Mississippi Trial, 1955 Chris Crowe

Langston Hughes dedicated an untitled poem (eventually to be known as "Mississippi—1955") to Till in his October 1, 1955, column in The Chicago Defender. It was reprinted across the country and continued to be republished with various changes from different writers.[209] William Faulkner, a prominent white Mississippi native who often focused on racial issues, wrote two essays on Till: one before the trial in which he pleaded for American unity and one after, a piece titled "On Fear" that was published in Harper's in 1956. In it he questioned why the tenets of segregation were based on irrational reasoning.[129]

Till's murder was the focus of a 1957 television episode for the U.S. Steel Hour titled "Noon on Doomsday" written by Rod Serling. He was fascinated by how quickly Mississippi whites supported Bryant and Milam. Although the script was rewritten to avoid mention of Till, and did not say that the murder victim was black, White Citizens' Councils vowed to boycott U.S. Steel. The eventual episode bore little resemblance to the Till case.[210]

Gwendolyn Brooks wrote a poem titled "A Bronzeville Mother Loiters in Mississippi. Meanwhile, A Mississippi Mother Burns Bacon" (1960).[211] The same year Harper Lee published To Kill a Mockingbird, in which a white attorney is committed to defending a black man named Tom Robinson, accused of raping a white woman. Lee, whose novel had a profound effect on civil rights, never commented on why she wrote about Robinson. Literature professor Patrick Chura noted several similarities between Till's case and that of Robinson.[212] Writer James Baldwin loosely based his 1964 drama Blues for Mister Charlie on the Till case. He later divulged that Till's murder had been bothering him for several years.[213]

Anne Moody mentioned the Till case in her autobiography, Coming of Age in Mississippi, in which she states she first learned to hate during the fall of 1955.[214][215] Audre Lorde's poem "Afterimages" (1981) focuses on the perspective of a black woman thinking of Carolyn Bryant 24 years after the murder and trial. Bebe Moore Campbell's 1992 novel Your Blues Ain't Like Mine centers on the events of Till's death. Toni Morrison mentions Till's death in the novel Song of Solomon (1977) and later wrote the play Dreaming Emmett (1986), which follows Till's life and the aftermath of his death.[216] The play is a feminist look at the roles of men and women in black society, which she was inspired to write while considering "time through the eyes of one person who could come back to life and seek vengeance".[217] Emmylou Harris includes a song called "My Name is Emmett Till" on her 2011 album, Hard Bargain. According to scholar Christopher Metress, Till is often reconfigured in literature as a specter that haunts the white people of Mississippi, causing them to question their involvement in evil, or silence about injustice.[213] The 2021 novel The Trees by Percival Everett uses this theme.[218][219] The 2002 book Mississippi Trials, 1955 is a fictionalized account of Till's death. The 2015 song by Janelle Monáe, "Hell You Talmbout", invokes the names of African-American people—including Emmett Till—who died as a result of encounters with law enforcement or racial violence. In 2016 artist Dana Schutz painted Open Casket, a work based on photographs of Till in his coffin as well as on an account by Till's mother of seeing him after his death.[220]

Documentaries

• The Murder and the Movement: The Story of the Murder of Emmett Till (1985) by Rich Samuel and produced by Anna Vasser (originally aired on WMAQ-TV in Chicago)[221]
• The Murder of Emmett Till which aired during Season 15 of the TV series American Experience: website links to program transcript and additional materials for the PBS film[222]
• The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till (2005) by Keith Beauchamp[223]
• Eyes on the Prize: Transcript of 2006 PBS documentary[224]

Works inspired by Till

This section includes creative works inspired by Till. For non-fiction books on Till, see Bibliography, below.

Songs

• "The Death of Emmett Till" (1955), written by A. C. Bilbrew, recorded by The Ramparts with Scatman Crothers.[225]
• "The Ballad of Emmett Till" (1956), recorded by Red River Dave (David McEnery), in the TNT label's True Story Series.[226]
• "The Death of Emmett Till" (1962), also known as "The Ballad of Emmett Till", by Bob Dylan.
• "Too Many Martyrs" (1964), by Phil Ochs, mentions and eulogizes Till.[227]
• "My Name is Emmett Till" (2013), from Hard Bargain, the twenty-sixth studio album by Emmylou Harris.
• "Emmett's Ghost" (2021), written and recorded by American blues singer Eric Bibb.[228]

On screen

• August 28: A Day in the Life of a People (2016), an anthology film depicting six significant events in African-American history which happened on the same date, August 28. The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture commissioned Ava DuVernay to create the film which debuted at the museum's opening on September 24, 2016. Events depicted include (among others) Till's lynching.[229]
• My Nephew Emmett (2017), a short film which dramatizes Till's uncle Mose Wright waiting for Till's killers. The film was nominated for the Oscar for best live action short, 2018.[230]
• Lovecraft Country (2020), a science-fiction television series by HBO which features a fictionalized version of Till, portrayed by Rhyan Hill, as a recurring character who appears in 2 episodes. The episode "Jig-A-Bobo" recreates Till's funeral in Chicago.[231]
• Women of the Movement (2022), a television series which dramatizes Till's life and his mother's activism after his murder.[232]
• Till (2022), a film based on the life of Emmett's mother Mamie Till-Bradley, featuring her life as educator and later activist after his murder.[233]

Other

• "Emmett Till" (1991), a poem by James Emanuel.
• Wolf Whistle (1993), a book by Lewis Nordan.[234]
• Mississippi Trial, 1955 (2003), a juvenile fiction novel by Chris Crowe.[235]
• The State of Mississippi and the Face of Emmett Till (2005), a dramatic play by David Barr.
• A Wreath for Emmett Till (2005), a poem by Marilyn Nelson.
• The Sacred Place (2007), a novel by Daniel Black[236]
• Musical: The Ballad of Emmett Till (2008) by Ifa Bayeza[237]
• Anne and Emmett (2009), a dramatic play by Janet Langhart. An imaginary conversation between Till and Anne Frank, both killed as young teenagers because of racial persecution, the play features recorded narration by Morgan Freeman.[238][239]
• Gathering of Waters (2012), a fiction novel by Bernice L. McFadden which depicts Till as a spirit which returns to the town of Money to reunite with his first love.[240]
• Emmett Till: How She Sent Him and How She Got Him Back (2012), a painting by Lisa Whittington which is on display at the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum.
• Open Casket (2016), a painting by Dana Schutz which sparked protests and controversy when it was unveiled.[241]
• Ghost Boys (2018), a juvenile novel by Jewell Parker Rhodes which follows the murder of a young black boy and who returns as a ghost, with Till also being another ghost who appears.[242]
• The Trees by Percival Everett (2021), a novel set predominantly in the small town of Money, Mississippi, follows a series of modern-day murders that seem to follow identical patterns and have links to the families of the murderers of Emmett Till.