Emmett Till was a 14-year old African-American boy from Chicago, Illinois. On August 28, 1955, while visiting relatives in Mississippi, Till was kidnapped, beaten, shot and murdered. His body was dumped into the Tallahatchie River. His body was so mutilated that it was barely recognizable.

Till's mother, Mamie, chose to have an open casket funeral in order to bring to light the treatment her son had received. The photos taken at the funeral were published in Jet magazine. The publicity of Till's murder and funeral is widely believed to have been a catalyst for the Civil Rights movement.NPR Audio: Emmett Till and the Impact of Images (June 23, 2004)

In July 2009, authorities in Asplip, Illinois, discovered a series of empty graves at the Burr Oak Cemetery. Till's original casket was found in an old garage on the property. According to reports, Till's body was exhumed in 2005 and he was placed in a different coffin.http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/07/10/illinois.cemetery/index.html

The suspects in the murder, J.W. Miliam and Roy Bryant, were tried and acquitted of the crime, but later confessed to the murder. Their confession was published in the January 1956 issue of Look magazine.PBS: Timeline Both Miliam and Bryant died without being held accountable for the crime.Emmett Till Murder: Home page

In 2004, the Emmett Till case was reopened by federal investigators. Till's body was exhumed in 2005 and an autopsy was performed.NY Times: After 50 Years, Emmett Till's Body Is Exhumed (June 2, 2005) The case was forwarded to Mississippi authorities but was closed for lack of evidence.CNN: Push to reopen civil rights-era cold cases stalls (September 9, 2008) On October 9, 2008, the Emmett Till Civil Rights Act, HR 923 of 2007, was enacted to give local law enforcement more resources to investigate and prosecute cold cases.Gov Track: Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act of 2007 (October 7, 2008)

On October 27, 2008, it was reported that a sign marking where Emmett Till's body was found was vandalized. A Tallahatchie official vowed that the sign would be replaced "every time they take it down."USA Today: Vandals destroy sign marking Emmett Till murder site (October 27, 2008)