The Murder of Emmett Till

by David Aretha

Discusses the murder of fourteen-year-old Emmett Till in Mississippi; the trial, in which the men who later confessed to the murder were acquitted; and the incident's effect on the fledgling civil rights movement.

160 pages, Library Binding

First published November 15, 2007

About the author

David Aretha is an award-winning author and editor of more than 200 books for 20-plus publishers, including Random House, HarperCollins, St. Martin's, and Scholastic. He specializes in history, sports, biographies, and fiction for both adults and young readers. Contact David at daretha@live.com.

Reviews

[Hailey Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very impactful book which not only entailed the details of tills case, but also described the impact it had on Black Americans, White Americans, the civil rights movement, and the world. The book followed up until it was published, detailing the re-opening of the case and the death of Mamie TIll, Emmett Tills mother.

[Rachel Moats · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this as assigned reading in 8th grade and I didn't despise it but it was about as thrilling as historical nonfiction can be. It was a great book to help us understand the civil rights movement and what was going on at that time, but it wasn't a book I would want to pick up if I was browsing Barnes & Noble. Great at informing, but not the entertainment factor. Which, I suppose entertainment isn't the goal of this work, but I digress.

[Dionne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am ashamed to admit that I didn't even know who Emmett Till was until a couple months ago. The murder of Emmett Till is one of the biggest miscarriages of justice that I have ever seen. The evidence was there, and yet the jury was so racist, they refused to convict.

My only solace is that both of Till's murderers were ostracized for the rest of their lives, and lost their businesses because of the murder.

As with most horrible events in life, there is a silver lining. Till's death so outraged the public at large, that it stoked the fires for the civil rights movement to flourish. So, in many ways, Till was a martyr for the cause of civil rights.

[bjneary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book to use in school for the historical aspects of the muder of Emmett Till, the civil rights movements he inspired and the people he had an effect on- Rosa Parks, Kareem Abdul Jabar and many others.

[Shannon Winfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book but it sickens me that this kind of thing even happened not only to Emmett but hundreds of others!

[Brittany · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up while teaching today. I was reading over a students shoulder to help him with his paper and I got caught up in this terrible, true tale.