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Mose Wright and the Murder of Emmett Till
One example of how Eyes on the Prize emphasizes everyday Americans' contributions to advancing civil rights is in episode one, "Awakenings." "Awakenings" tells the story of Mose Wright, the grand uncle of Emmett Till. Till, a fourteen-year-old boy from Chicago, was visiting relatives in Money, Mississippi when he was abducted and murdered by two men, J. W. Milam and Roy Bryant. The men alleged that Till had harassed Bryant's wife, Carolyn Bryant, while buying candy at the Bryants' convenience store.50 They beat him, shot him in the head, and dumped his body in the Tallahatchie River.
Hampton struggled with how to frame the story of Emmett Till's murder and his killers' trial. Instead of focusing on the brutality of the crime, the American public's reaction to it, or the miscarriage of justice that led to Milam and Bryant's acquittal, Hampton emphasized Wright's courage in seeking justice for his nephew. When called to the stand, the prosecution asked Wright to identify the men took Till from his bed the night he was lynched. Despite the danger of accusing a white man of murder in the segregated South, Wright identified Till's abductors.
For Hampton, small acts of individual bravery on the part of everyday Black Americans were as critical for advancing civil rights as protests and legislation. In "Awakenings," we learn about the Supreme Court's ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, which overturned Plessy v. Ferguson in declaring segregated public schooling unconstitutional. "I think the greatest impact of the Brown decision was on the Black community itself," says Constance Baker Motley, one of a team of lawyers involved in the case. By using this clip from Motley's interview, "Awakenings" emphasizes the emboldening effect the Brown verdict had on Black Americans. It then introduces Mose Wright's story, which serves as a bridge between the Brown v. Board verdict and Emmett Till's murder: "The change began slowly," narrator Julian Bond says. "Blacks in rural areas knew they could lose their livelihood or their lives if they pushed whites too fast. But step by step, the change began, first with small acts of personal courage. In September 1955, an old man named Mose Wright took that remarkable first step."
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Instead of depicting Till's murder as a setback for civil rights, "Awakenings" emphasizes Mose Wright's bravery, characterizing his testimony as one of the many acts of courage inspired by the Supreme Court desegregation ruling.
The Interviews
The following is a list of some of the little-known "local people" Hampton and his crew interviewed. The list is limited to individuals who rarely spoke publicly about their experiences in the civil rights struggle and who were not movement leaders.
James Armstrong: Plaintiff in a school desegregation lawsuit in Birmingham, Alabama; part of a group that tried to integrate a Greyhound bus station's waiting room
Frances Belser: Montgomery bus boycotter
John Daniels: Montgomery bus boycotter
Don Evans: Teenager and resident of Birmingham, Alabama, during efforts to desegregate the city in 1963
Mrs. Folgate: Montgomery bus boycotter
Georgia Gilmore: Montgomery bus boycotter; helped raise money to support the boycott
Patricia Harris: Took part in the Birmingham youth marches in 1963
James Hoffman: Montgomery bus boycotter
Rutha Mae and Willie Hill Jackson: Lived near Greenwood, Mississippi, during the Emmett Till murder trial, which took place in Sumner, Mississippi
Curtis Jones: Emmett Till's cousin who was with him during the incident at the Bryants' convenience store and the night he died
Donie Jones: Montgomery bus boycotter
Marcia Webb Lecky: Former Little Rock Central High School student
Rudolph Lee: Child and resident of Birmingham, Alabama, during the demonstrations there in 1963
Frederick Leonard: Freedom Rider
Rachel West Nelson: Nine-year-old during the Selma, Alabama, campaign in which both she and her parents were active
Gussie Nesbitt: Montgomery bus boycotter
Craig Rains: Former Little Rock Central High School student
Jan Robertson: University of Mississippi student who witnessed the riots that broke out in response to James Meredith's attempts to enroll
Bernie Schweid: Co-owner of R. M. Mills bookstores in downtown Nashville, Tennessee, during the sit-in movement there and the boycott of downtown stores
Normareen Shaw: Owner of Mack's Café in Marion, Alabama, where state troopers shot Jimmie Lee Jackson; Jackson's death precipitated the Selma to Montgomery march
Sheyann Webb: Child during the civil rights campaign in Selma, Alabama; took part in the march from Selma to Montgomery
