Emmett TILL^{[1, 2, 3, 4]}

1941 - 1955  (14 years)

• Name	Emmett TILL
  Birth	1941
  Gender	Male
  HIST	Emmett Till investigation closed by Justice Department This undated portrait shows Emmett Till. Till, who was from Chicago, was abducted and beaten to death hours after he whistled at a white woman while visiting Mississippi. His body was found in a river days later. AP FILE PHOTO Posted Tuesday, December 7, 2021 6:00 am By MICHAEL BALSAMO and EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S. Justice Department told relatives of Emmett Till on Monday that it is ending its latest investigation into the 1955 lynching of the Black teenager from Chicago who was abducted, tortured and killed after witnesses said he whistled at a white woman in Mississippi. A person familiar with the matter informed The Associated Press about the closure of the investigation and the meeting with Till's family. The person could not discuss the matter publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity. The department reopened an investigation after a 2017 book quoted a key figure, Carolyn Bryant Donham, as saying she lied when she claimed that 14-year-old Till grabbed her, whistled and made sexual advances while she was working in a store in the small community of Money. Relatives have publicly denied that Donham, who is in her 80s, recanted her allegations about Till. The killing galvanized the civil rights movement after Till's mother insisted on an open casket, and Jet magazine published photos of his brutalized body. Days after Till was killed, his body was pulled from the Tallahatchie River, where it was tossed after being weighted down with a cotton gin fan. Two white men, Roy Bryant and his half-brother J.W. Milam, were tried on murder charges about a month after Till was killed, but an all-white Mississippi jury acquitted them. Months later, they confessed in a paid interview with Look magazine. Bryant was married to Donham in 1955. The Justice Department in 2004 opened an investigation of Till's killing after it received inquiries about whether charges could be brought against anyone still living. The department said the statute of limitations had run out on any potential federal crime, but the FBI worked with state investigators to determine if state charges could be brought. In February 2007, a Mississippi grand jury declined to indict anyone, and the Justice Department announced it was closing the case. Bryant and Milam were not brought to trial again, and they are now both dead. Donham has been living in Raleigh, North Carolina. The FBI in 2006 began a cold case initiative to investigate racially motivated killings from decades earlier. A federal law named after Till allows a review of killings that had not been solved or prosecuted to the point of a conviction. The Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act requires the Justice Department to make an annual report to Congress. No report was filed in 2020, but a report filed in June of this year indicated that the department was still investigating the abduction and killing of Till. The FBI investigation has included a talk with the Rev. Wheeler Parker, who previously told the AP in an interview that he heard his cousin whistle at the woman in a store in Money, Mississippi, but that the teen did nothing to warrant being killed. Despite closure of Till case, Justice Dept. still probing civil rights-era police killings From left, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., and Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, hold a news conference to discuss the "Emmett Till Antilynching Act" on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2020. AP FILE PHOTO Posted Saturday, December 11, 2021 6:00 am By JAY REEVES Associated Press BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) - The Justice Department's decision to close its investigation of Emmett Till's slaying all but ended the possibility of new charges in the teen's death 66 years ago, yet agents are still probing as many as 20 other civil rights "cold cases," including the police killings of 13 Black men in three Southern states decades ago. The department is reviewing the killings of six men shot by police during a racial rebellion in Augusta, Georgia, in 1970, according to the agency's latest report to Congress. The city best known for hosting golf's Masters Tournament had been engulfed by riots after a Black teenager was beaten to death in the county jail. The agency also is investigating the killings of seven other Black men involved in student protests in South Carolina, Mississippi and Louisiana during the societal upheaval of the late 1960s and early '70s. And investigators are looking at cases in which seven more individuals were killed, including a girl in Pennsylvania, the report showed. Suspects were already tried and acquitted in some of these killings, making prosecution on the same charges all but impossible. Fading memories, lost evidence and the death of potential witnesses almost always pose problems in the quest for justice in decades-old cases. Still, in Georgia, a leader of a group formed to tell the story of the "Augusta Six" - John Bennett, Sammie L. McCullough, Charlie Mack Murphy, James Stokes, Mack Wilson and William Wright Jr. - hopes some type of justice will prevail for the victims' families, even if it's not a criminal conviction. "With the Justice Department's stamp on it, even a statement that the killings were wrongful would help even if there's no prosecutions. I think that would be