New Mexico, Civil Rights Author Releases Internet 's "TOP 10" List of Emmett Till Books

Media Release
Contact Susan Klopfer
http://susanklopfer.com
sklopfer@gmail.com

At right, A Chicago newspaper reports on the murder of young Emmett Till (may be subject to copyright)
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(Gallup) -- In observation of Black History Month and the upcoming 57th anniversary of Emmett Till's murder in Mississippi on Aug. 28, civil rights author Susan Klopfer, has released a top 10 list of Emmett Till books and ebooks appearing on the Internet.

"These are books and ebooks that consistently come up in the first ten positions when Emmett Till is googled.

"And yes, of course I am pleased that both of my Emmett Till books are up high on the search engines," Klopfer said, "as well as my eBook, Who Killed Emmett Till? But all of these books are well worth reading, for anyone who wants to learn more about the modern civil rights movement."

The 14-year-old Chicago schoolboy, Till, was the victim of a racist lynching Aug. 28, 1955, in the rural Mississippi Delta.

"People there were angry after the U.S. Supreme Court's decision, Brown v the Topeka, Kansas Board of Education, a year before Till's trip to the Delta in 1954.

Then the second Supreme Court decision, Brown II came, "and they were furious, because the second decision said they must integrate schools with 'all deliberate speed.'"

"It was already a horrible time for racism, particularly in Mississippi and the South, and people were in no mood for black children who stood out and didn't mind their manners," Klopfer said.

Till was forcibly taken from his relatives' home in the small cotton town of Money, after angering a local white store owner. Her husband and a relative beat and killed Till, after taking him to a barn at the edge of another town a county away. "His body was taken to still another location, tied to a cotton gin fan, thrown into the Tallahatchie River and was only found after it rose to the surface," Klopfer said.

The Emmett Till incident is seen as the spark that ignited the modern civil rights movement, according to major U.S. historians.

"Emmett's mother, with the help of powerful Chicago unions, got his body shipped back to Chicago. without the help of the unions, this could not have been done.She made sure that photos were taken and that the casket was open, so that people around the world could see what happened to her son."

A month later, the two men identified as Till's killer were acquitted by an all-whte jury. They later confessed in detail to a magazine reporter. But once they were found innocent, Rosa Parks of Montgomery, Ala. decide the time was right for her to take her civil rights stand -- to sit at the front of a city bus -- bringing the start of the modern civil rights movement in the United States.

"Parks later told Emmett's mother that she was thinking of Emmett when she decided to make her move."

Klopfer said it is important to place the Emmett Till story in proper context, and she recently posted an article, Eight Reasons Why the Death of Emmett Till is Important Today, on her Emmett Till blog at http://emmett-till.blogspot.com/2011/08/why-is-death-of-emmett-till-important.html where she frequently posts on Till and related civil rights issues.

That Till's death sparked the modern civil rights movement is listed as the first reason on Klofper's list.

Here is the googled list of Emmett Till books -- the top ten list as of today:

1. The Emmett Till Book
2. A Wreath for Emmett Till
3. The Lynching of Emmett Till: a documentary narrative
4. Who Killed Emmett Till? (eBook)
5. (a link to) Death of Innocence by Mrs. Till-Mobley
6. Getting Away With Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case
7. 'Emmett Till': A Poem of Sorrow, and Hope
8. Eyewitness Account: Emmett Till's cousin Simeon Wright
9. Teacher's Guide for A Wreath for Emmett Till
10.Emmett Till in Literary Memory and Imagination.

Klopfer said her favorite Emmett Till book, "the book that motivated me the most to keep learning about this murder, was Death of Innocence: The Story of the Hate Crime That Changed America by Mamie Till-Mobley, the mother of Emmett Till.

"Till's murder was so atrocious. It really galvanized the civil rights movement, leaving an indelible mark on American racial consciousness. Whenever I have interviewed a black civil rights activist who is older, they have told me how Till's death was a defining moment.

"Mamie Carthan was an ordinary African-American woman growing up in 1930s Chicago, a young woman who was heavily influenced by her mother. She married Louis Till, and while the marriage didn't last, due to the husband's domestic brutality, they did have Emmett."

Till's mother went through "an incredible change," as she began her career of activism when she insisted on the open-casket viewing of her son's gruesomely disfigured body," Klopfer said. "It was a terribly brave thing for her to do."

It has been reported that over a hundred thousand people attended the Chicago service. "Perhaps even more people walked by that casket."

The trial of J. W. Milam and Roy Bryant, was considered the first full-scale media event of the civil rights movement. "European reporters, for the first time, covered a major U.S. civil rights-related trial. They went into the most dangerous part of Mississippi, at the time, to do their job."

Mamie Till-Mobley, "pulled herself back from the brink of suicide to become a teacher and inspire black children throughout the country. She died as she completed this memoir."

One of Klopfer's professional colleagues, Keith Beauchamp, the producer of the first extensive documentary on Emmett Till, "told me that he promised Mrs. Till-Mobley that he would keep this story alive.

