"money mississippi" Money by doug48

money is located near the tallahatchie river eight miles north of greenwood mississippi. this tiny cotton mill town became internationally famous for the murder of emmett till in 1955. emmett till was born in 1941 in webb mississippi. emmett till was the only son of louis and mamie till. the tills moved to chicago and in 1942 and after their move there they separated. louis till was drafted into the army in 1943 and was deployed to italy. in 1945 louis till was court martialed for raping two italian women and murdering a third. till was convicted and executed near pisa italy. mamie till married lemorris bradley who was emmett's step father at the time of his death. in august 1955 mamie sent emmett to money to visit his grand uncle moses wright and his cousins. considering race relations at the time mamie warned emmett "to mind his manners" around white people. when emmett arrived in money he bragged to his cousins that he had sexual relations with white women in chicago. his cousins who had lived all their lives in the segregated south did not believe him and made fun of him. on august 23 rd 1955 emmett, his cousins and several local boys visited bryant's store to buy soft drinks and candy. carolyn bryant, the wife of the owner waited on emmett and his friends. emmett made sexual comments to bryant and asked her out on a date. he was quoted as saying "you needn't be afraid of me baby, i've been with white women before". bryant was insulted by these comments and told her husband about the incident. carolyn's husband, roy bryant was enraged about the encounter and he and his half brother j. w. milan went to moses wrights house to confront till. he abducted till and told wright he was going to "teach the boy a lesson". bryant and milan drove till to milan's home in nearby gendora. originally they planned to give till a beating but till had a defiant attitude and called bryant and milan bastards. this attitude enraged both men and they beat, tortured, and shot till in the head. they tied a cotton gin fan to till's body and dumped it into the tallahatchie river. three days later the body was discovered by two boys fishing on the bank of the tallahatchie. bryant and milan were tried for till's murder and were acquitted by an all white jury. in 1956 bryant confessed to the crime in a look magazine interview. the murder of emmett till made national and international headlines and energized the civil rights movement of the late 1950's and early 1960's.

a very interesting book about the mississippi civil rights movement and the murder of emmett till is "sons of mississippi" by paul henrickson pub: B&T press.

emmett till

in the late 1950's the cotton mill in money closed and much of the population left the town. bryant's store is now in ruins and most of the businesses on money road are now abandoned. money became somewhat famous again in 1967 due to bobbie gentry's hit song "ode to billie joe". in the song there was a reference to the tallahatchie bridge which was located near money. the tallahatchie bridge collapsed in 1972 and was never repaired. money is only of interest to students of civil rights history and mississippi blues history. delta blues pioneer robert johnson is belived to be buried at little zion cemetery near money.