getting away with murder final - · pdf filegetting away with murder: the true story of the...

Getting Away With Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case

1

Getting Away With Murder: The True Story of the

Emmett Till Case

Reading Guide

Mary Dooms 7th Grade

Lake Zurich Middle School South


2

Reading Guide Tea Party Pre-Reading Activity 3-4

Anticipatory Questions Pre-Reading Activity 5

Introduction (4:05)* and Ch. 1 (16:17)* Questions 6-8

Ch. 2 (10:03)* Questions and in-class activities 9-10






End of Unit Summative Assessments 25

Beginnings of the Answer Key 26-32

Background Summary: Brown vs. Board of Education

33-34

For background on Jim Crow laws, see the Perfection Learning title: Wright, Richard. "Surviving Jim Crow." Literature & Thought: Free at Last: The Struggle for Civil Rights 2000: 25-27.

*Time required to read aloud by a fluent reader


3

Tea Party Pre-Reading Activity 1

Make enough copies of the following statements so that every student has one. Hand out the slips to students. Allow ten minutes for students to meet with other students to share their statements. When time is up, place students into small groups to write a “We think the book is about…” statement.

♦ School should have introduced me to this landmark civil rights event, but it didn’t.

♦ …his face and head horribly disfigured.

♦ Most white Americans have never heard of him.

♦ Most African Americans know well his story and its place in history.

♦ The brazen murder of a boy by two white men was the last straw in centuries of racial oppression and abuse.

♦ “A little nobody who shook up the world.”

♦ “A little nobody who shook up the world.”

♦ It was after 2:00A.M. when the killers’ car…coasted to a stop on the gravel road.

♦ The boy didn’t know what he was doing. Don’t take him.

♦ The boy didn’t know what he was doing. Don’t take him.

♦ The viewing of his disfigured corpse at the Rainer Funeral Home…attracted more than ten thousand mourners.


4

We think the book is about…


5

Anticipatory Questions Pre-Reading Activity 2 Indicate with an “A” or a “D” whether you agree or disagree with the following statements. _____1. The textbook is a good source of historical information. _____2. If an event was important it would be found in the textbook. _____3. A Native American or African American’s version of U.S. History is the same as the white man’s. _____4. A teenager can change the course of history. _____5. Justice prevails. _____6. Impulsive behavior can lead to trouble. _____7. Peer pressure is difficult to handle. _____8. It’s OK for states to have different laws regarding individual rights.


6

Introduction (pp. 11-13) 1. Who was Emmett Till and what happened to him?

Chapter 1 (pp.15-26) The Boy Who Triggered the Civil Rights Movement

Vocabulary

♦ Sharecropper ♦ Jim Crow laws ♦ Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka ♦ Lynching

1. Who knocked on the door of Mose Wright? 2. What did the men want? 3. What did a fisherman find 3 days later? 4. Respond to the following statement: Brown vs. Board of Education gets in the way of

maintaining the Southern lifestyle. Answer here or use the It Says—I Say—And So chart on the next page.

Strongly disagree disagree agree strongly agree

Explain:


7

Alternative method for answering questions 4 and 9. It Says—I Say—And So

Question/Statement It Says I Say And So 1. Read the question/statement.

2. Find information from the text that will help you answer the question.

3. Think about what you know about that information.

4. Combine what the text says with what you know to come up with the response.

Example Why did Goldilocks break Baby Bear’s chair?

Story says she sits down in the baby chair, but she is no baby.

Baby chairs aren’t very big because they’re for babies and she is bigger and so she weighs more.

And so she is too heavy for the chair and it breaks.

4. Brown vs. Board of Education gets in the way of maintaining the Southern lifestyle.

9. How could testimony, evidence, and confession still not be enough to convict Bryant and Milam?

5. There is no difference between a lynching and a murder.


Explain 6. Did the governor of Mississippi say Emmett’s killing was murder or lynching? Why did he

choose the word he did? 7. Describe the spectator turnout and media attention during the trial.


8

8. Why did the trial capture worldwide attention? 9. How could testimony, evidence, and confession still not be enough to convict Bryant and

Milam? Answer here or use the It Says—I Say—And So chart on the previous page. 10. What message did the jury’s decision send? 11. How did media attention to the trial and acquittal help the civil rights movement?