very helpful for the community," said John Hayes of the 1970 Augusta Riot Observance Committee. The Justice Department said Monday it had ended its investigation into the 1955 lynching of Till, the Black teenager from Chicago who was tortured, killed and thrown in a river in Mississippi after witnesses said he whistled at a white woman at a rural store. Two white men who were acquitted by all-white juries later confessed to the killing in a paid magazine interview, but both are dead and officials said no new charges were possible. The Justice Department Cold Case Initiative began in 2006 and was formalized the following year under a law named for Till, whose slaying came to illustrate the depth and brutality of racial hatred in the Jim Crow South. Initially created to investigate other unresolved cases of the civil rights era, it was later expanded to include more recent cases, including killings that occurred in cities and on college campuses during demonstrations against the Vietnam War and racism. In Augusta, as many as 3,000 people were estimated to have participated in protests and rioting that followed the death of 16-year-old Charles Oatman, who was beaten to death while being held in the jail. Frustration over his death and years of complaints over racial inequity erupted in unrest that left an estimated $1 million in damage across a wide area. Once the gunfire ended early on May 12, 1970, six Black men were dead from shots fired by police, authorities said. Two white officers were charged, one with killing John Stokes and the other with wounding another person, but both were acquitted by all- or mostly white juries. Families are still grieving, Hayes said, but the killings generally aren't discussed much in Augusta. "There's a lot of trauma there and things people don't want to bring up," said Hayes, whose group is in contact with relatives of half the victims. The other police shootings under review were sparked by campus demonstrations amid simmering resentment over mistreatment of Black people. Three men were killed on Feb. 8, 1968, during protests to desegregate a bowling alley near South Carolina State College in Orangeburg, South Carolina. Nine state police officers were acquitted in what came to be known as the "Orangeburg Massacre," and a campus sports arena now honors the three victims, Samuel Hammond, Delano Middleton and Henry Smith. Phillip Gibbs and James Earl Green were killed by police during a student demonstration at Jackson State University in Jackson, Mississippi, on May 15, 1970, and Leonard Brown and Denver Smith were gunned down during a protest at Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on Nov. 16, 1972. No one was ever prosecuted for the killings in Jackson or Baton Rouge. The seven other cases still under review by the Justice Department span the years 1959 through 1970 and involve individuals. The victims include 9-year-old Donna Reason, killed on May 18, 1970, when someone threw a Molotov cocktail into the home of her mixed-race family in Chester, Pennsylvania. No one was ever arrested. Mayesville native to star as Emmett Till in movie Rakeem Massingill of Mayesville will star at Emmett Till in "For The Culture." ALAYSHA MAPLE / THE SUMTER ITEM Posted Saturday, December 11, 2021 6:00 am BY ALAYSHA MAPLE alaysha@theitem.com One Sumter native shared his transition from the basketball court to a movie set, hoping to inspire youth to "do it with a purpose" when following their dreams. On Nov. 30, Rakeem Massingill, of Mayesville, spoke with the Boys and Girls Club at the Church of the Holy Comforter, at 213 N. Main St., before he starts filming for the upcoming movie "For The Culture." Undivided attention was given to Massingill by the small group of children as he asked what they want to be when they get older. Answers ranged from doctors and nurses to tornado watchers. Massingill acknowledged each answer, encouraging them with his motto. "I always knew that God had purpose for me," Massingill said. "I always knew there was something out there that he wanted me to do, so that is where my 'do it with a purpose' came from." He had dreamed of making it to a professional basketball league since he was in elementary school. However, once he left the military and secured no basketball scholarships, he decided to try his hand at acting. Massingill said the transition from basketball player to actor was not easy. While basketball-player-Rakeem and actor-Rakeem both perform for an audience, he said a quiet movie set is different from a loud, packed gym near a championship game. His first time stepping on set was nerve-wracking. Massingill expected to only see his castmates and director, but he was greeted by numerous cameras on the floor and in the rafters. Photographers scurried around to capture behind-the-scenes shots while camera operators rolled everywhere for the best angle. "I told my director, 'I'm about to mess up,'" Massingill said. His nerves got the best of him, and he kept stuttering through his lines. After a pep talk from the director and four re-takes, Massingill melted into his role, according to his crew members. Supporting roles alongside Rachel McAdams in a movie in post-production called "Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret" and Morris Chestnut in "Our Kind of People," a TV series, led Massingill to a role as Emmett Till in "For The Culture." "For The Culture" is based on the Greensboro Four, a group of four Black male freshmen at the Agricultural and Technical College of North Carolina who