The Blood of Emmett Till

Because Sheriff Strider sides with the defendants in the trial, no help could be expected from him in finding evidence or witnesses. But there are witnesses. Levi Collins and Henry Lee Loggins work for Big Milam, and they were present at the murder. Others were outside the barn as Till was beaten, and they heard the murder take place. But they are now in hiding. An unofficial group of blacks led by Theodore Howard works hard to find them, and they finally hear from a black sharecropper named Frank Young, who was present when the murder occurred. Howard and others make the mistake of letting this news out rather than keeping it secret. The district attorney halts the trial so a search can be conducted for more witnesses.

The trial resumes. The first witness is Moses Wright, who recounts the night Bryant and Milam came and took Emmett Till away from his house. Defense attorney J. J. Breland tries to discredit Wright’s recollections of the night in question by suggesting it was too dark to recognize anyone. Next, a sheriff’s deputy testifies about finding Till’s body, and the undertaker shares what he saw. The defense attorney tries to make it appear the body might not have been Emmett Till and that his wounds may not have been the result of violence.