9

Chapter 2 (pp. 17-36) Kicking the Hornet’s Nest

1. What does the title of Chapter 2 mean?

2. Complete the table regarding life in Chicago vs. life in the South.

Life in Chicago Life in the South

3. What did some Southern states do in anticipation of the Supreme Court’s decision?

4. What did Tom Brady’s speech and book emphasize?

5. What did Brady predict would happen if the mixing of races was allowed?

6. In what ways did the Jim Crow laws affect Blacks?

7. What were the three “mistakes” Emmett committed?


10

Chapter 2 In-class activities

♦ Full page ad promoting Tom Brady’s book/speech.

♦ Full page ad criticizing Tom Brady’s book/speech.

♦ Political cartoon criticizing Jim Crow laws.

♦ Political cartoon promoting Jim Crow laws.


11

Chapter 3 (pp. 37-49) The Boy from Chicago

1. Identify two important events that happened to Emmett during the first five years of his

life.

2. Between 1900 and 1950 Blacks moved north in what is termed the “Great Migration”. Why?

3. What three qualities did Emmett’s friends like about him?

4. Emmett is…

Lazy Helpful

Explain:


12

5. Allowing Emmett to go to Mississippi was a wise decision. Answer here or use the It Says—I Say—And So chart on below.


Explain:

Alternative method for answering question 5. It Says—I Say—And So

Question/Statement It Says I Say And So 1. Read the question/statement.




Example Why did Goldilocks break Baby Bear’s Chair?




Allowing Emmett to go to Mississippi was a wise decision.

6. Describe in detail how Emmett entertained himself, his cousin, and the local kids in Money, Mississippi.


13


♦ Capture the idea of the Great Migration into a newspaper headline and first two

sentences of a news story.

♦ Draw a classmate’s name from a hat. Identify three qualities you admire about him/her. Don’t identify who it is. See if we can guess.

♦ Identify two important events that have happened in your life.


14

Chapter 4 (pp. 50-69) The Wolf Whistle

Causal Relationships/Sequencing Events Complete the following table. Something happened So this occurred Emmett and cousins are restless in church. a)

Emmett brags about Chicago life and his “success” with women.

b)

A Black man gets too friendly with a white woman…

c) So…

d)

So the friend grabs Emmett and pushes him out the door.

Mrs. Bryant is furious at Emmett’s rudeness

e) So…

“How did you like the lady in the store?”

f) So…

g)

So Emmett and family think the Incident is forgotten.

h)

So Roy confronts wife.

Wife begs Roy to forget about it.

i) So…

Roy and J.W. force Mose to the back bedroom.

j) So…

k) So something wrapped in a tarp is loaded in a truck.

Emmett still shows no remorse for what he had done at Bryant’s Market.

l) So…

m)

So…Curtis Jones ends up calling the police.

Emmett’s mother calls the media.

n) So…

The phone calls work.

o) So…

p)

So…Hodges finds Emmett’s body.


15

The body is so badly mutilated…

q) So…

Sheriff arranges for quick burial.

r) So…

“Let the people see what they did to my boy.”

s) So…

t)

So the news enrages people across the nation.

Grand jury indicts Bryant and Milam. u) So people question…

1. Emmett’s Mississippi friends and cousins are partly responsible for his murder.


Explain: Alternative method for answering question 1. Question/Statement It Says I Say And So 1. Read the question/statement.




Example Why did Goldilocks break Baby Bear’s Chair?




Emmett’s Mississippi friends and cousins are partly responsible for his murder.

2. Emmett is…

Foolish and Bold Sensible and Shy

Explain:


16


♦ Whole class: brainstorm possible dares. In triads, plan and perform a brief skit where one

of you is dared, that person followed through on the dare, and the consequences.


17

Chapter 5 (pp. 70-83) Setting the Stage

1. Identify the reactions to the announcement of the murder indictment.

Individual/group Reaction Roy Wilkins, head of the NAACP

Civil rights supporters

Mayor of Chicago

Emmett’s mother

Robert Patterson, founder of the White Citizens’ Council

Mississippi Governor, Hugh White

Local sheriffs’ offices

2. At first many townspeople supported a conviction of Bryant and Milam. Why did public

opinion change?

3. How did Bryant and Milam’s attorneys know their clients would be acquitted (found not guilty)?

4. According to J.J. Breland, what three things did the state have to prove?

5. Why were the jurors’ minds already made up?

6. The author gives credit to the state of Mississippi for setting up a fair trial. Explain.


18

7. The prosecuting attorney said he would not seek the death penalty. Why would that statement help create a fair and impartial jury?

