Emitt+Till+Lessons

Lesson 2: Examining the Choices People Made Lesson 3: Connecting the History of Lynching to the Murder__ Time Needed (4 Blocs) Emmett Till: Confronting the Murder** This lesson is the first in a series of three activities that accompany the documentary film, The Murder of Emmett Till. They provide a vehicle for discussing this powerful film while also establishing important historical context to better understand its place within American history and for our understanding of the fragility of the historical aspects of racism, abuse of power, and poverty regarding aspects of social justice in our society. Ideally, it should be used with the other three lessons in the series, but it also can be used on its own.
 * Emmitt Till: Historical Events in Social Justice** (borrowed and modified from [|www.facinghistory.org])
 * Lesson Series**
 * __Lesson 1: Confronting the Murder

Students will confront and process emotionally difficult visual images and subject matter, and also analyze multiple perspectives of a major international historical event. In addition, students will develop a fundamental understanding of the significance of this event within the historical context of the time period.
 * Learning outcomes**

This first lesson introduces students to the film and explores their personal reactions, as well as contemporary responses to the brutal murder of a fourteen-year old African American boy in 1955. Facing History resources on the Online Campus and external websites are used extensively in all four lessons.

The lessons can be used online with students if there is access to computers or teachers can simply download information from the links and photocopy them for students.

7-12 grades (1 Bloc) (One of these periods is needed for viewing the film.)
 * suggested grade level**
 * duration of activity**

The setting of the film and lesson is the summer and fall of 1955. Early on the morning of August 28, 1955, Emmett Till, a 14 year-old African American teenager, was kidnapped and brutally murdered in Mississippi. The crime sent shockwaves throughout the nation and the rest of the world. His death came at a time of heightened racial tension in the American South following the Brown vs. Board of Education decision by the Supreme Court the previous year. The trial and acquittal of the accused murderers galvanized the nascent Civil Rights Movement and forever changed American society.
 * historical context**

The award winning series, //Eyes on the Prize: The Civil Rights Years//, is an excellent documentary supplement to the film and lesson. Episode 1, “Awakenings (1954-56)” is particularly relevant to the activities in the lesson, and includes sections on the murder, trial, and civil rights actions that followed the crime.
 * resources**
 * Additional Video Resources:**

The following books can provide important background to the murder and trial of Emmett Till:
 * Print Resources:**
 * Metress, Christopher, editor. //The Lynching of Emmett Till: A Documentary Narrative//. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press. 2002.
 * Moody, Anne. //Coming of Age in// //Mississippi////: The Classic Autobiography of Growing Up Poor And Black in the Rural South//. New York: Dell Publishers, 1968.
 * Whitfield, Stephen J. //A Death in the Delta: The Story of Emmett Till//. New York: Free Press; London: Collier Macmillan, 1988.
 * Websites:**
 * The lesson makes frequent use of the PBS website for the film.
 * The [|Crime Library website] contains contemporary responses to the tragedy:

1. First watch the film. Ask students to use their journal both during and after the film to write down their personal responses to anything they see or hear that has an impact on them. Because the film depicts a brutal murder, it is important to allow the classroom time to process the emotional impact the film has on students. There are many ways to help students pause and reflect about how images and scenes depicting violations of human rights or killing of people personally affect them. One such technique used by some teachers is called [|Big Paper] (Big Paper Lesson is at the end of this collection of lessons). It honors silence, reflection, and the thoughtful sharing of responses to these situations.
 * activity**

2. After students have had a chance to hear each other’s responses to the film, they can begin to examine the responses of Americans at the time of the murder and trial. How did white and African American citizens in the United States respond to the murder? How did these responses vary between the South and rest of the country? And, how could such an act occur in the world’s largest democracy? The [|PBS website for the film] has a collection of written reactions, mostly in the form of letters written to the FBI or newspapers in 1955. Students can read through them and record their own thoughts about what they are reading. These were the voices the filmmakers selected. What others would they have wanted to hear?

3. Once students have read these reactions, they can compare them to their own. What accounts for the similarities or differences? Issues such as distance from the event, subsequent changes in American democracy, ‘race,’ and class might arise. What comments did students find the most troubling? How do they compare them to what was seen and heard in the film? We do not know how representative this sample is of people’s thinking at the time, but the comments can serve as a spring board to go deeper into understanding the state of race relations in the United States in the late 40s and early 1950s.

