Emmett Till’s life and death
Yahoo (via) reports that two Two producers are developing a feature about Emmett Till, the black teenager from Chicago who was killed in Mississippi in 1955 for whistling at a white woman.
Frederick Zollo and Thomas Levine are teaming on the project with director Keith Beauchamp, whose documentary “The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till” is in theaters.
Till’s killing by a group of white Southerners is widely recognized as the impetus of the civil rights movement. The men were acquitted by an all-white, all-male jury after less than an hour of deliberation. Four months later, they boasted about the crime in an interview with Look magazine but were never brought to justice because of laws against double jeopardy.
Zollo said the film will focus on Till’s life and slaying as well as the crime’s immediate aftermath and will include elements of Beauchamp’s life that parallel Till’s.
“I have always wanted to do a film about the Till case but was never sure how to tell the story,” Zollo said. “When Tom and I met Keith Beauchamp and saw his powerful film, it became much clearer.”
Zollo has visited the theme of the civil rights movement before. His producing credits include “Mississippi Burning,” which told the story of three civil rights workers killed in Mississippi in 1964, and “Ghosts of Mississippi,” which centered on the killing of Medgar Evers, a leading figure in the civil rights movement.
Tuesday 17 Jan 2006 | Paul | New and Upcoming Films
I really appreciate so much info being told about his story it has rally changed my life
I never knew this story until a few days ago. I was totally moved by this story and it still haunts me. Seeing the picture of what human beings did to a child…there are no words to describe how I felt and feel. I am utterly saddened that something like this could even happen. Saddened and sick to my stomach.
I’ve heard older folks in my neighborhood telling us(kids)not to whistle and we never really learned to whistle. They never told us the extent of thier warnings but as children we obeyed. Twenty-five years later on January 15 2007 at 10:00am I found out why. The untold story of Emmett Till aired on PBS and thats when I learned about the Emmett Till story. When that documentary went off the air, I starred at the tv in total awe. I couldn’t move or blink my eyes and my stomach felt like it was tied into 5 knots.
I was to join the KING marchers but i was feeling so full of emotions and rage; All I could do was remain in my dwelling place for the remainder of the day. For 2 days I felt the emotional gitters as if I was in that August 1955 era, that’s how powerful the documentary was. Today i’m gathering information to disburse among my students during the BLACK HISTORY MONTH.
THANKS K. BEAUCHAMPS
hey this is really sad what happened to emmett till juss because of a whisltle. he shouldnt have been mureded and tourched angela
hey this is really sad what happened to emmett till juss because of a whisltle. he shouldnt have been mureded and tourched angela
I heard this story many times and it was hard to get over the pain that it caused his family to go see his body.They cut his body parts off .
They was wrong for what they did to him I wanted to cry it really hurted me.