8. Explain the problem with jury selection as it relates to Mississippi state law.

9. React to the following statement: “A nigger congressman?” he exclaimed. “Hell, that ain’t even legal.”

10. Two eyewitnesses to Emmett’s murder were “not available to testify”. Explain the Sheriff’s role.

11. Why did other witnesses fail to testify?


19


♦ Justice political cartoons: Sheriff’s role in lock up the witnesses, judge’s role in creating a

fair trial.


20

Chapter 6 (pp. 84-106) Getting Away With Murder

1. “I wasn’t exactly brave and I wasn’t scared. I just wanted to see justice done.” Who made

this statement and why was he courageous?

2. What was Sheriff George Smith’s testimony? Sheriff Smith, Sheriff Smith, what did you say?

Roy B. Roy B., then what did you say to Smith?

3. Summarize Chester Miller’s testimony.

Chester Miller, Chester Miller, what did you see?

Chester Miller, Chester Miller, what else did you see?

Chester Miller, Chester Miller, why did you become confused and distracted?


21

4. Summarize Mamie Till Bradley’s testimony.

Emmett’s mom, Emmett’s mom, how were you poised?

Emmett’s mom, Emmett’s mom, how were you treated in court?

Emmett’s mom, Emmett’s mom, what did you say?

Emmett’s mom, Emmett’s mom, what did you insist?

Emmett’s mom, Emmett’s mom, what did you still insist?

Emmett’s mom, Emmett’s mom, what did you say years later?

5. Summarize Willie Reed’s testimony.

Willie Reed, Willie Reed, what did you have?

Willie Reed, Willie Reed, what did you lack?

Willie Reed, Willie Reed, what did you say?

Willie Reed, Willie Reed, what did you hear?

Willie Reed, Willie Reed, what did you NOT see?

Willie Reed, Willie Reed, where did you go after your testimony?


22

6. Sheriff Smith, Deputy Sheriff Cothran, and Mose Wright all testified that Roy Bryant and

J.W. Milam kidnapped Emmett. Why wasn’t that enough to convict?

7. Summarize Carolyn Bryant’s testimony.

8. Summarize Sheriff Strider’s testimony.

9. What did Clotye Murdock Larsson question about Strider’s testimony? Was it a rational, logical question? Why or why not?

10. What were Bryant’s and Milam’s mannerisms during Chatham’s closing argument?

11. What does the following statement mean: “ A man deals with a child accordingly as a child, not as a man to a man.”

12. The speech that defense attorney Whitten gave argued what?

13. What did defense attorney Carlton emphasize?

14. How long did the jury deliberate and what was its finding?


23

Chapter 7 (pp. 107-121) Aftershocks

1. Although the jury found Bryant and Milam not guilty, the end of racial discrimination in the

South was near. Why?

2. Protest rallies continued after the trial ended. Identify the three cities and the numbers of people who gathered in each city.

3. How did the national press take up the cause of civil rights?

4. In your own words what did author William Faulkner have to say about Emmett’s murder and trial?

5. Why did Emmett’s murder gather so much support to end segregation?

6. How did Emmett’s murder contribute to Rosa Park’s determination to not give up her seat on the Montgomery city bus?

7. After the trial, what caused Bryant and Milam to lose money in their businesses?

8. What did Bryant and Milam do to raise money for their businesses?

9. Describe what Bryant and Milam said to the magazine reporter.

10. What impact did the Look magazine article have on the civil rights movement?


24

11. What was life like for Bryant and Milam after the trial and magazine article?

12. Emmett’s mom said, “When something happened to the Negroes in the South, I said, ‘That’s their business, not mine.’ Now I know how wrong I was. The murder of my son has shown me that what happens to any of us, anywhere in the world, had better be the business of us all.” What does she mean and what example in today’s world could her statement be compared to?


25

Assessment 75 Points

Role Audience Format Topic Sheriff George Smith A news reporter doing

a story Written speech using the literary technique of repetition

The justice system

Mamie Till Bradley Special session of Congress

Written speech using the literary technique of repetition

Brown vs. Board of Ed. and the southern states’ desire to remain segregated, testimony throughout the trial

Roy Bryant School children ten years from now.

Guest editorial in a major newspaper.

Emmett’s contribution to the civil rights movement.

Judge Swango A group supporting integration

Video/power point documentary.

