Thursday, February 17, 2011

TV Series Tries to Revive Civil Rights Cold Cases; Keith Beauchamp, Emmett Till Documentarian, Leads the Charge

Susan Klopfer, author
Who Killed Emmett Till?


On Feb. 27, 1967, Wharlest Jackson, a father of five and the treasurer of the Natchez, Miss., branch of the N.A.A.C.P., was killed by a car bomb, making him just one of dozens of victims of racial violence during the civil rights era. To add an element of horror, Mr. Jackson’s 8-year-old son heard the explosion, bicycled to the scene and discovered his own father.


Today's New York Times has the story of a young civil rights documentarian who has dedicated his professional life to solving this and other major civil rights cases. If it were not for Keith Beauchamp, little would be known of the Jackson case or of young Emmett Till of Chicago, who will killed while visiting his relatives in the town of Money, Mississippi.

Beauchamp has added a new chapter to his historical quest, and the Times story tells it all --
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/16/arts/television/16civilrights.html?_r=1&src=twrhp