Emmett Till: The Sacrificial Lamb of the Civil Rights Movement

Clenora Hudson-Weems, Ph.D.

Format ISBN Price   Paperback (6x9) 9781425938796 $ 29.95

Clenora Hudson-Weems, Ph.D., was the first to establish the position of the August 28, 1955, brutal lynching of Emmett Louis “Bobo”Till, the 14-year-old Black Chicago youth, for whistling at a 21-year-old white woman (Carolyn Bryant) in Money, MS, as the catalyst of the Modern Civil Rights Movement. In her 1988 doctoral dissertation, “Emmett Till:  The Impetus for the Modern Civil Rights Movement” (U. of Iowa), later published as Emmett Till: The Sacrificial Lamb of the Civil Rights Movement (1994), she carefully documents the Till murder case as having set the stage for the 1956 Montgomery Bus Boycott, since it happened 3 months and 3 days before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery bus, December 1, 1955. A Ford Fellow, she quests for truth surrounding the underplaying of the case in American history, concluding that Parks’ demonstration was more palatable than Till's bloated face, in spite of King's assertion in Stride Toward Freedom that pressed in the minds of the Alabamians during the boycott was the image of Till. Contending that “Historians will talk about the good and the bad, but they won't deal with the ugly,” informant for her 1988 doctoral dissertation (U. of Iowa), Rayfield Mooty, Labor Union and Civil Rights activist who advised the mother, Mamie, during the ordeal, help to make the case a “cause célèbre.”

Many luminaries in the academy praised the author for her bold, brave stance regarding this case, including Yale University's late John Blassingame (“When you really think about it, Hudson-Weems is absolutely right.”); the late C. Eric Lincoln of Duke University (“In Emmett Till, she , , ,  challenges the most sacred shibboleths of the origins of the Civil Rights Movement.”);  and Talmadge Anderson, founding editor of The Western Journal of Black Studies (“Hudson-Weems substantiates the real catalytic event that unleashed the long inhibited Black rebellion against the viciousness and brutality of White racism. . . . The lynching of Till may no longer be denied as the genesis of the chronology of the Civil Rights Movement.”)

Till Continuum Conferences Chaired by Hudson-Weems

• From Emmett Till, to James Byrd, Amadou Diallo & Shaka Sankofa: When Will It Stop? CEO & National Chairperson, Second National Conference on Civil/Human Rights of Africanans, Memphis, TN, September 7-10, 2000.
• From Money, MS to Union, South Carolina: The Legacy of American Oppression.  National Chairperson, First National Conference on Civil/Human Rights of African Americans, Memphis, TN, August 17-20, 1995.
• Emmett Till Day in Court 1994: A Civil Rights Forum. University of Missouri- Columbia, October 21, 1994.

Clenora Hudson-Weems, Professor of English (UMC), received BA degree—LeMoyne College; MA degree—Atlanta U.; Ph.D. degree—U. of Iowa; Certificate of French Studies—L’Université de Dijon.  She is the author of The Definitive Emmett Till: Passion and Battle of a Woman for Truth and Intellectual Justice, 2006; Africana Womanist Literary Theory, 2004; Africana Womanism: Reclaiming Ourselves, 1993; and co-author, with Wilfred D Samuels, of Toni Morrison, 1990.  She has chapters/articles in Call and Response: The Riverside Anthology of the African American Literary Tradition, 1997; Out of the Revolu­tion: The Development of Africana Studies and A Historical and Bibliographical Guide to the African American Experience,  2000; State of the Race: Creating Our 21^st Century, 2004; and Sisterhood, Feminisms and Power, 1998. She edited Contemporary Africana Theory and Thought: A Guide to Afri­cana Studies (In Press) and was the guest editor for a special issue on “Africana Wom­anism” for The Western Journal of Black Studies (fall 2001). In 1994, Kay Bonetti with The American Audio Prose Library, interviewed her on Emmett Till and Africana Womanism.  Her current work is Emmett: Passion of a Black Woman, a feature-length movie script, with producer Barry Morrow, Oscar-winning co-writer for Rain Man.  Her novel, Soul Mates, is forthcoming; latest passion is the plight of Black farmers and our land owners.

