Emmett Till's family calls for justice after finding an unserved arrest warrant in his case
CNN
Family members of Emmett Till, the 14-year-old Black teen whose murder in the Jim Crow South spurred the civil rights movement in America, say they have unearthed an unserved arrest warrant for the White woman who accused him of making advances toward her, sparking the events that led to his death nearly 70 years ago.
"I cried. We cried. We hugged," Deborah Watts, Emmett's cousin, told CNN of the moment she said members of the Emmett Till Legacy Foundation found the warrant in a dusty, dank box in a county courthouse in Greenwood, Mississippi. "Unbelievable. We held each other. Justice has to be served."
The warrant was discovered last week by a five-member search group led by members of Till's family, including Deborah Watts and her daughter Terri. An image of the warrant, provided to CNN by the foundation, charged J.W. Milam, Roy Bryant and Bryant's then-wife -- identified in the document as Mrs. Roy Bryant -- with kidnapping and orders their arrests. The warrant is dated August 29, 1955, and signed by the Leflore County Clerk.