The Emmett Till Story

A similar case occurred in August of 1955, just five years before the novel was published.

A 14 year old black boy from Chicago, named Emmett Till, was visiting Mississippi for the first time. He had never been to the South and was unfamiliar with the Jim Crow Laws.

Jim Crow Laws: state and local laws in the South between 1876 and 1965. They mandated "separate but equal" status for black Americans.

In reality, this led to treatment and accommodations that were almost always inferior to those provided to white Americans.

Although the two killers were arrested and charged for murder, they were both quickly acquitted by the all-white, all-male jury.

If not for the daring decision made by his mother, Mamie Till, to leave her son's casket open at the funeral, the case may have been quickly forgotten.

Tens of thousands of people viewed his body, which was on display for four days at a Chicago church.

Also, photographs of his mangled body flooded the nation.

These gruesome images shocked many Americans out of their comfortable complacency and served as a spark for the Civil Rights Movement.

Three months after this incident, the Montgomery Bus Boycott began.