The Most Unlikely Inspiration by Bonnie Taylor Williams
The Most Unlikely Inspiration by Bonnie Taylor Williams
The death of a thirteen-year-old boy killed August 1955 in Mississippi hit the national news and spread faster than a five-alarm fire . The unjust and untimely death of Emmett Till was a culmination of the kind of treatment that Negroes received from the moment Abraham Lincoln and his fellow Northerners freed the slaves for purely economic reasons , and not humane ones . We were now supposed to be able to live , dream , and achieve — freely . The Emmett Till murder was a stark reminder that for some , if not all , Coloreds or Negroes , as they were called back then , would have a higher hill to climb .
Till ’ s murder propelled Selena Greene Parker , a Mississippi native , into further solidifying a foundation to pursue the dream of owning her own beauty shop . Though she wasn ’ t certain how it would come together , she held on to her dream that it would . When Selena looked at her three children , the oldest child was the same age as the young boy who had been savagely murdered ; and two younger children , this further sealed her determination of never going back to Mississippi to live .
The event was a national upset especially in the Black communities thanks to John Johnson , publisher of Jet Magazine , who placed Emmett Till ’ s desecrated image on the cover . This brought the horrific crime to the forefront for everyone to bear witness . Otherwise , it would have possibly been hidden and covered up as had been the case with so many others . Mamie Till Mobley , Emmett ’ s mother , wanted her son ’ s casket left open so the world could see what they had done to her baby , her child … her only son .
Selena , along with so many thousands of people , took her three children to the viewing of Emmett Till at Roberts Temple Church of God In Christ on that hot day in September . People shook their heads in despair , some screamed , while others fainted from seeing the horrific , knee-buckling sight of what once was the handsome face of a young man whose life held so much promise .
After walking out of the church with tears in her eyes , Selena turned to
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