumors and exaggeration of the event.
Even Till's own cousins made up some shit. They could have been scared, or more likely just dumb kids.
His uncle basically gave Till to the murderers that night when they showed up. Who does that? People that are afraid and lack power. A repeated message in this tragedy.
The two pieces of shit that kidnapped him, beat him then shot a 14 year old boy, were the two responsible for all of this. They were the only two that had real power in this mess, and everyone else was a second class citizen with fewer rights.
The two murderers admitted killing the kid weeks after they were found not guilty. They took that boy to the woods and did those horrific things. Justice would have been having them spend their lives in prison.
There won't be "justice" at this point for Emmett except for the change this tragic event helped achieve.
Syl said
Feb 12 4:39 PM, 2023
Carolyn Bryant, Roy Bryant, and their children at the trial.
Both men are dead, I doubt punishing her now would serve a purpose.
She has had to live with what she did all her life...punishment enough maybe?
Maddog said
Feb 12 5:21 PM, 2023
Syl wrote:
Carolyn Bryant, Roy Bryant, and their children at the trial.
Both men are dead, I doubt punishing her now would serve a purpose.
She has had to live with what she did all her life...punishment enough maybe?
That's my point. We need to learn from this. Understand this. Have collective disgust from this.
She spent a life in hiding and regret based on getting caught up in events she couldn't control, while "standing by her man" like she was raised to do.
She did get divorced from him, but I don't know when or if it was her idea. I have a feeling that after more maturing she evolved to the point where he disgusted her.
She had to balance all of that with being mindful of what she said for the rest of her life. Her getting thrown in prison while the murderers walked free wouldn't have really been justice either.
Anonymous said
Feb 13 12:42 PM, 2023
@Maddog - thanks for the link. I hadn’t seen that article before.
”That part isn’t true” and she “felt tender sorrow“…Well, okay then … I’m not advocating for this octogenarian to be jailed after all these years. But she could have done more, much more, to give the Till family a measure of vindication and peace. Even anonymously, she could have given a strictly controlled interview in front of a camera to TRULY show remorse. What did she fear? A lynching?
Married twice more, had kids - sounds like she lived a long life, pretty much free and clear. I’m assuming nature has taken its course by now, or soon will. So at least there’s that, I guess…
Maddog said
Feb 13 4:48 PM, 2023
Vam wrote:
@Maddog - thanks for the link. I hadn’t seen that article before.
”That part isn’t true” and she “felt tender sorrow“…Well, okay then … I’m not advocating for this octogenarian to be jailed after all these years. But she could have done more, much more, to give the Till family a measure of vindication and peace. Even anonymously, she could have given a strictly controlled interview in front of a camera to TRULY show remorse. What did she fear? A lynching?
Married twice more, had kids - sounds like she lived a long life, pretty much free and clear. I’m assuming nature has taken its course by now, or soon will. So at least there’s that, I guess…
She was a high school drop out, and for all we know never got well educated.
She could have probably done more, without admitting guilt I guess. But that always had to be tempered with knowing that saying the wrong thing could lead to an indictment, a trial and possibly the rest of her life in prison. That's a strong motivation to keep quiet..
In the end, the system and society let Emmitt down, and I imagine she just wanted to move on from that horrible incident and do her best to live with whatever demons she would take to her grave.
A cousin of Emmett Till is suing to try to make a Mississippi sheriff serve a 1955 arrest warrant on a white woman in the kidnapping that led to the brutal lynching of the black teenager.
The torture and killing of Till that summer in the Mississippi Delta became a catalyst for the civil rights movement after his mother insisted on an open-casket funeral in Chicago and Jet magazine published photos of his mutilated body.
Till, who was 14, had traveled south from Chicago to visit relatives in Mississippi in August 1955. Donham accused him of making improper advances on her at a grocery store in the small community of Money. A cousin of Till who was there has said Till whistled at the woman, an act that flew in the face of Mississippi´s racist social codes of the era.
Evidence indicates a woman, possibly Donham, identified Till to the men who later killed him. The arrest warrant against Donham was publicized in 1955, but the Leflore County sheriff at the time told reporters that he did not want to 'bother' the woman since she was raising two young children.
Weeks after Till's body was found in a river, her husband Roy Bryant and his half-brother J.W. Milam were tried for murder and acquitted by an all-white jury. Months later, the men confessed in a paid interview with Look magazine.
Now in her late 80s, Donham has lived in North Carolina in recent years. She has not commented publicly on calls for her prosecution.
I hope the old bitch burns in hell.
