Thursday, March 28

Grand jury declines to indict white woman whose accusation set off lynching of Emmett Till


TONIGHT. THE EMMETT TILL LEGACY FOUNDATION FOUGHT FOR ACCESS TO THE LA FLOR COUNTY COURTHOUSE IN GREENWOOD AFTER BEING TOLD AN ARREST WARRANT AND ALLEGING INVESTIGATION OF 14 YEAR OLD EMMETT TILL MAY BE THERE. FINDING THE ORIGINAL. 1955 DOCUMENT. WE CRIED, WE HUGGED. WE JUMPED UP AND DOWN. WE FELL TO OUR KNEES. WE WERE VERY EMOTIONAL ABOUT IT BECAUSE WE RECOGNIZED THAT SOMETHING THAT WE HAD BEEN LOOKING FOR IS SOMETHING THAT WE FELT WOULD BE CLEAR EVIDENCE OF CAROLYN BRYANT’S CULPABILITY WAS FOUND. THIS WARRANT CHARGING THE THEN 21 YEAR OLD CAROLYN BRYANT DUNNAM, ALONG WITH HER HUSBAND RORY BRYANT, AND J.W. MILAM WITH KIDNAPPING TILL JUST. THE FAMILY OF TILL’S SINCE CERTIFIED COPIES OF THE WARRANT TO LOCAL AND FEDERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT WITH THE HOPE OFFICERS WILL CARRY OUT THE WARRANT FOR DONNA. THIS BEING THEIR GOAL, FOR YEARS WE PLAYED OUR ROLE AND DONE OUR PART. NOW WE WANT THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT, STATE OF MISSISSIPPI TO DO ITS PART. THIS WARRANT IS STILL ACTIVE, WHICH

Grand jury declines to indict white woman whose accusation set off lynching of Emmett Till

Video above: Emmett Till’s family wants arrestA grand jury in Mississippi has declined to indict the white woman whose accusation set off the lynching of Black teenager Emmett Till nearly 70 years ago, despite revelations about an unserved arrest warrant and a newly revealed memoir by the woman, a prosecutor said Tuesday.After hearing more than seven hours of testimony from investigators and witnesses, a Leflore County grand jury last week determined there was insufficient evidence to indict Carolyn Bryant Donham on charges of kidnapping and manslaughter. It is now increasingly unlikely that Donham, who is now in her 80s, will ever be prosecuted for her role in the events that led to Till’s lynching.An email and voicemail seeking comment from her son Tom Bryant weren’t immediately returned Tuesday.A group searching the basement of the Leflore County Courthouse in June discovered the unserved arrest warrant charging Donham, then-husband Roy Bryant and brother-in-law J.W. Milam in Till’s abduction in 1955. While the men were arrested and acquitted on murder charges in Till’s subsequent slaying, Donham, 21 at the time and 87 now, was never taken into custody.Video above: Emmett Till accuser denies wanting teen killedIn an unpublished memoir obtained last month by The Associated Press, Donham said she was unaware of what would happen to the 14-year-old Till, who lived in Chicago and was visiting relatives in Mississippi when he was abducted, killed and tossed in a river. She accused him of making lewd comments and grabbing her while she worked alone at a family store in Money, Mississippi.Donham said in the manuscript that the men brought Till to her in the middle of the night for identification but that she tried to help the youth by denying it was him. Despite being abducted at gunpoint from a family home by Roy Bryant and Milam, the 14-year-old identified himself to the men, she claimed.Till’s battered, disfigured body was found days later in a river, where it was weighted down with a heavy metal fan. The decision by his mother, Mamie Till Mobley, to open Till’s casket for his funeral in Chicago demonstrated the horror of what had happened and added fuel to the civil rights movement.

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Video above: Emmett Till’s family wants arrest

A grand jury in Mississippi has declined to indict the white woman whose accusation set off the lynching of Black teenager Emmett Till nearly 70 years ago, despite revelations about an unserved arrest warrant and a newly revealed memoir by the woman, a prosecutor said Tuesday.

After hearing more than seven hours of testimony from investigators and witnesses, a Leflore County grand jury last week determined there was insufficient evidence to indict Carolyn Bryant Donham on charges of kidnapping and manslaughter.

It is now increasingly unlikely that Donham, who is now in her 80s, will ever be prosecuted for her role in the events that led to Till’s lynching.

An email and voicemail seeking comment from her son Tom Bryant weren’t immediately returned Tuesday.

A group searching the basement of the Leflore County Courthouse in June discovered the unserved arrest warrant charging Donham, then-husband Roy Bryant and brother-in-law J.W. Milam in Till’s abduction in 1955. While the men were arrested and acquitted on murder charges in Till’s subsequent slaying, Donham, 21 at the time and 87 now, was never taken into custody.

Video above: Emmett Till accuser denies wanting teen killed

In an unpublished memoir obtained last month by The Associated Press, Donham said she was unaware of what would happen to the 14-year-old Till, who lived in Chicago and was visiting relatives in Mississippi when he was abducted, killed and tossed in a river. She accused him of making lewd comments and grabbing her while she worked alone at a family store in Money, Mississippi.

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Donham said in the manuscript that the men brought Till to her in the middle of the night for identification but that she tried to help the youth by denying it was him. Despite being abducted at gunpoint from a family home by Roy Bryant and Milam, the 14-year-old identified himself to the men, she claimed.

Till’s battered, disfigured body was found days later in a river, where it was weighted down with a heavy metal fan. The decision by his mother, Mamie Till Mobley, to open Till’s casket for his funeral in Chicago demonstrated the horror of what had happened and added fuel to the civil rights movement.


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