Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Emmett Till, Civil Rights Movement and Technologies



Greetings, Class Community.

We watched a documentary and discussed The Emmett Till Case of 1955.  There are a few questions I would like you to consider and discuss in our digital class space. 

Please respond to the following questions:

1. Do you recognize our discussions about The Great Migration and sundown towns being connected to the life, murder, and subsequent trial regarding Emmett Till? If so, what are those connections and how would you summarize the cause and effect relationship?



2.  Do you recognize our discussions about the miscegenation and 'racial purity' being connected to the life, murder, and subsequent trial regarding Emmett Till? If so, what are those connections and how would you summarize the cause and effect relationship of those terms and this event?

3.  How do you think 'new' technologies, such as the television, impacted the public reaction to the life, murder, and subsequent trial regarding Emmett Till? Please explain in a short paragraph of at least three sentences.



The links to the Emmett Till Documentaries: 

6 comments:

  1. I think new technologies affects the public's opinion towards life and violence. Nowadays people have much easier access to technology via smart phones or internet. It is easier to spread information whether it is false or true. It can be scary when rumors get spread and spread like wildfire through social media. However, social media and new technology can spread truthful information just as fast.

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    1. I totally agree, Jack. Thank you for the input.

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  2. 1. The Great Migration of southern Blacks to northern cities and the presence of white dominated "sundown" towns is certainly related to the Emmet Till event. Emmet Till demonstrates why the Great Migration occured. Because a black child, Emmet could grow up in the north and have very little idea of the danger of an actual sundown town.

    2. Emmet Till crossed a big line that existed in the minds of all people at that time. It existed in the minds of all people because everyone knew the white party involved would end up lynching the black party involved. This is all connected to miscegenation because the sexual guilt and "haunting bastard children" are a big part of what fueled the violent nature of whites towards blacks. People who act stupid hate themselves, people who hate themselves blame other people and pass that tradition on to their children, and pollute their communities.

    3. I think the technological application of the telephone tree was highly important for Emmet Till to act as a witness to the truth. The television specifically was used to show some distorted information about the Emmet Till trials. People still knew what happened though. I think people are very visual, I think that because the television was used, it might have scared both white and black people a good deal.

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  3. 2: By Emmett Till whistling at a white woman during this time era it was seen as a threat. The white race at the time wanted to keep purity by not allowing miscegenation to be allowed but the purity of their race was broken a long time ago. They thought that lynching a young child like this would teach him and America a lesson by not talking to "their" woman .

    3: Technological advances were very beneficial in this case, By having these technological advances his mother was able to show america what these people done to her son because as she said there was no way she could just tell people and they would believe her so she had to broadcast this traumatic event.

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  4. 1. I think the fact that Emmett Till did not have any real understanding of the differences in Mississippi than in Chicago plays a role in the whole idea of migration and sun down towns because his mother moved them up north so he would not have to deal with the harshness of discrimination in the south.
    2. Emmett's actions toward a white woman shows how miscegenation played a role in his death, and how any interaction with somone outside of your race could be dangerous. This also creates fear among African Americans and show how easy it could be for someone to lie on you as well.
    3. New technologies allowed Emmett's mother the oppotunity to make sure people knew what happened to her son. She was able to have bigger audience to bring awareness on how ruthless people were when it came to punishment of African Americans. It also gave a good visual aid for people to see that it could have easily been them too.

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  5. 1. The problem is that he is from Chicago which is in the north and he was down south in Mississippi when the incident occur. He Most likely was uneducated about the differences in the terms of restrictions, laws against African Americans

    3. I feel as though new technologies have indeed made a major impact as it gave blacks and it probably even white people a new perspective on things. It also could of been the ignition for African Americans to stand up for themselves. New technologies does nothing but confirms the stories/happenings. If new technologies such as a camera or a video camera was non existence, maybe Till's death would have been a myth.

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