Carolyn Bryant, Emmett Till's Accuser, Dies

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Emmett Till Murder Trial
Carolyn Bryant and Juanita Milam (1927-2014), the wives of Roy Bryant and John William Milam, who stand accused of the kidnap and murder of Emmett Till, sitting in their husbands' lawyer’s office across the street from the courthouse, reading newspaper accounts of the trial at Sumner courthouse in Sumner, Mississippi, September 1955. Black teenager Emmett Till was alleged to have whistled at Carolyn Bryant. (Photo by Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)
The woman who caused Emmett Till's death has died.

On August 28 1955, 14-year-old Emmett Till was murdered in Sunflower County, Mississippi. His killers, Roy Bryant and J.W. Millam, lynched Till because Bryant's wife Carolyn had claimed Till had made sexual advances towards her.

The case was a flashpoint in the civil rights movement, especially after Bryant and Millam were acquitted by a jury. They later sold their confession to a magazine under double jeopardy protection. Till's lynching has gone down in history as a stark example of the vile way that Black individuals were treated in the Southern United States during the Jim Crow era. However, in a bitter reminder that racial injustice is still alive and well today, memorials to Till have often been defaced and destroyed.

Carolyn Bryant Dead At 88

Carolyn Bryant's allegations towards Emmett Till are what led to his murder. According to Bryant, who was 21 in 1955, Till wolf-whistled at her from outside the grocery store she and her husband owned. During her husband's murder trial, Bryant also alleged that Till had entered the store and made sexual advances toward her. However, historian Timothy Tyson claims that Bryant said in a 2008 interview with him that her testimony in the 1955 trial was false. This claim has been corroborated by Till's cousin and other witnesses. Roy Bryant found out about the alleged harassment from a friend who spent time at the store. Carolyn claimed not to have told him because she was afraid that he would assault Till.

Bryant and Millam were found not guilty of the murder of Emmett Till in 1955. However, they would confess to the murder in a magazine interview in 1956. In 2022, an unserved warrant for Carolyn Bryant was found by the Emmett Till Legacy Foundation. Furthermore, Bryant's autobiography, I Am More Than A Wolf Whistle, was leaked to news outlets in 2022. It had been given to the University of North Carolina to release in 2036. Outlets are now reporting that Bryant, now Carolyn Bryant Donham, has died at the age of 88. There's little to say about the woman, other than she caused the death of a 14-year-old boy. May God have mercy on her soul, because it will find little mercy left on this mortal coil.

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About The Author
Ben Mock
Benjamin Mock (they/them) is a sports and culture writer working out of Philadelphia. Previously writing for the likes of Fixture, Dexerto, Fragster, and Jaxon, Ben has dedicated themselves to engaging and accessible articles about sports, esports, and internet culture. With a love for the weirder stories, you never quite know what to expect from their work.
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