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The Emmett Till Murder Case
Another legal case considered
to have influenced Lee when writing To Kill a Mockingbird
is the Emmett Till murder case. In 1955 a fourteen-year-old African-American
boy from Chicago went to visit his aunt and uncle in Mississippi.
He didn't leave Mississippi alive. It is alleged that, acting on
a dare from a friend, he said 'Bye baby' to a white woman in a shop.
A few days later his corpse was found. Two men were arrested for
his murder but an all White jury acquitted them.
In 2004 the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
opened an investigation into this kidnapping and murder wanting
to 'determine if any other individuals were involved in these crimes
and to bring them to justice if possible'.
Read about the details of the Emmett Till murder
case, view film documentaries, listen to original radio broadcasts
and read the trial transcripts at these web sites:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/till/
http://www.watson.org/~lisa/blackhistory/early-civilrights/emmett.html
http://www.africanamericans.com/EmmettTill.htm
http://hnn.us/articles/4853.html
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1969702
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmett_Till
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Activities Tasks |
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1
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Research the
Emmett Till murder case. |
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2
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Present a written
report outlining the legal injustices that occurred in
this trial. |
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3
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Prepare a written
report for the FBI outlining what steps you believe need
to be taken to investigate the murder of Emmett Till fifty
years after the event. |
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4
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Create
a table with two columns: one each for the Emmett Till
murder case and Tom Robinson's trial. In each column write
down the basic facts about each case and highlight the
similarities between each case. |
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