From Jacket Blurbs

 

Hudson-Weems has dug relentlessly into Southern justice, revealing the stench and ugliness of race hatred, American style.  She has captured the essence of Emmett, a “sacrificial lamb” whose death has provided an escape to life for millions who were trapped in a web of hate.

Mamie Till-Mobley—Mother of Emmett Till

 

In Emmett Till, . . . she challenges the most sacred shibboleths of the origins of the Civil Rights Movement.  Not everyone will want to agree with what she has to say.  But few will lay the book down before she has had her say.  And she says a lot America needs to hear again right now.

C. Eric Lincoln, PhD, Prof. Emeritus, Duke U.

 

I found Emmett Till to be an unusually revealing and exciting narration of an important twentieth century event, crucial in the origins of the Civil Rights Movement.  When you really think about it, Hudson-Weems is absolutely right.

John Blassingame, PhD, Prof. of History, Yale University

 

 

Inside Blurbs

 

Hudson-Weems substantiates the real catalytic event that un leashed the long inhibited Black rebellion against the viciousness and brutality of White racism. It had preceded the much heralded Montgomery Bus Boycott by one hundred days … the lynching of Till may no longer be denied as the genesis of the chronology of the Civil Rights Movement.

Talmadge Anderson, Editor-in-Chief

The Western Journal of Black Studies

 

Emmett Till is a significant contribution to our understanding of the nature of racial oppression in U.S. history. It places the morally monstrous lynching of Till in its proper historical context, posing it as a major catalyst

of the Movement.

Maulana Karenga, PhD, Prof. & Chair, Black Studies, California State U., Long Beach

 

The Till case symbolized the sexual and racial dimensions of oppression which were part of the system of segregation. Her approach to the psychological dimensions of racism is illuminating.

Manning Marable, PhD, Prof. of History & Director of African American Studies, Columbia University

 

Many stories have been written about Bobo; none have told it like it was.  The material I gave you was the experience I lived through and watched from the court trial in Sumner, Mississippi. I still have my press card. I am

glad I found someone to tell it like I saw it.

Since I cannot find words to express my feelings of appreciation, I will just say thanks, thanks, thanks. [Excerpted from April 1988 telegram sent to author]

Rayfield Mooty (deceased)

Labor Union & Civil Rights Activist

 

Emmett Till presents a complete account of the true origins of the modern civil rights movement during a critical period in American history. This

brutality left blacks in no mood for such offensive acts from whites.

Charles Tisdale, Editor & Publisher

The Jackson Advocate

 

The Definitive Work on Emmett Till–1985 to Present:*

Clenora Hudson-Weems, Ph. D. (U. of Iowa, 1988)

Selective Till Works by the Author:

1.  Preliminary visit to Money and Sumner, MS in December 1985 for Till Research
2.  “Emmett Till: Catalyst of the Modern Civil Rights Movement”--National Ford

  Foundation Plenary Slide Presentation, Wash., D.C. (Audio tape), OCT 1987

      3.     “Emmett Till: The Impetus of the Modern Civil Rights Movement”—Doctoral

               Dissertation–University of Iowa MAY 1988

      4.      “Unearthing Till: A Compelling Process”–Iowa Alumni Review, Fall  1988

      5.    Emmett Till: Sacrificial Lamb of the Civil Rights Movement, Bedford Pub. 1994

      6.  Emmett Till, an interview with the author by Kay Bonetti, The American Audio

Prose Library, 1995

      7.    “Resurrecting Emmett Till: The Catalyst of the Civil Rights Movement”–

                        Journal of Black Studies, 1997

      8. “Emmett Till and Beyond:  Passion for Truth”--Movie Script by author;

             Producers—Barry Morrow and Clenora Hudson-Weems, 1998

      9.     Midday News television interview–FEB 1989–Salt Lake City, Utah

     10.   Guest Speaker--Tony Brown’s Journal: “Did History Miss Emmett Till”–2004

All dates in my Till Chronology, with the exception of Tony Brown’s Journal, predate those beginning in 2003 to present.   The activities by the Pompadours, portrayed by the exploiters as authorities on the Till Murder Case, did not surface until over 17 years later.*

For more information, consult website: www.africanawomanism.com