5 THINGS ABOUT EMMETT TILL CASE

1 WHO WAS EMMETT TILL?

Emmett Till was a black teenager from Chicago whose brutal killing in Mississippi shocked the world and helped inspire the civil rights movement. He was murdered after he was accused of whistling at and making sexual advances toward a white woman, Carolyn Bryant, during an interaction at Bryant’s grocery store in Money, Miss. The teen was kidnapped Aug. 28, 1955, and was tortured and shot. His mangled body was found days later in the Tallahatchie River.

2 WHY IS THE CASE BEING REOPENED?

New information published in the 2017 book “The Blood of Emmett Till,” by historian Timothy Tyson, prompted federal investigators to reopen their probe into the lynching, according to two people familiar with the case.

3 WHAT IS IN THE BOOK?

The book includes the first-known interview with Bryant, during which she conceded that Till had not come on to her sexually — a disclosure that directly contradicted her testimony six decades earlier.

4 COULD NEW CHARGES BE FILED?

Conspiracy or murder charges could be filed if anyone still alive is shown to have been involved, said Tucker Carrington, a professor at the University of Mississippi law school, but too much time likely has passed to prosecute anyone for other crimes.

5 HOW HAS TILL’S FAMILY REACTED?

Airicka Gordon-taylor, Till’s cousin, declined to comment on how the disclosures in Tyson’s book may affect the investigation, but said the family has been kept in the loop by investigators.