Guidelines for Online Literature Circle:
Welcome to your online literature circle posting site. Please use the “post comment” below for this group’s discussion only. This space will give you and the members in this group an opportunity to express your own opinions about theories, research, and content. You will also be able to read each other’s comments and give feedback.
Directions:
1) Read the required readings, watch the documentary on Emmett Till, and listen to the Marilyn Nelson read the poem.
2) Complete the Google Doc (link above)
2) Post a reading response –below this post!!
3) Reading response entries should be at least 500-750 words.
4) Read all recent postings and give feedback (people in your literature circle group).
This is an opportunity for you to explore what you think is important, as well as, become active participants in your own learning by collaboratively problem solving and giving/getting appropriate feedback. This is your groups place to process meaning and develop understandings. Please feel free to respond to additional issues or questions that you feel are most relevant to your experiences and interests.
1955
ReplyDeleteEmmett Till, a teen from Chicago, didn't understand that he had broken the unwritten laws of the South until three days later, when two white men dragged him from his bed in the dead of night, beat him brutally and then shot him in the head. Although his killers were arrested and charged with murder, they were both quickly acquitted by an all-white, all-male jury. Shortly afterwards, the defendants sold their story, including a detailed account of how they murdered Till (This part made me want to scream... Ahhh)! The murder and the trial horrified the nation and the world. Till's death was a spark that helped mobilize the civil rights movement. Three months after his body was pulled from the Tallahatchie River, the Montgomery bus boycott began. Emmett Till became not only a national story, but also put southern racism into the international spotlight. These events became a major force in the advancement of the Civil Rights Movement. Some would even say they were the catalyst. As I speak to others about Till I have found that barely anyone has even heard of it. . .
2012
A similar fate. . . Trayvon Martin. During the half-time show of the NBA All-Star Game, Trayvon decided to go to a local convenience store, to purchase a snack. On his way back home in a gated-community, he encountered George Zimmerman, an unauthorized neighborhood watchman, and an individual with a strong habit for calling the cops at the mere sight of seeing a black man in his midst.
As expected, Zimmerman calls the police to report that he has observed a “suspicious-looking” black man around his home. He is then instructed by the dispatcher “to stay put” and not to encounter the individual in question. Zimmerman elects not to follow the directions given by the dispatcher and pursues Trayvon carrying a loaded handgun. Trayvon, who is on his cell phone during part of the encounter, is heard crying out for help, and is subsequently shot to death by George Zimmerman.
Zimmerman’s statement of “self-defense”. . . he’s not arrested and he’s even given back his gun by the authorities (And again. . . Ahhh)! The Sanford Police Department has been so uncooperative and clumsy in its investigation of the instant case that the federal Justice Department and a state grand jury are now conducting their own investigations.
If any good is to come from the “calculated execution” of Trayvon Martin it is that this case has taken on the national significance and sense of moral outrage that Emmett Till’s murder had in 1955.
After watching the Emmett Till Movie, reading A Wreath For Emmett Till and watching endless updates on Trayvon Martin... Not only are we a (Janus) Country divided by politics we are also a Country divided by color. In 2012 why is bigotry still happening.
The Janus of 1955 is still seen today in 2012. How can we as a Nation change this?
Well said, Cadi, well said! I too have been watching coverage on the Trayvon story, realizing the racism that still remains in this country and the “hate” that people still have for each other based on nothing more than the color of one’s skin.
ReplyDeleteWhen you think about it, the Emmett Till story and the Trayvon Martin story are quite similar in many alarming ways. Neither of these young men knew that they would lose their lives in vicious attacks and neither of these boys was trying to change the world the day in which they died. Both were brutally attacked and mourned by loved ones, while their vicious attackers roamed free…to do this again. It is almost embarrassing to think that I live in a country where things like this take place. It also makes me sick to think I am so naive to how the world really is…for people who aren’t “like me.”
Cadi, Heidi, and I watched the Emmett Till documentary together, questioning, wondering, pondering, how it was possible that none of us had ever heard of the Emmett Till story before in school? Not one of us could remember hearing a word about this horrific story in school. How could this be possible? This tragedy unfolded in the birth time of our parents…yet here we sit, clueless of this event in time. I realize that the details of Till’s attack would have been much too graphic to mention to a classroom full of young teenagers but it was real. It happened to a boy in his teenage years. A boy who did nothing wrong (by our standards) and went about his day as any of us would. Yet, his life ended in such a shameful way, it should have rocked the country. Much like the Trayvon Martin story has.
I think we all cried listening to his sweet mother talk about her sweet boy. I couldn’t help but think of the strength she had to have throughout this unimaginable moment in her life. I had tears in my eyes (as I do now) thinking about the kiss on her cheek when he left on that train, picturing her holding her precious baby boy in her arms for the first time, opening that casket to make sure it was really him-and not seeing her baby boy in that body she now viewed in front of her. Ah! I could hardly contain myself with such thoughts. I wonder if any of us could have the strength and courage she had for her son and for justice? I wonder if I could ever put myself through such moments, for justice of peace and humankind?
I have been enlightened by the story of Emmett Till, what still remains of hatred in this country. I wish that I could remain naïve to it, sip my coffee at the coffee shop, make my Saturday plans, and pretend that there isn’t trouble in the world. But, there is trouble in our world and I want to be educated, strong, and do what I can to pass on my education…helping the younger generations to see it and change the world.
Your words touch my heart and bring tears to my eyes as I too wonder how such a horrific crime could possibly happen. Mindy, you brought up a good point. . . "How could we be "clueless to this". You also mentioned that you might have been protected by your parents, yet this book is written to bring about an awareness not only in adults, but young adolescents. Would you show this documentary and/or read this poem with your students? Why or why not? Just wondering?