4. As we read and listen to responses to the Emmett Till case, it is easy to lose sight of who he was as a person before his death. What profile of him do we get from the film? Brainstorm what students remember about him from the film and put key facts and traits up on the board. To get more details about his life, students can read more from the PBS website. How does knowing more about Emmett Till as a person change our view of how we think about the murder and trial? Visit the [|PBS website]for more background on the life of Emmett Till.

This is the second in a series of four lessons that accompany the documentary film __The Murder of Emmett Till__. It can be used on its own, but works best when used with the other three lessons. The first lesson focuses on students confronting the murder and subsequent trial and then begins to explore people’s responses at the time to the tragedy. In the second lesson, students will get a better sense of the historical context of Emmett Till’s life and death as they examine the choices made by people highlighted in the film.
 * Emmett Till: Examining the Choices People Made**

Students will better understand the social context that surrounded the murder and trial of Emmett Till, as well as analyze the relationship between choices made by people depicted in the film and their place in the society of that time. In addition, students will morally reflect about the actions of perpetrators, bystanders, and those who risked their lives during this event.
 * learning outcomes**

The lesson can be used online with students’ laptops or teachers can simply download information from the links and photocopy them for students.

7-12 grades (1 Bloc)
 * suggested grade level**
 * duration of activity**

The immediate setting of the film is the summer and fall of 1955, spanning the murder of teenager Emmett Till in Mississippi and the subsequent trials of his assailants. In this lesson the context is deepened and widened to look more closely at individual lives and American society.
 * historical context**

The central resource is the documentary film, The Murder of Emmett Till, which is approximately 54 minutes in length. The Facing History online exhibit, [|Choosing to Participate] has supplemental background information on Jim Crow policies and conditions in the 1950s.
 * resources**

Eyes on the Prize: The Civil Rights Years, Episode 1, “ Awakenings (1954-56)” provides valuable background to the civil rights issues mentioned in the film. (Available on edvideo @ www.thinkbright.org)
 * Additional Video Resources**:

Race: The Power of Illusion, Episode 3, “The House We Live In” discusses the polices that affected the separate and not equal status of African Americans throughout the 20th century.

Schreker, Ellen. The Age of McCarthyism: A Brief History with Documents. Boston: St. Martin's Press, 1994. Halberstam, David. The Fifties. New York: Fawcet Columbine.
 * Print Resources**:


 * Websites**:

[|Race: The Power of Illusion]

[|Age of McCarthyism: A Brief History with Documents]

The [|PBS website for the film] has excellent material through eyewitness accounts and scholarly commentary on the racism in post WW II United States. 1. If the class has not viewed the film, they should do this first and then spend some time discussing their personal reactions to the documentary. See Lesson One, “Emmett Till: Confronting The Murder” for ideas on how to process the film with students.
 * activity**

2. What was life like for Emmett Till growing up? What was life like for other African American teenagers in the North and South? These questions are explored in the PBS website for the film. Students can read about people who remember coming of age during this time period in Chicago and Mississippi, the two central locations depicted in the film. As students read about life in the 1950s, they can take notes on the similarities and differences between African American youth in Chicago and Mississippi.

[|Background on People and Related Events] [|Background on Segregation]

4. Issues of racism and poverty would have been brought to attention, along with the more entertaining aspects of popular culture at the time, such as rock and roll, hip hop, and dress styles. And yet is there is another layer students can bring into their understanding of the background to the murder and trial of Emmett Till? What was going on in the larger society? The following websites discuss the impact the Cold War had on domestic American society and what has become known as the “McCarthy Era.” This is important background information in understanding frequent references made by many white Southerners to “outside, communist agitators stirring up trouble.”

These two sites give a basic grounding in the generalized fear of dissident views prevalent in the era:

[|Background on the "McCarthy Era"] http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/mccarthyism.html [|Key documents from the 1950s] http://www.english.upenn.edu/~afilreis/50s/schrecker-age.html

5. If there is time, the class can add some of the new information to a third intersecting identity chart. All the background viewed on the film and retrieved from the websites suggest how embedded Emmett Till was in the world that both touched him immediately and that which was seemingly removed from his everyday experiences. All layers will have a bearing on the events that took place in the film.