protested segregation laws that prevented Black people from entering certain public places. On Feb. 1, 1960, Franklin McCain, Ezell Blair Jr., Joseph McNeil and David Richmond staged a sit-in at Woolworth's, a variety store with an eating area, where they placed their orders despite being asked to leave, according to the North Carolina Museum of History. After Greensboro police refused to arrest them as long as they remained quiet, the store closed early, and the four men left. Massingill said the tragic death of 14-year-old Emmett Till was the incident that sparked the Greensboro Four to act. In the weeks that followed, North Carolina students staged sit-ins across the state, and on July 25, 1960, Greensboro Woolworth's began serving Black people at its lunch counter. The first people were the employees themselves. Three hundred Black residents ate at the lunch counter in the first week, according to the North Carolina Musuem of History. Massingill said the opportunity to play the role came through social media. "They saw me (as one of the Navy tribe soldiers) in (the new) 'Black Panther' and 'Our Kind of People' and were impressed by it," Massingill said. After exchanging messages, he accepted the offer and immediately started researching Emmett Till. His nights are now filled with watching documentaries, researching the Greensboro Four and reading about the environment these young men lived in from the '40s-'60s. Massingill said he has undergone multiple therapy sessions in order to cope with taking on a role with such a tragic outcome, as it weighs on him mentally and emotionally. The role has come with a great amount of responsibility, and he said he must take care of his image, keep his face card clean and do his best to impress viewers and his hometown. "I have to be that individual that they brought for that role," Massingill said. "It's a whole different set of standards I have to reach now." "For The Culture" will start shooting on Jan. 15 in Rockingham, North Carolina, where Massingill hopes to share as much of his experience as possible. He said though his role models were his brother and cousins growing up, his hope is to become a role model to people of all ages and encourage them to follow their dreams. "I try to reach out to a select few people every week, especially if they look up to me," Massingill said. "I have to make sure my image is clean and I'm doing the right thing so I can be that perfect role model for them."  [2, 3, 4]
  HIST	Emmett Till investigation closed by Justice Department This undated portrait shows Emmett Till. Till, who was from Chicago, was abducted and beaten to death hours after he whistled at a white woman while visiting Mississippi. His body was found in a river days later. AP FILE PHOTO Posted Tuesday, December 7, 2021 6:00 am By MICHAEL BALSAMO and EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S. Justice Department told relatives of Emmett Till on Monday that it is ending its latest investigation into the 1955 lynching of the Black teenager from Chicago who was abducted, tortured and killed after witnesses said he whistled at a white woman in Mississippi. A person familiar with the matter informed The Associated Press about the closure of the investigation and the meeting with Till's family. The person could not discuss the matter publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity. The department reopened an investigation after a 2017 book quoted a key figure, Carolyn Bryant Donham, as saying she lied when she claimed that 14-year-old Till grabbed her, whistled and made sexual advances while she was working in a store in the small community of Money. Relatives have publicly denied that Donham, who is in her 80s, recanted her allegations about Till. The killing galvanized the civil rights movement after Till's mother insisted on an open casket, and Jet magazine published photos of his brutalized body. Days after Till was killed, his body was pulled from the Tallahatchie River, where it was tossed after being weighted down with a cotton gin fan. Two white men, Roy Bryant and his half-brother J.W. Milam, were tried on murder charges about a month after Till was killed, but an all-white Mississippi jury acquitted them. Months later, they confessed in a paid interview with Look magazine. Bryant was married to Donham in 1955. The Justice Department in 2004 opened an investigation of Till's killing after it received inquiries about whether charges could be brought against anyone still living. The department said the statute of limitations had run out on any potential federal crime, but the FBI worked with state investigators to determine if state charges could be brought. In February 2007, a Mississippi grand jury declined to indict anyone, and the Justice Department announced it was closing the case. Bryant and Milam were not brought to trial again, and they are now both dead. Donham has been living in Raleigh, North Carolina. The FBI in 2006 began a cold case initiative to investigate racially motivated killings from decades earlier. A federal law named after Till allows a review of killings that had not been solved or prosecuted to the point of a conviction. The Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act requires the Justice Department to make an annual report to Congress. No report was filed in 2020, but a report filed in June of this year indicated that the department was still investigating the abduction and killing of Till. The FBI investigation has included a talk with the Rev. Wheeler Parker, who