The Blood of Emmett Till

In 2014, protesters ringed the White House, chanting, “How many black kids will you kill? Michael Brown, Emmett Till!” Why did demonstrators invoke the name of a black boy murdered six decades before?

In 1955, white men in the Mississippi Delta lynched a fourteen-year-old from Chicago named Emmett Till. His murder was part of a wave of white terrorism in the wake of the 1954 Supreme Court decision that declared public school segregation unconstitutional. 

The national coalition organized to protest the Till lynching became the foundation of the modern civil rights movement. Only weeks later, Rosa Parks thought about young Emmett as she refused to move to the back of a city bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Five years later, the Emmett Till generation, forever marked by the vicious killing of a boy their own age, launched sit-in campaigns that turned the struggle into a mass movement. “I can hear the blood of Emmett Till as it calls from the ground,” shouted a black preacher in Albany, Georgia.

But what actually happened to Emmett Till not the icon of injustice but the flesh-and-blood boy? Part detective story, part political history, Timothy Tyson’s The Blood of Emmett Till draws on a wealth of new evidence, including the only interview ever given by Carolyn Bryant, the white woman in whose name Till was killed. Tyson’s gripping narrative upends what we thought we knew about the most notorious racial crime in American history.

Published on: 2017-01-31

Released on: 2017-01-31

Original language: English

Dimensions: 9.25" h x 1.00" w x 6.12" l, .0 pounds

Binding: Hardcover

304 pages

Review 

“An insightful, revealing and important new inquiry into the tragedy that mobilized and energized a generation of Americans to stand and fight against racial bigotry.”

  (Bryan Stevenson, New York Times bestselling author of Just Mercy)

“An account of absorbing and sometimes horrific detail. Comprehensive in scope....”   (The New York Times)

“The Blood of Emmett Till unfolds like a movie, moving from scene to reconstructed scene, panning out to help the reader understand the racism and bigotry that crafted the citadel of white supremacy and focusing in on intimate exchanges imbued with meaning....”  (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

“What sets Tyson's book apart is the wide-angle lens he uses to examine the lynching, and the ugly parallels between past and present… A terrific writer and storyteller, Tyson compels a closer look at a heinous crime and the consequential decisions, large and small, that made it a national issue.” (Minneapolis Star Tribune)

“Eloquent and outraged.... A stunning success essential for our times.”

  (Nell Irvin Painter, author of The History of White People)

“Tim Tyson’s profound eloquence and groundbreaking evidence capture the cries of Emmett Till and the rise of a movement, and will call us to the cause of justice today.” (Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II, president of the North Carolina NAACP and author of The Third Reconstruction: Moral Mondays, Fusion Politics, and the Rise of a New Social Justice Movement)

“From one of our finest civil rights historians comes this harrowing, brilliant, and crucial book. The full story of Emmett Till has never before been told. It will terrify you; it should. It will inspire you; it must.”

  (Jeff Sharlet, New York Times bestselling author of The Family)

“Astonishingly relevant.... At once thrilling and agonizing.”  (Jezebel)

“I couldn’t stop reading Timothy Tyson’s The Blood of Emmett Till. It is civil rights history that captivates the reader like a mystery novel....” (Patricia Bell-Scott, author of The Firebrand and the First Lady)

“Tim Tyson has universalized the Emmett Till story to make it an American tragedy. His bracing, granular narrative provides fresh insight into the way race has informed and deformed our democratic institutions.” (Diane McWhorter, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Carry Me Home)

“More than simply a retelling of the story of Till’s death and the subsequent trial, the book incorporates new sources into the narrative… In the course of telling this story, Tyson explores larger, more important lessons about America’s long, bitter struggle with race.”  (Greensboro News & Record)

“Tyson gives us a history that challenges everything we thought we knew about Emmett Till.”

  (Crystal Feimster, author of Southern Horrors)

“A scathing re-examination.... [Tyson] makes it all new and relevant.”  (Winston-Salem Journal)

“Groundbreaking new evidence and Tyson’s masterful prose make The Blood of Emmett Till a devastating indictment of America, both past and present.”

  (Danielle McGuire, author of At the Dark End of the Street)

“Apply[s] diligent research, scrupulous perspective and a vigorous aptitude for weaving pertinent public and intimate details.”   (USA Today)

“Tyson does an admirable job of condensing and updating information about the case, using a 2006 FBI report on Till’s murder to weave together a historical tapestry.”  (Austin American-Statesman)

“Compelling.... With Tyson’s new book, and Carolyn Bryant Donham’s remarks, we have reason to revisit a period in our history when bigotry, blood, and sacrifice became a call to action. “ (Vanity Fair)

“In many ways, Timothy Tyson is the ideal author to explore new details surrounding the lynching death of Emmett Till....”  (Winston Salem Chronicle)

“Tyson’s remarkable achievement is that each thread is explored in detail, backstories as well as main events, while he maintains a page-turning readability for what might seem a familiar tale. Cinematically engaging, harrowing, and poignant, Tyson’s monumental work illuminates Emmett Till’s murder and serves as a powerful reminder that certain stories in history merit frequent retelling.” (Publishers Weekly (starred review))

“Till’s memory burns brighter with each passing year and remains a touchstone for understanding white violence against black men today.” (William Ferris, co-editor of The Encyclopedia of Southern Culture)

“This highly readable book is likely to remain the final account of the Till murder and trial and its impact in the United States and abroad. It will appeal to anyone interested in African American history and the judicial process.”   (Library Journal)

“Bolstered by prodigious research... the well-presented details... add atmosphere. In addition, Tyson is masterful at explaining how the Till murder became a major cause of the civil rights movement. Especially resonant today is the author's focus on obtaining voting rights for blacks in Southern states that denied those rights before the Till murder.... Tyson skillfully demonstrates how, in our allegedly post-racial country, a "national racial caste system" remains in place.” (Kirkus Reviews)

About the Author 

Timothy B. Tyson is Senior Research Scholar at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, Visiting Professor of American Christianity and Southern Culture at Duke Divinity School, and adjunct professor of American Studies at the University of North Carolina. He is the author of Blood Done Sign My Name, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and winner of the Southern Book Award for Nonfiction and the Grawemeyer Award in Religion, and Radio Free Dixie: Robert F. Williams and the Roots of Black Power, winner of the James Rawley Prize for best book on race and the Frederick Jackson Turner Prize for best first book in US History from the Organization of American Historians. He serves on the executive board of the North Carolina NAACP and the UNC Center for Civil Rights.