6. Now is the opportunity to explore critical choices made by some of the central characters highlighted in the film. Many can be examined but we will focus on the following individuals: Emmett Till, Mamie Till, Moses Wright, Roy Bryant, J.W. Millam, and Clarence Strider. Students already know something about Emmett Till. Now they can get a snapshot of other key people. They also are profiled in the PBS website.

Students should read all the descriptions, but they can be broken down into groups that concentrate on one of the above individuals (excluding Emmett Till). The group needs to summarize key information from each person based on the descriptions provided in the website and the film. (A transcript is included as one of the links to help students remember details from the film.) They then must relate this to what they learned earlier about Jim Crow and other aspects of the wider society to build a more complete portrait of the person.

[|Index of Key People] http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/till/peopleevents/index.html [|] [|Confessions by Till's Murderers] http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/till/sfeature/sf_look_confession.html [|] [|Transcript of the film] http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/till/filmmore/pt.html

With this information they should respond to the following question that pertains to their character. Students might not have definitive answers to these questions, but each group can explain to the rest of the class what went into their thinking in trying to answer them.
 * Mamie Till: //Why did she want an open casket funeral?//
 * Roy Bryant: //Why did he consider Emmett Till’s “whistle” at his wife such a grave offense?// (See first and second website mentioned above)
 * J.W. Millam: //Why did he believe Emmett Till needed to be killed?// (See second website)
 * Clarence Strider: //What did the rule of law mean to him?//
 * Moses Wright: //Why did Moses Wright risk his life to testify against the killers?//

7. Each group can present their profiles and responses to their assigned questions to the larger class, allowing for dialog between the group and the rest of the class. While individual choices cannot be reduced to social factors, this exercise allows students to make connections between an event and a person's place in society, and how this place effects the ways in which people make important moral choices pertaining to the event.

8. At the end of the exercise, ask students what other questions remain about the case that have not been explored. These questions can serve as a springboard to dive deeper into investigating the issues embedded in the movie.

Students can further investigate other figures alluded to in the film, but not discussed in depth. Examples include J. Edgar Hoover and his reluctance to get the FBI involved in the case or President Eisenhower and his refusal to speak publicly about the case. Students might want to investigate the factors that influenced their decisions not to act. The class can also read more about the historical background of lynching, Jim Crow, and the early resistance to racism that is contained in the third lesson of the four part series.
 * follow-up activities**

This is the third in a series of four complementary lessons that accompany the documentary film, //The Murder of Emmett Till//. It can be used on its own, but works best when used with the other three lessons. The first lesson focuses on students confronting the murder and subsequent trial and then begins to explore people’s responses at the time to the tragedy. In the second lesson, students will get a better sense of the historical context of Emmett Till’s life and death as they examine the choices made by people highlighted in the film. In this third lesson students analyze the film within an historical context of lynching and the early struggles against Jim Crow and racism.
 * Emmett Till: Connecting the History of Lynching to The Murder**

Students will better understand the relationship between the history of lynching and the murder of Emmett Till, as well as understand how the early anti-lynching movement laid the foundation for the modern civil rights movement. In addition, students will explore the role the media played in both perpetuating images and ideas of dehumanization, as well as exposing human rights abuses in this history.
 * learning outcomes**

The lessons can be used online with students with their laptops or teachers can simply download information from the links and photocopy them for students.

7-12 grades
 * suggested grade level**

(1- Bloc)
 * duration of activity**

The immediate setting of the film is the summer and fall of 1955, spanning the murder of teenager Emmett Till in Mississippi and the subsequent trials of his assailants. This lesson focuses on the historical context of lynching beginning in the years after the Civil War through the time period of the Emmett Till case.
 * historical context**

The central resource is the documentary film, [|The Murder of Emmett Till], which is approximately 54 minutes in length. It can be viewed directly from PBS on EdVidoe ([|www.thinkbright.org]).
 * resources**

[|Ida B. Wells, A Passion for Justice]. Profiles the life of this early civil rights crusader and her campaign against lynching.
 * Additional Video Resources:**


 * Websites:**
 * This [|"History of Lynching" site] is excerpted from Tolnay’s book cited below and contains statistics and background information on the history of lynching.
 * The [|Library of Congress] provides several links to background on the life of Ida B. Wells and her article, "Lynch Law in Georgia" (1899) exposing the myths and realities of lynching.
 * The [|Kansas Humanities Council] has produced a biographical website of Ida B. Wells, which includes links to some of her major pamphlets.


