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In 1955, Emmett Till, a 14-year-old African American teenager from Chicago, was brutally murdered by at least two white men while he was visiting relatives in Mississippi. His murder and the subsequent trial of his accused killers became a lightning rod for moral outrage, both at the time and even to this day. The case was not just about the murder of a teenage boy. It was also about a new generation of young people committing their lives to social change. As historian Robin Kelley states, The Emmett Till case was a spark for a new generation to commit their lives to social change. They said, "We're not gonna die like this. Instead, we're gonna live and transform the South so people won't have to die like this." And if anything, if any event of the 1950s inspired young people to be committed to that kind of change, it was the lynching of Emmett Till. ***The lynching of Emmett Till and the subsequent trial "set in concrete the determination of people to move forward," according to Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth, in a way that previous events of a similar nature did not. Till's murder quickly became a rallying cry for civil rights protest, transforming a horrific crime into a springboard for justice. The Montgomery Bus Boycott followed closely on the heels of the case. Rosa Parks is quoted as saying, "I thought about Emmett Till, and I could not go back. My legs and feet were not hurting, that is a stereotype. I paid the same fare as others, and I felt violated." Later, Parks and Till’s mother, Mamie Till Mobley would develop a close relationship, maintaining contact throughout the years. ***Black men, including black teenage boys, had been brutally lynched by white men before the murder of Emmett Till. So it was no surprised that Roy Bryant and J. W. Milam were acquitted for this crime, since other white men had also gone unpunished for the murders they committed (and even confessed to committing outside of the courtroom). As this book's author, I would hope that people who learn this history come away with an understanding of the events surrounding the murder of Emmett Till, with an awareness of how their historical context shapes their actions, just as their actions have the potential to shape history. Why is it important to know the story of Emmett Till? Especially in the North, I have found that still too few people know this history (one civil rights "author" from Santa Fe, New Mexico recently chided me publicly for writing about Till and this event. "You are just trying to drum up publicity," he said. "And it's not even important"). ***But Emmett Till's story IS VERY IMPORTANT because the story of this young schoolboy and his murder deeply affected the modern civil rights movement and how history of the movement is now being told, and may soon be presented in a Hollywood film. Historians are finally writing more articles and books about this significant event that sparked the modern Civil Rights Movement, since the FBI several years ago re-opened the investigation of Till's murder. (This includes fictional accounts and plays.) Who Killed Emmett Till provides newly discovered background on the continuing true story of Till, whose violent death in the Mississippi Delta inspired Rosa Parks and others in the modern civil rights movement, and also presents some of the little-known history of the murders of thousands of African Americans in Mississippi, addressing how these events relate to today's terrorist world, where children and adults are murdered daily for hateful reasons -- or are destroyed for directly engaging in the fight for social justice. ***Who Killed Emmett Till book on CD is narrated by actor Jeffrey Hedquist and professionally produced by Andrew MacKenzie and Hedquist at Hedquist Productions in Fairfield, Iowa. Running time, approx 7 1/2 hours. Music of the Delta Blues included. Author Susan Klopfer is a graduate of Hanover College and holds a master's degree from Indiana Wesleyan University. She worked as a development and acquisitions editor for Prentice Hall and has won journalism award from the Misssouri Press Association. Her computer book, Abort! Retry! Fail! was named an alternate selection for the Book of the Month Club. Klopfer lived on the grounds of Mississippi's notorious Parchman Penitentiary while writing this nonfiction, true account of the murder of Till. She met and interviewed numerous residents of the Delta who were living when Till was killed and includes many accounts that are not covered in other books on Till., such as the shooting deeath of of a Delta civil rights attorney in 1997 who investigated Till's murder, and the unresoslved murders of two Mississippi teachers who were early voting rights advocates. "Susan Klopfer, the leading authority on the history of the Mississippi civil rights movement...Thank God for enterprising historians like Susan Klopfer who have the courage to state the obvious." -- Alan Bean, Ph.D., Friends of Justice." Audio Complete (Unabridged) Book in 6 Compact Discs (CDs).***
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