"He did, and Beauchamp is the reason why our nation knows this story, better and better, as the years go by."

Mississippi Delta Parents Group Wins School Battle in Cleveland

A Cleveland, Mississippi parent’s organization has won a significant battle with the city’s school board. But only after 1,000 students boycotted schools for one day in February and took to the streets with a march from their schools to district offices.

Because of their stance, D.M. Smith Middle School and Margaret Green Junior High School will house sixth, seventh and eighth-graders attending the Cleveland School District for the 20110-2011 school year.

What parents and students actually won was defeat of an earlier board decision to place mostly black junior high students into a school building that would bring them into close contact, daily, with high school students. White students would remain in a facility that maintains separate faculties from the older students.

Due to building deterioration, relocation of junior high school students has been inevitable. But placing black students into a building that has no separate lunch or gym facilities, meant the young black students would be at risk, parent’s group organizers said.

But the problems parents face are much larger, and stem from Cleveland’s dual educational system -- unofficially, the district maintains separate and unequal facilities for its black and white students through a practice that has been the target of the U.S. Dept. of Justice since 1969. The Parent group is waiting for Justice to come into the school district and force overall change.

Meanwhile, this victory is sweet.

For an outsider, attending Monday’s school board was a fascinating experience, almost like going back in time.

The Cleveland, Mississippi school board was in session Monday night, March 8, and the room was small and crowded -- about 60 parents and interested parties were cramped into a room with too few chairs.

No one attending could hear members of the school board as they spoke.

With all of their mumbling and whispering going on, it would be a surprise if board members could even hear themselves talk.

But the parents didn’t give up. Instead, they stayed and were heard.

The district has schools in several communities of Bolivar County -- most are in Cleveland, one in Boyle and the other in Merigold. The entire school district is about 68% black, 29% white, 2% Hispanic and 1% Asian.

Yet, someone forgot to tell school officials about Brown I and Brown II, the famous Supreme Court rulings in 1954 and 1955 that made “separate but equal” schools illegal, since the Cleveland schools have remained separate and unequal for over 40 years.

The small town of Cleveland, in the heart of the Delta, has a population of about 13,000 and a dual school system -- two high schools, two junior high or middle schools, and five elementary schools. Children can choose which schools to attend, but for the most part they want to go to schools in their own neighborhoods where they feel more comfortable. And where there are more black teachers.

But the dual system is in trouble, even white school board members admit. Black leaders say school board members (chaired by a black professor) refuse to commit to change because they are afraid of what the community will think of them.

“They’re just waiting for the Dept. of Justice to make changes, so they won’t have to,” said Leroy Byars, a retired administrator from Greenwood High School who also worked nine years as principal at East Side High School, predominantly black.

“Title Nine issues are evident for the district, for instance. Cleveland High School has great facilities for girls who play basketball and softball. Nothing of the same order exists for black female students in the Eastside High School,” Byars said.

Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, renamed in 2002 the Patsy T. Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act in honor of its principal author, is a law enacted in 1972 that states: "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance..."

Just reading the local newspapers, it’s apparent the major issues for board members is the possibility of “white flight” if they repair their schools through unification. For now, they would rather pay for twice the number of school administrators than necessary for such a small school district. There is no mention from the board members that unification could strengthen their schools.

Board members, led by Dr. Harvey Jackson, a professor from a small nearby college, mumbled and whispered throughout the meeting. Several times they were asked to speak up, but none complied.

At the end of the session, a board decision regarding placement of students for the following school year was read aloud, but no one could hear what was being read and there was no handout describing the decision made earlier on Saturday, during a special meeting.

No microphones? Not enough chairs? A small board room?

“Oh, it’s always like this,” said Bryars.

Kelvin Williams Sr. is PTSO president of D.M. Smith Elementary and James Stamps worked 36 years in the Cleveland schools as a band teacher.

Both say the Justice Department became involved in 1969 over integration of the public school system. “From there on, it has been one battle after another. In 1989 they paid another visit that ended up with a consent order mandating the district take specific steps to complete the dismantling of a dual system,” Stamps said.

All three say they are positive about recent conversation’s they’ve had with the Justice Department, however.

“We are working with a representative from Justice and they are telling us they will revisit this by the end of this semester that ends in May,” Bryars said.


“They asked us to comment and we have sent transcripts of calls and comments we’ve received to Jonathan Fischbach along with all the articles, petitions, comments, etc.”

All three men say the problem could be resolved by

• Sending ninth and tenth graders to one of the city’s two high schools and sending eleventh and twelfth graders to the other school -- in other words, setting up one high school with two campuses.

• Sending all junior high students either to Margaret Green, the East side junior high or DM Smith on the West.

• Rezoning the school district for elementary students, as mandated in the court order.

An old railroad track has been used as a dividing line for school districts. The Justice Department has already said this was illegal because any two schools in the district have been less than 3.5 miles apart. The correct thing to do would be to rezone or redistrict.
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