 * Print Resources:**
 * Allen, James. //Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in// //America//. Santa Fe, New Mexico: Twin Palms, 2000.
 * Tolnay, Stewart. //A Festival of Violence: An Analysis of Southern Lynchings, 1882-1930.// Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1995.
 * Zangrando, Robert. //The NAACP Crusade Against Lynching, 1909-1950//. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1989.

1. If the class has not viewed the film, they should do this first and then spend some time discussing their personal reactions to the documentary. See Lesson One, __Emmett Till: Confronting The Murder__ for ideas on how to process the film with students.
 * activity**

2. Another way to explore the issues in the film is to step back and put Emmett Till’s murder into a larger historical context. In Lesson Two, [|Emmett Till: Examining the Choices Made], the perpetrators of the crime discussed how they saw Till’s actions as a direct threat to their sense of pride and self. It was important that Till “stay in his place.” This thinking was not new and emerged in its most violent expression after the Civil War in the form of lynching.

At the end of the 19th century, the passionate voice of African American journalist Ida B. Wells emerged in protest against these violent lynchings. Wells wrote stirring articles in the black and white press exposing the crime of lynching against African Americans. In one article, she cited the excuses given for lynching and eerily foreshadowed the murder of Emmett Till: //Boys of fourteen years have been lynched by white representatives of American civilization. In fact, for all kinds of offenses--and, for no offenses--from murders to misdemeanors, men and women are put to death without judge or jury; so that, although the political excuse was no longer necessary, the wholesale murder of human beings went on just the same. A new name was given to the killings and a new excuse was invented for so doing. Again the aid of the "unwritten law" is invoked, and again it comes to the rescue. During the last ten years a new statute has been added to the "unwritten law." This statute proclaims that for certain crimes or alleged crimes no negro shall be allowed a trial; that no white woman shall be compelled to charge an assault under oath or to submit any such charge to the investigation of a court of law.// //The result is that many men have been put to death whose innocence was afterward established; and to-day, under this reign of the "unwritten law," no colored man, no matter what his reputation, is safe from lynching if a white woman, no matter what her standing or motive, cares to charge him with insult or assault. It is considered a sufficient excuse and reasonable justification to put a prisoner to death under this "unwritten law" for the frequently repeated charge that these lynching horrors are necessary to prevent crimes against women.//

3. The resources associated with this lesson support Ida B. Well’s statements. Each provides some basic background information for students on certain statistics of lynching and how the violent practice evolved as a means of social control over African Americans. As students will see from these sources, numbers vary on how many people were lynched (mostly African American males). After reading the documents, ask students to write down some of the similarities and differences they notice about the conditions for lynching in the late 19th and early 20th century compared to what was portrayed in the film. These responses can be posted on the board and used as a bridge to the next part of the activity.

Note: You might want to make sure students understand some key differences between the two eras if they did not mention them in their postings. They include the following points: A. By Emmett Till’s time, actual lynching of African Americans had greatly diminished, but terror at the threat of being murdered for violating codes of acceptable behavior still remained. B. There was a much stronger reaction in the mainstream Northern press to brutality against African Americans in the early 1950s than in the late 19th century. C. More African Americans were educated and involved in the Civil Rights movement by the early 1950s, helping to chip away at segregationist policies in federal courts and also putting pressure on the federal government to make changes in discriminatory practices.

In the film and in Lesson Two, __Emmett Till: Examining the Choices People Made__ students heard and read some statements in the Southern press that rationalized the murder of Emmett Till and shifted the attention to “trouble makers” from outside of Mississippi. The [|Crime Library site] contains headlines and excerpts of articles that justify or excuse lynching. Students should read the document and add to the chart of similarities and differences begun in step 2.

As with the movie, images of brutality abounded in the history of lynching. From the excerpts in the previous link you get a sense that those who performed and witnessed these crimes enjoyed their actions. Students can view in graphic detail images and testimony from lynching in the powerful book, //Without Sanctuary//. This resource is available through the Facing History library, and may also be at your local library.