I doubt they backed her up. I'll bet they told her what to say..
She was a 20 year old bride married to a piece of shit that got back to town to hear gossip about a black kid from Chicago hitting on his wife.
Unfortunately, people were already spreading rumors about the event.
She did as she was told after being confronted by her husband. Like most women would do in Mississippi in the 1950s.
It would be nice to think most women in her position would be honest. It probably wouldn't be realistic though.
I do think she should admit she made up the story and acknowledge the duress she was likely under..
You know what...sometimes you gotta make your stand. She's had decades to own this and apologise. When you read up about the level of vicious racism in the States, it's like something out of the pits of Hell.
She has said that Emmitt in no way deserved what he got.
I imagine that's all your going to get out of an old lady that doesn't want to die in prison.
Its easy to engage in presentism, because we have a hard time understanding how people held such backwards beliefs decades ago. How minorities were treated. How women were basically property of their husband's.
I think it's important to understand what happened, learn from it, admit how horrific it was and try to treat each other equally, regardless of ethnicity, race, gender, sexuality or whatever.
I think for the most part, the vast majority of people do that now.
Most of us understand that mind sets were totally different and that you may well have feared for your own safety in these situations. I get that. But times change and it would have been perhaps the right thing to have gone directly to his family and apologised.
Wrong is wrong, and even back then, surely when a young boy is being blamed for a none event, the woman could have spoken the truth.
If not, she has had decades to confess and give his family some closure.
This! ^^
Times change and expectations evolve accordingly. It beggars belief that this woman could see all the images of that brutally mutilated boy in his coffin, and remain silent for decades. Which leads me to believe she’s still every bit as soulless and feral as the men involved at the time.
I think this is all you're going to get out of her. I've never read the book, nor do I know how reliable it is. It was written 50 years after the murder.
They have tried to bring up charges against her since the first trial, and some still want to.
I just don't think it would be justice at this point. Trials require witnesses. Memories that are still reliable. None of that has existed for years.
I don't think that boy was going to survive long in that town regardless of what she said. There were already people talking and some of them have recanted what they said. The pot was being stirred by rumors and exaggeration of the event.
Even Till's own cousins made up some shit. They could have been scared, or more likely just dumb kids.
His uncle basically gave Till to the murderers that night when they showed up. Who does that? People that are afraid and lack power. A repeated message in this tragedy.
The two pieces of shit that kidnapped him, beat him then shot a 14 year old boy, were the two responsible for all of this. They were the only two that had real power in this mess, and everyone else was a second class citizen with fewer rights.
The two murderers admitted killing the kid weeks after they were found not guilty. They took that boy to the woods and did those horrific things. Justice would have been having them spend their lives in prison.
There won't be "justice" at this point for Emmett except for the change this tragic event helped achieve.
Carolyn Bryant, Roy Bryant, and their children at the trial.
Both men are dead, I doubt punishing her now would serve a purpose.
She has had to live with what she did all her life...punishment enough maybe?
That's my point. We need to learn from this. Understand this. Have collective disgust from this.
She spent a life in hiding and regret based on getting caught up in events she couldn't control, while "standing by her man" like she was raised to do.
She did get divorced from him, but I don't know when or if it was her idea. I have a feeling that after more maturing she evolved to the point where he disgusted her.
She had to balance all of that with being mindful of what she said for the rest of her life. Her getting thrown in prison while the murderers walked free wouldn't have really been justice either.
@Maddog - thanks for the link. I hadn’t seen that article before.
”That part isn’t true” and she “felt tender sorrow“…Well, okay then …
I’m not advocating for this octogenarian to be jailed after all these years. But she could have done more, much more, to give the Till family a measure of vindication and peace. Even anonymously, she could have given a strictly controlled interview in front of a camera to TRULY show remorse. What did she fear? A lynching?
Married twice more, had kids - sounds like she lived a long life, pretty much free and clear. I’m assuming nature has taken its course by now, or soon will. So at least there’s that, I guess…
She was a high school drop out, and for all we know never got well educated.
She could have probably done more, without admitting guilt I guess. But that always had to be tempered with knowing that saying the wrong thing could lead to an indictment, a trial and possibly the rest of her life in prison. That's a strong motivation to keep quiet..
In the end, the system and society let Emmitt down, and I imagine she just wanted to move on from that horrible incident and do her best to live with whatever demons she would take to her grave.
She died yesterday.
I almost came on here to post this.
Has there been much said about her death in America, Madders?
No.
I think people made up their mind years ago.
Perhaps some civil rights activists said something, but it sure hasn't trended.