The southern way of life (Jim Crow laws, white supremacy) and the gradual acceptance of integration

Political cartoonist/courtroom sketch artist

Newspaper readers Set of drawings with detailed captions

Singer/songwriter Radio listeners Protest song The murder and trial of Emmett Till

Choose one role, audience, format, and topic. Consider everything you have learned from this book that is related to the topic you chose. Include it in the format. As you prepare your format keep in mind your role and audience. The grade will be based on a thorough understanding of the topic as well as how well you communicated your understanding. The grade is not based on the length of the project—See rubric. Information-Based Rubric 4 The student has a complete and detailed understanding of the information

important to the topic. 3 The student has complete understanding of the information important to the

topic but not in great detail. 2 The student has an incomplete understanding of the topic and/or

misconceptions about some of the information. However, the student maintains a basic understanding of the topic.

1 The student’s understanding of the topic is so incomplete or has so many misconceptions that the student cannot be said to understand the topic.

0 No judgment can be made.


26

♦ Possible short answer/essay questions for end of Unit. Of the 21 U. S. history books the authored surveyed, only two mentioned Emmett Till, for a combined total of less than 50 words to describe his place in American history. In what ways was Emmett’s visit to Mississippi a wise decision?

Emmett Till should be mentioned in every textbook.


Explain Below are questions taken from previous chapters.

Sending Emmett to Mississippi was a wise decision.


Explain

Emmett’s Mississippi friends and cousins are partly responsible for his murder.


Explain: In-class activities Turn chapters into headlines. How can this information help people? How can this information save lives? How can this information be used in our society? How has this information changed my thinking? How could you use this information to improve something in the world? Personal connections: What have you been dared to do? How did you feel? What did you do and what did you think afterwards? How was your situation the same? Different? What have you learned about yourself by studying this event? How is your family the same as or different from Emmett’s? Do you live in a single parent home? Do you have many more responsibilities than your friends/peers? Has your family experienced tragedy? Do you know of any family that is similar to Emmett’s?


27

Introduction KEY

1. Who was Emmett Till and what happened to him?

Chapter 1 KEY The Boy Who Triggered the Civil Rights Movement

Vocabulary

♦ Sharecropper ♦ Jim Crow laws ♦ Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka

1. Who knocked on the door of Mose Wright?

Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam.

2. What did the men want?

They wanted Emmett.

3. What did a fisherman find 3 days later?

Emmett’s body in the Tallahatchie River.

4. Brown vs. Board of Education gets in the way of maintaining the Southern

lifestyle.


Explain

5. There is no difference between a lynching and a murder.


Explain

6. Did the governor of Mississippi say Emmett’s killing was murder or lynching? Why did he choose the word he did?

7. Describe the spectator turnout and media attention during the trial.

8. Why did the trial capture worldwide attention?

Jet magazine photo and gruesome details of the murder made it more than just another Southern lynching, nature of the crime, the reason for kidnapping and killing (whistling and ugly remarks) made it big news. NAACP and Medgar Evars were fighting for equal


28

rights for blacks in the South, murder indictment was a landmark event (first time a white was charged with killing a Black).

9. How could testimony, evidence, and confession still not be enough to convict

Bryant and Milam?

10. What message did the jury’s decision send?

11. How did media attention to the trial and acquittal help the civil rights movement?


29

Chapter 2 KEY Kicking the Hornet’s Nest

1. What does the title of Chapter 2 mean?

2. Complete the table regarding life in Chicago vs. life in the South.

Life in Chicago Life in the South

3. What did some Southern states do in anticipation of the Supreme Court’s decision?

4. Suspend education requirement law in order to avoid using state money to educate Blacks.

5. What did Tom Brady’s speech and book emphasize?

6. What did Brady predict would happen if the mixing of races were allowed?

7. Why would Brady suggest school integration was a Communist-inspired plot? (Think

about the era in which these events occurred).

8. In what ways did the Jim Crow laws affect Blacks?

9. What were the three “mistakes” Emmett committed?


30

Chapter 3 KEY The Boy from Chicago

1. Emmett lived during a time where events and inventions permanently influenced

American life. Research two of the following and describe its influence on American life. ♦ The first atomic bomb ♦ Establishment of Israel as an independent country ♦ The GI Bill ♦ McDonald’s ♦ Integration of Major League Baseball

2. Identify two important events that happened to Emmett during the first five years of his life.

3. Between 1900 and 1950 Blacks moved north in what is termed the “Great Migration”.

Why?