ReplyDeleteThanks Cadi and Mindy for sharing your thoughts about Emmett Till.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed watching The Untold Story of Emmett Tell and A Wreath for Emmett Till. I found the movie to be very touching and to meet some of Emmett’s family and friends was very powerful. As I was watching it I was thinking about how much strength it would take to make a movie about your son, cousin, or friends life. For his mom to want to share her son’s mutated face and story so that other African Americans can learn from Emmett’s life during the civil right movement. It was neat to read Emmett’s life story in a poem. The movie was very helpful and gave a great background on Emmett’s life. When reading the poem you were able to understand what Marilyn Nelson was describing and why she used the words and phrases that she did.
Mindy, as I was reading what you said about how you, Heidi, and Cadi watched the movie Emmett Till together and you couldn’t believe that none of your had heard Emmett’s story. I was thinking the same thing after watching the movie and listening to A Wreath for Emmett Till and how could I have not heard about this horrible story. I found it very interesting when Nelson related Emmett’s life to 9-11. It made me think about how 9-11 was a large event, and today we still morn over all of the lives that were taken away from us that day; and we’re still teaching about it today. Yet, when I asked my mom, who was born a year after Emmett’s Till’s death, if she had never heard about Emmett Till? She said, “No.” I feel that Nelson was trying to express that Emmett should be recognize as a hero along with all of the 9-11 hero’s. Emmett would be a hero during the civil right movement.
Thanks Cadi and Mindy also for sharing the story about Trayvon Martin. I feel stupid to say this but I have not heard about this story. With your great review of this story, I can start thinking about how our country in still divided by color and politics. To think about Emmett’s story, which happened 57 years ago, which seems like a long time ago and yet the same issues are still happening today!!!! You would think and hope that we would be free from all of these issues.
I understand how parts of this story are gruesome and the terrible effects of Emmett’s face after the murder but I feel that at sometime in high school or college we should have been introduced to Emmett’s story. I feel that as an educator, I need to share Emmett’s story with as many people as I can and this also shows how we need to continue to teach Social Studies, History, etc. to our students no matter how busy we get with focusing on testing with math and reading. We need to make sure that we’re integrating these historical events into are every day learning.
Ok so I totally missed this last week! Sorry!!!
ReplyDeleteWhen we started watching the Emmett Till documentary I had no idea what to expect! I had never even heard of him. I was so shocked once we started watching that I was talking about it for days! No one I had asked about it knew anything about it. My mom was 3 when it happened and I figured she would have heard something about it in her lifetime. It makes me embarrassed that we didn't know about such a horrific event. I wonder why it was never discussed in school and if it had happened to a white child, would it have been more widely known.
You have all made such profound statements about what happened and I too am appalled at the thought of it all. And especially that it still happens. While we no longer keep blacks out of certain buildings or chairs or drinking fountains, it still happens everyday! As a whole, I think that there are less opportunities for African American people. Over spring break I went to the State High School Basketball Tournament. The two teams in the division one championship game were both from the Milwaukee area. One being in the city and one a suburb. After our many discussions, I couldn't help but thinking it was like the white kids against the black kids. Which team was the one with the nice uniforms and the great education? Which team was the one with the money? I'm sure you can guess.
Needless to say, while we have made some progress in the past few years, I think we still have a LONG way to go!
Like all of you, I was sickened by the realization that such evil went unpunished – and it’s haunting. But I want to talk about something else that I found equally astounding - The composure of Emmett Till’s mother was unforgettable. What an amazing person. I am so sorry for what she had to endure. Knowing the awful fate of her beautiful little boy – such things drive people to insanity. But she forced herself to think clearly, to recognize the necessity of keeping the casket open, of demanding what little she could, and keeping her composure in front of those cameras. What a representative. Her manner and presence had to shame people. I’m thinking too of that text in “To Be a Slave” where the woman, whose child has died, screams at her master that at least her baby was free with Jesus and would never have to live as his slave. Emmett’s mom had an incredibly strong faith, a “this world is not my home” kind of faith. I don’t know how she could have survived without it.
ReplyDeleteI am so troubled by the fact that the men of Emmett’s family felt they had to permit those thugs to come in the house and take Emmett away – basically kidnap him. And they all felt there was no other option. If someone came over to my house in the middle of the night and announced that they were taking my 14-year old away with them, I’d fight them tooth and nail! But the men believed that they had to permit this. I guess the pistol they were faced with helped them make the decision. And then they just waited? I suppose there was no one to go to. It’s just so strange. Their total orientation was that they had to permit the white men to do whatever they wanted to, right or wrong. I guess they believed something worse would happen if they didn’t, and it probably would have. Maybe instead of just Emmett being brutalized it would have been them as well. If someone showed up at 2:30 a.m. the first thing I would grab is my gun. Didn’t they have guns of their own? They actually had learned not to even attempt to defend themselves.
I needed the video to understand the poem. In fact, reading about this would not have been as effective as watching the video. I wanted to find out more so I looked on-line – perhaps some of this was repeated in the video, but maybe I missed it. Anyway, I read that 2 months prior to Emmitt’s murder was when the Supreme Court had ordered the southern states to integrate the schools “with all deliberate speed,” so violence against blacks in Mississippi had really escalated. So what was happening in the schools at that time? Did any blacks attempt integration? Again, I looked it up. Mississippi managed to delay desegregation until 1970! In my lifetime kids were having to attend separate schools there. That just blows my mind.