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DVD on Emmett Till Death Aims to "Keep the Pressure On"

Photo credit: Courtesy of THINKFilm Mamie Till Mobley gives powerful, priceless accounts of the murder of her son, Emmett Till, in the documentary, "The Untold Story of Emmett Till."

By Rebecca Roussell
Black College Wire

Filmmaker Keith Beauchamp’s drive for justice in one of the nation’s most infamous unresolved cases has opened eyes and hearts. It also helped prompt an investigation that might be near much-needed closure.

Beauchamp, 34, has spent the past nine years researching and interviewing witnesses for a documentary on the brutal murder of 14-year-old Emmett Louis Till, which in 1955 put an unforgettable face on the beginnings of the civil rights movement.

Till allegedly whistled at a white woman. For it, Till was abducted from his great-uncle’s home in Money, Miss.; tortured, beaten and shot by men who attached his annihilated body to a cotton-gin fan and threw him in a river to die. No one was ever convicted of the crime.

“We are at a very critical stage at this point,” said Beauchamp, director of “The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till,” issued on Feb. 28 to mark the 50th anniversary of the teen’s death. “We are releasing the DVD to continue to keep the pressure on and have the public support my efforts. I need all the support I can get at this point.”

Beauchamp’s research helped put pressure on the U.S. Justice Department to reopen the Till case in May 2004.

The two men originally charged with kidnapping and murder, Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam, tried in 1955, were acquitted by an all-white jury. Later, they sold their confession to Look magazine, but a grand jury still refused to indict them. They have since died, but Beauchamp was able to find new witnesses. Among them are 14 people who might have participated in the killing and who are still alive.

“We believe that they were forced to participate in the crime,” Beauchamp said of some of the others. Based on his research, he theorized that five among the 14 could be indicted in Till’s slaying.

So far, no indictments have come. The FBI has wrapped up its inquiry and sent the information to the district attorney in Mississippi, who will decide whether there should be new charges.

The 70-minute documentary includes recent color footage shot by Beauchamp and restored black-and-white archival film from previous media coverage. The documentary also features accounts from witnesses, some of whom speak publicly for the first time.

Family members and friends talk about joyous memories of young Till, as well as the moment that will live in their minds forever: the day he died. Present-day leaders, including the Rev. Al Sharpton, offer opinions.

Beauchamp captures the strength and dedication of Till’s mother, Mamie Till Mobley of Chicago, in powerful, priceless accounts that will remain etched in the minds of viewers.

“I don’t want his death to be a vain thing,” Mobley said. “If it can further the cause of freedom, then I will say that he died a hero.”

Mobley vividly describes the first time she saw her son’s remains in the coffin, and her decision to have an open-casket funeral. She wanted the United States to see what racism had done to her beloved son.

Beauchamp said he was 10 years old when he was introduced by his parents to Till’s story. He viewed the vivid images of Till’s corpse in a 1955 issue of Jet magazine, and read the coverage of the funeral.

Then, in 1989, Beauchamp had an experience that hearkened back to Till. As a senior in high school, he was beaten by a white undercover police officer in his hometown of Baton Rouge, La. His crime? Dancing with one of his white friends at a school dance.

We "went into a room and he handcuffed me to a chair and had his way with me,” Beauchamp said. “The whole time I was thinking, ‘Oh God! What is going to happen to me?’ ” Beauchamp said he thought about Till then. The police officer was dismissed from the force some years later, he said.

Beauchamp enrolled at Southern University in Baton Rouge to study civil law and criminal justice. He withdrew in his junior year to move to New York to pursue work in the film industry.

“The Till story had always been a part of me and it was always on my mind,” Beauchamp said. In 1995, he met Till’s mother, who gave him her trust. “That sealed the deal,” he said. Beauchamp worked with Mobley until her death in 2003, and promised to keep going until he found the answers. With financial support from his parents, Beauchamp’s dream was on its way to reality.

The documentary is an eye-opener for viewers who were not alive during the civil rights movement and who might know little of the case.

It puts a human face on how segregation tore the nation apart. The DVD, issued by ThinkFilm and available through Emmetttillstory.com, popular book retailers on the Internet and selected retailers nationwide, gives us not only the startling images of how Till was treated, but a detailed view of life for black people in the South.

Beauchamp said he strongly believes the civil rights movement of the ‘50s and ‘60s has not ended, and that black college students have a voice now more than ever.

“It is going to be up to us to continue to keep up that torch of life,” he said.

“Right now we are lost . . . we don’t have anyone, so we have to do it ourselves and it has to be done correctly,” he said.

Rebecca Roussell is a senior at Dillard University.

Posted March 20, 2006