GBH Openvault
American Experience; The Murder of Emmett Till; Interview with Leon Finney
Part of The Murder of Emmett Till Interviews.
2003
Leon Finney, Jr interview about Emmett Till, an African-American teenager who was lynched in Mississippi at the age of 14 after reportedly flirting with a white woman.
License Clip
- Series
- American Experience
- Program
- The Murder of Emmett Till
- Program Number
1506
- Title
Interview with Leon Finney
- Series Description
As television's longest-running, most-watched history series, American Experience brings to life the incredible characters and epic stories that helped form this nation. Now in its eighteenth season, the series has produced over 180 programs and garnered every major broadcast award.
- Program Description
In August 1955, a 14-year-old black boy from Chicago whistled at a white woman in a grocery store in Money, Mississippi. Emmett Till didn't understand that he had broken the unwritten laws of the Jim Crow South. Three days later, two white men dragged him from his bed in the dead of night, beat him brutally and shot him. Although his killers were arrested and charged with murder, they were both quickly acquitted by an all-white, all-male jury. Soon after, the defendants sold their story, including a detailed account of how they murdered Till, to a journalist. The murder and the trial horrified the nation and the world. Till's death was a spark that helped mobilize the civil rights movement. Three months after his body was pulled from the Tallahatchie River, the Montgomery Bus Boycott began.
- Duration
0:24:43
- Asset Type
Raw video
- Media Type
Video
- Topics
- History
- Creators
- Finney, Leon, Jr. (Producer)
- Contributors
- Finney, Leon (Interviewee)
- Publication Information
- WGBH Educational Foundation
- Rights Summary
Rights Holder: WGBH Educational Foundation
- Citation
- Chicago: “American Experience; The Murder of Emmett Till; Interview with Leon Finney,” 2003, GBH Archives, accessed November 23, 2024, http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_ED577B2630A64CF892BE6E9F72BD2D83.
- MLA: “American Experience; The Murder of Emmett Till; Interview with Leon Finney.” 2003. GBH Archives. Web. November 23, 2024. <http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_ED577B2630A64CF892BE6E9F72BD2D83>.
- APA: American Experience; The Murder of Emmett Till; Interview with Leon Finney. Boston, MA: GBH Archives. Retrieved from http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_ED577B2630A64CF892BE6E9F72BD2D83