122: The Murder of Emmitt Till, Part 1 - Caucasity, Cotton, and Context

The infamous 1955 murder of Emmett Till rocked the Mississippi Delta region, and was a strong catalyst for the later phases of the Civil Rights movement. Importantly, his brutal murder brought renewed spotlight to the history of violent persecution of African Americans. We start this story by going all the way back to the beginning of the slave trade in 1619. We later see how slavery evolves over the next couple hundred years, taking us to the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and the Reconstruction Era. In order to comprehend Emmett's death, we first need to understand the abridged history which led to its occurrence.