previously told the AP in an interview that he heard his cousin whistle at the woman in a store in Money, Mississippi, but that the teen did nothing to warrant being killed. Despite closure of Till case, Justice Dept. still probing civil rights-era police killings From left, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., and Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, hold a news conference to discuss the "Emmett Till Antilynching Act" on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2020. AP FILE PHOTO Posted Saturday, December 11, 2021 6:00 am By JAY REEVES Associated Press BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) - The Justice Department's decision to close its investigation of Emmett Till's slaying all but ended the possibility of new charges in the teen's death 66 years ago, yet agents are still probing as many as 20 other civil rights "cold cases," including the police killings of 13 Black men in three Southern states decades ago. The department is reviewing the killings of six men shot by police during a racial rebellion in Augusta, Georgia, in 1970, according to the agency's latest report to Congress. The city best known for hosting golf's Masters Tournament had been engulfed by riots after a Black teenager was beaten to death in the county jail. The agency also is investigating the killings of seven other Black men involved in student protests in South Carolina, Mississippi and Louisiana during the societal upheaval of the late 1960s and early '70s. And investigators are looking at cases in which seven more individuals were killed, including a girl in Pennsylvania, the report showed. Suspects were already tried and acquitted in some of these killings, making prosecution on the same charges all but impossible. Fading memories, lost evidence and the death of potential witnesses almost always pose problems in the quest for justice in decades-old cases. Still, in Georgia, a leader of a group formed to tell the story of the "Augusta Six" - John Bennett, Sammie L. McCullough, Charlie Mack Murphy, James Stokes, Mack Wilson and William Wright Jr. - hopes some type of justice will prevail for the victims' families, even if it's not a criminal conviction. "With the Justice Department's stamp on it, even a statement that the killings were wrongful would help even if there's no prosecutions. I think that would be very helpful for the community," said John Hayes of the 1970 Augusta Riot Observance Committee. The Justice Department said Monday it had ended its investigation into the 1955 lynching of Till, the Black teenager from Chicago who was tortured, killed and thrown in a river in Mississippi after witnesses said he whistled at a white woman at a rural store. Two white men who were acquitted by all-white juries later confessed to the killing in a paid magazine interview, but both are dead and officials said no new charges were possible. The Justice Department Cold Case Initiative began in 2006 and was formalized the following year under a law named for Till, whose slaying came to illustrate the depth and brutality of racial hatred in the Jim Crow South. Initially created to investigate other unresolved cases of the civil rights era, it was later expanded to include more recent cases, including killings that occurred in cities and on college campuses during demonstrations against the Vietnam War and racism. In Augusta, as many as 3,000 people were estimated to have participated in protests and rioting that followed the death of 16-year-old Charles Oatman, who was beaten to death while being held in the jail. Frustration over his death and years of complaints over racial inequity erupted in unrest that left an estimated $1 million in damage across a wide area. Once the gunfire ended early on May 12, 1970, six Black men were dead from shots fired by police, authorities said. Two white officers were charged, one with killing John Stokes and the other with wounding another person, but both were acquitted by all- or mostly white juries. Families are still grieving, Hayes said, but the killings generally aren't discussed much in Augusta. "There's a lot of trauma there and things people don't want to bring up," said Hayes, whose group is in contact with relatives of half the victims. The other police shootings under review were sparked by campus demonstrations amid simmering resentment over mistreatment of Black people. Three men were killed on Feb. 8, 1968, during protests to desegregate a bowling alley near South Carolina State College in Orangeburg, South Carolina. Nine state police officers were acquitted in what came to be known as the "Orangeburg Massacre," and a campus sports arena now honors the three victims, Samuel Hammond, Delano Middleton and Henry Smith. Phillip Gibbs and James Earl Green were killed by police during a student demonstration at Jackson State University in Jackson, Mississippi, on May 15, 1970, and Leonard Brown and Denver Smith were gunned down during a protest at Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on Nov. 16, 1972. No one was ever prosecuted for the killings in Jackson or Baton Rouge. The seven other cases still under review by the Justice Department span the years 1959 through 1970 and involve individuals. The victims include 9-year-old Donna Reason, killed on May 18, 1970, when someone threw a Molotov cocktail into the home of her mixed-race family in Chester, Pennsylvania. No one was ever arrested. Mayesville native to star as Emmett Till in movie Rakeem Massingill of Mayesville will star