4. It is important to remember that time is needed to process viewing these images. Students might be asked to compare their reactions to //Without Sanctuary// with //The Murder of Emmett Till//. How does a confrontation with the history and images of lynching affect the way they make meaning of the Emmett Till case? There could be an option of doing a Big Paper exercise at this point, which allows students to silently reflect and read their own and other students’ reactions to powerful subject matter.

5. As mentioned above, an important resistance campaign emerged to combat these horrific atrocities. Known as the anti-lynching movement, it represented one of the first chapters in the long history of the American Civil Rights Movement. Ida B. Wells was a key figure in this movement, and her campaign to expose the truth behind lynching and develop a multiracial coalition of activists foreshadowed the modern Civil Rights movement, which was just beginning after the trial of Emmett Till.

6. If there is time, it is highly recommended that students view the documentary on Wells' life. Short of that, the websites outlined above provide some background on her life alongside excerpts from her newspaper articles exploding the myths of rape, which was often used as an excuse to lynch African American males.

Based upon these readings and the documentary, what features stand out in the character of Ida B. Wells? What risks did she take when writing her articles and forming an anti-lynching coalition? How did she use the media to convey her message? What limitations were there to the press of the era? Student discussion of these questions should be recorded in some way, either as notes on paper or archived minutes in a document on a computer. They can be used if students go to lesson four in this series.

Students can do investigative projects on some of the early Civil Rights figures and organizations begun in the time of Ida B. Wells and relevant to the Emmett Till case. Topics could include: the NACCP, Thurgood Marshall, and Walter White. Lesson four extends the theme of resistance from this lesson into the emergence of the Civil Rights movement and the meaning of the Emmett Till case for our lives today.
 * follow-up activities**

In this discussion strategy, students will:
 * Big Paper - Building a Silent Conversation**
 * rationale**
 * Slow down their own thinking process to let them consider the views of others
 * Be encouraged to explore a topic/issue in an in-depth manner
 * Honor silence in the classroom
 * Create a visual record of their thoughts and emotions


 * procedure**

Before this activity occurs, it must be made clear that for the first two parts of this process, there is to be absolute silence. All communication is done in writing. Students should be told that they will have time to speak in pairs and in the large groups later. Also, before the activity starts, the teacher should ask students if they have questions, to minimize the chance that students will interrupt the silence once it has begun.
 * Step One: Importance of Silence**

Each pair receives a Big Paper and each student a marker or pen. The pairs are to read the text (or look at the image) in silence. After both students in each pair have read, they are to comment on the text, and ask questions of each other in writing on the Big Paper. The written conversation must start on the text but can stray to wherever the students take it. The teacher can determine the length of this step, but it should be at least 15 minutes.
 * Step Two:**

Still working in silence, the students leave their partner and walk around reading the other Big Papers. Students bring their marker or pen with them and can write comments or further questions for thought on other Big Papers. Again, the teacher can determine the length of time for this step based on the number of Big Papers and his/her knowledge of the students.
 * Step Three:**

Silence is broken. The pairs rejoin back at their own Big paper. They should look at any comments written by others. Now they can have a free, verbal conversation about the text, their own comments, what they read on other papers, and comments their fellow students wrote back to them.
 * Step Four:**

Teacher should debrief the process with the large group. The discussion can touch upon the importance and difficulty of staying silent, the mode of communication, and the level of comfort with this activity. This is the time to delve deeper into the content. The teacher can use the prompts on the Big Papers to bring out the students' thoughts.
 * Step Five:**

In this strategy the idea is to have students, in pairs, have a conversation in writing around a document or image.
 * classroom example**

Examples for Big Paper activities in a Facing History classroom may include: The document chosen should be pasted or taped to the middle of a big sheet of flip chart paper or newsprint. This leaves plenty of room for students to write on the “Big Paper.” I think this activity works best when each pair has the same text, but it could work well if pairs have different texts as well. The students should be told that all the writing they do on the Big Paper will be seen by other students.
 * a text or visual image that reflects some difficult aspect of the September 11th events
 * a particularly moving testimony from a survivor
 * a speech by a politician
 * a speech or statement from the Taliban, a controversial op-ed piece or quote
 * a political cartoon
 * a piece of art
 * a journal or diary entry
 * a series of quotes from students themselves


 * additional resources**
 * Several pieces of flip chart paper
 * Markers or pens
 * Tap