4. What three qualities did Emmett’s friends like about him? Sense of humor, easygoing personality, ability to keep peace.

5.

Emmett is…

Lazy Helpful

Explain:

6. Sending Emmett to Mississippi was a wise decision.


Explain

7. Describe in detail how Emmett entertained himself, his cousin, and the local kids in Money, Mississippi.

(page 48-49)


31

Chapter 4 KEY The Wolf Whistle

Causal Relationships Complete the cause effect table for this chapter Cause Effect Emmett and cousins are restless in church The boys go to Bryant’s Grocery and Meat

Market Emmett brags about Chicago life. Friend tells Emmett to …”get a date,” with the

white women who works in the store. If a Black man gets too friendly with a white woman…

The Black is taught a lesson.

Emmett says, “I’ve been with white women before…Bye, baby.”

Friend grabs Emmett and pushes him out the door after Emmett says this.

Mrs. Bryant is furious at Emmett’s rudeness She runs out the door to grab a pistol in the car.

“How did you like the lady in the store?” Emmett responds to the question with a wolf whistle.

No threats are heard from the Bryants or other whites the next few nights.

Emmett and family think the Incident is forgotten.

Roy Bryant learns of the “talk at the store”. Roy confronts wife. Wife begs Roy to forget about it. Roy doesn’t; plans a visit to Emmett’s uncle. Roy and J.W. force Mose to the back bedroom Take Emmett to the car and drive off. Emmett is beaten in a shed. Something wrapped in a tarp is loaded in a

truck. Emmett still shows no remorse for what he had done at Bryant’s Market.

Milam make’s up his mind to kill Emmett.

Mose Wright says he can’t call the police because the Bryant’s will kill everyone in the house.

Curtis Jones ends up calling the police.

Emmett’s mother calls the media. Newspapers, television, and radio stations latch onto the story.

The phone calls work. Sheriff Smith arrests Roy Bryant for kidnapping.

Robert Hodges fishes in Tallahatchie River. Hodges finds Emmett’s body. The body is badly mutilated. Mose Wright is only able to make a positive

identification of the body based on a silver ring worn by Emmett.

Sheriff arranges for quick burial. Emmett’s mother arranges for body to be returned to Chicago.

“Let the people see what they did to my boy.” Emmett’s mother has an open casket viewing. Jet magazine publishes article and pictures of Emmett.

Murder enrages people across the nation

Grand jury indicts Bryant and Milam. People question…Could justice be done in one of the most notoriously raciest states in America?

1. Emmett’s Mississippi friends and cousins are partly responsible for his murder.


Explain:


32

2. Emmett is…

Foolish and Bold Sensible and Shy

Explain:


33

Background Summary Brown vs. Board of Education

In Topeka, Kansas in the 1950s, schools were segregated by race. Each day, Linda Brown and her sister, Terry Lynn, had to walk through a dangerous railroad switchyard to get to the bus stop for the ride to their all-black elementary school. There was a school closer to the Brown's house, but it was only for white students.

Topeka was not the only town to experience segregation. Segregation in schools and other public places was common throughout the South and elsewhere. This segregation based on race was legal because of a landmark Supreme Court case called Plessy v. Ferguson, which was decided in 1896. In that case, the Court said that as long as segregated facilities were equal in quality segregation did not violate the Constitution.

However, the Brown's disagreed. Linda Brown and her family believed that the segregated school system did violate the Constitution. In particular, they believed that the system violated the Fourteenth Amendment guaranteeing that people will be treated equally under the law.

No State shall . . . deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. —Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution


34

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) helped the Browns. Thurgood Marshall was the attorney who argued the case for the Browns. He would later become a Supreme Court justice.

The case was first heard in a federal district court, the lowest court in the federal system. The federal district court decided that segregation in public education was harmful to black children. However, the court said that the all-black schools were equal to the all-white schools because the buildings, transportation, curricula, and educational qualifications of the teachers were similar; therefore the segregation was legal.

The Browns, however, believed that even if the facilities were similar, segregated schools could never be equal to one another. They appealed their case to the Supreme Court of the United States. The Court combined the Brown's case with other cases from South Carolina, Virginia, and Delaware. The ruling in the Brown v. Board of Education case came in 1954.

getting away with murder final - · pdf filegetting away with murder: the true story of the...

Documents