She Lied: Carolyn Bryant and the Murder of Emmett Till

“When Carolyn Bryant Dunham admitted to historian Timothy Tyson that she fabricated the story that incited her husband and brother-in-law to kidnap and kill 14-year old Emmet Till in Mississippi in 1955, few were surprised.  Although the two men were acquitted by an all-white jury, Till’s death served as a major catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement and his story resonates to the present day. 

 Questions remain:   What are the historical roots of white supremacist thinking in the false accusations of black men by white women?   How has it been developed over the past centuries to the “Beckys” of the present? What could/should we have to say about Carolyn Bryant today?    

We address these questions through scholarly presentations covering three chronological perspectives.“