Emmett Till was a 14-year-old African American boy who was brutally beaten and murdered in Mississippi in 1955. His death was a catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. Till was visiting relatives in Money, Mississippi when he was accused of whistling at a white woman, Carolyn Bryant, who was a storekeeper. Bryant's husband and his half-brother later abducted Till, beat him, and shot him in the head before throwing his body in the Tallahatchie River. Till's body was discovered three days later, and despite overwhelming evidence linking Bryant and his accomplice to the murder, an all-white jury acquitted them.

Till's mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, insisted on an open-casket funeral for her son, so the world could see the brutality he suffered. The gruesome images of Till's disfigured body spread across the country, sparking outrage and galvanizing the Civil Rights Movement. Till's death and the lack of justice served as a turning point in the fight against racial injustice and segregation. The case remains a powerful symbol of the racism and violence faced by Black Americans and the ongoing struggle for racial equality in the United States.