This case was originally closed years ago. The late Alvin Sykes, pictured, engineered the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crimes Act, creating a cold-case component within the United States Justice Department. Crimes committed in the pre-civil rights era were able to be reopened.
Emmett Till was a 14-year-old African American in 1955, when he was murdered for whistling at a white woman in Mississippi.
His tortured body was recovered from a river. His mother made a significant decision: The casket was open at the funeral, which was attended by thousands of people.
An all-white jury found two white men not guilty. Later, with double-jeopardy protection, the men admitted murdering Emmett.
Emmett's death is credited for initiating the civil rights movement in the United States.
Mr. Sykes dropped out of high school in the tenth grade. He used the public library to educate himself, and he began sitting in on courtroom trials to learn the law.
He had been active for decades, helping solve racially-motivated murders.
Photograph © 2018 Larry F. Levenson.
All rights reserved.
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