at Emmett Till in "For The Culture." ALAYSHA MAPLE / THE SUMTER ITEM Posted Saturday, December 11, 2021 6:00 am BY ALAYSHA MAPLE alaysha@theitem.com One Sumter native shared his transition from the basketball court to a movie set, hoping to inspire youth to "do it with a purpose" when following their dreams. On Nov. 30, Rakeem Massingill, of Mayesville, spoke with the Boys and Girls Club at the Church of the Holy Comforter, at 213 N. Main St., before he starts filming for the upcoming movie "For The Culture." Undivided attention was given to Massingill by the small group of children as he asked what they want to be when they get older. Answers ranged from doctors and nurses to tornado watchers. Massingill acknowledged each answer, encouraging them with his motto. "I always knew that God had purpose for me," Massingill said. "I always knew there was something out there that he wanted me to do, so that is where my 'do it with a purpose' came from." He had dreamed of making it to a professional basketball league since he was in elementary school. However, once he left the military and secured no basketball scholarships, he decided to try his hand at acting. Massingill said the transition from basketball player to actor was not easy. While basketball-player-Rakeem and actor-Rakeem both perform for an audience, he said a quiet movie set is different from a loud, packed gym near a championship game. His first time stepping on set was nerve-wracking. Massingill expected to only see his castmates and director, but he was greeted by numerous cameras on the floor and in the rafters. Photographers scurried around to capture behind-the-scenes shots while camera operators rolled everywhere for the best angle. "I told my director, 'I'm about to mess up,'" Massingill said. His nerves got the best of him, and he kept stuttering through his lines. After a pep talk from the director and four re-takes, Massingill melted into his role, according to his crew members. Supporting roles alongside Rachel McAdams in a movie in post-production called "Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret" and Morris Chestnut in "Our Kind of People," a TV series, led Massingill to a role as Emmett Till in "For The Culture." "For The Culture" is based on the Greensboro Four, a group of four Black male freshmen at the Agricultural and Technical College of North Carolina who protested segregation laws that prevented Black people from entering certain public places. On Feb. 1, 1960, Franklin McCain, Ezell Blair Jr., Joseph McNeil and David Richmond staged a sit-in at Woolworth's, a variety store with an eating area, where they placed their orders despite being asked to leave, according to the North Carolina Museum of History. After Greensboro police refused to arrest them as long as they remained quiet, the store closed early, and the four men left. Massingill said the tragic death of 14-year-old Emmett Till was the incident that sparked the Greensboro Four to act. In the weeks that followed, North Carolina students staged sit-ins across the state, and on July 25, 1960, Greensboro Woolworth's began serving Black people at its lunch counter. The first people were the employees themselves. Three hundred Black residents ate at the lunch counter in the first week, according to the North Carolina Musuem of History. Massingill said the opportunity to play the role came through social media. "They saw me (as one of the Navy tribe soldiers) in (the new) 'Black Panther' and 'Our Kind of People' and were impressed by it," Massingill said. After exchanging messages, he accepted the offer and immediately started researching Emmett Till. His nights are now filled with watching documentaries, researching the Greensboro Four and reading about the environment these young men lived in from the '40s-'60s. Massingill said he has undergone multiple therapy sessions in order to cope with taking on a role with such a tragic outcome, as it weighs on him mentally and emotionally. The role has come with a great amount of responsibility, and he said he must take care of his image, keep his face card clean and do his best to impress viewers and his hometown. "I have to be that individual that they brought for that role," Massingill said. "It's a whole different set of standards I have to reach now." "For The Culture" will start shooting on Jan. 15 in Rockingham, North Carolina, where Massingill hopes to share as much of his experience as possible. He said though his role models were his brother and cousins growing up, his hope is to become a role model to people of all ages and encourage them to follow their dreams. "I try to reach out to a select few people every week, especially if they look up to me," Massingill said. "I have to make sure my image is clean and I'm doing the right thing so I can be that perfect role model for them."
  _UID	000A46FD40604E4EA4240C33C99D6F61C6CA
  _UID	000A46FD40604E4EA4240C33C99D6F61C6CA
  Death	1955	Tallahatchie River, Mississippi   [2]
  Person ID	I335509	Singleton and Related Families
  Last Modified	30 Dec 2021

  
  

  Father	TILL
  _UID	745529745A2642E4932B85DFBEBCDE2FB524
  _UID	745529745A2642E4932B85DFBEBCDE2FB524
  Family ID	F224054	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Sources

  [S29475] New indictments: Murdaugh now facing moore than 50 charges. [S29476] Emmett Till investigation closed by Justice Department. [S29477] Despite closure of Till case, Justice Dept. still probing civil rights-era police killings. [S29478] Mayesville native to star as Emmett Till in movie.