emmett till was 14 years old when he was kidnapped, tortured, and murdered in mississippi in 1955 after being accused of offending a white woman.
his mother, mamie till mobley, made the devastating decision to hold an open casket funeral so the world could see what had been done to her son.
the men accused of killing him were acquitted by an all white jury and later admitted to the killing in a magazine interview.
emmett till became one of the clearest examples of how racism in the jim crow south wasn't just personal prejudice. it was backed by social norms, institutions, courts, and violence.
sometimes one photograph can expose an entire system.
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