Carolyn Bryant Donham, the White Woman Whose False Testimony Led to Emmett Till’s Murder, Has Died

Carolyn Bryant Donham, a white woman who made an accusation towards the Black teenager Emmett Till in 1955 leading to his lynching in Mississippi and motivating people to take part in the Civil Rights Movement, passed away at 88. She died on Tuesday night while getting hospice care in Westlake, Louisiana. Her death was reported on Thursday by Calcasieu Parish Coroner’s Office.

The death of a woman marks the last chance for anyone to be held responsible for kidnapping and killing Emmett Till, a teenager which horrified people around the world. His mother Mamie Till Mobley made a decision to have an open-casket funeral in Chicago so that everyone could witness the damage caused to her 14 year old son’s body pulled from the Mississippi river. Magazine Jet published photos of this story.

In August 1955, Till went to Mississippi to visiting his relatives. In a small town named Money, he got accused of being inappropriate when interacting with a 21-year-old lady named Carolyn Bryant who worked in the grocery store. His cousin, Rev. Wheeler Parker said that Till had whistled at her which did not adhere to the racist rules in Mississippi at that time.

A woman told Roy Bryant, who was married at the time, and his half-brother J.W. Milam about Till which led to them murdering him. Even though they did so, an all-white jury decided not to punish them for it later on. Then in an interview with Look magazine, they admitted that they had done it.

When Emmett Till disappeared in Mississippi, Ollie Gordon — one of his cousins— was 7 years old and living with Emmett’s family back home in Chicago. Ollie said that when Emmett went missing, their house was full of fear because they thought he might have been killed. When she heard the news of Donham’s death, Ollie had different emotions.

Gordon said that even though the woman was never tried in a court, she was still judged by God and faced more punishment than what she would have gotten from any legal system. He believed that her life was neither happy nor pleasant.

Parker is the one person who saw Till being taken away. In interviews and talks, Parker shared he heard Till whistle to the woman working in Bryant’s Grocery and Meat Market.

The other night, Parker saw Till get taken away from their uncle’s house in Mississippi, where they were staying. He feels bad for Donham now.

I have been a religious person for over sixty years and I don’t wish any harm on anyone, even though nobody will be punished for the death of my beloved cousin and friend. It is our responsibility to make sure that racial injustice is prevented in society.

Last year, President Joe Biden was really happy to sign the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act which makes lynching a federal crime. The White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said it shows how committed President Biden is to handling racism. In 2022, Donham wrote in her unpublished memoir that she had no idea what would happen to Till.

A new report, called “I am More Than A Wolf Whistle”, was uncovered by the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting. This document had 99 pages long and was obtained by author Timothy Tyson while he was interviewing a person named Donham in 2008. He gave a copy of this report to the Associated Press (AP).

Tyson had put a copy of his manuscript in a school archive at the University of North Carolina. Both Tyson and the university agreed that nobody else should see it for many years. However, in 2021 he gave it to the FBI as part of an investigation they did that year. But in 2022, the university gave back Tyson’s materials to him because they didn’t agree with the idea of making it public.

Tyson said in 2022 that he wanted to share a special memoir with the public. In June 2022, some of Till’s family members and other people who were researching at the courthouse in Leflore County, Mississippi, found an arrest warrant from 1955 addressing “Mrs. Roy Bryant” on kidnapping charges but it was never served. Tyson further stated in a statement Thursday that Donham was definitely involved in Till’s death, however her exact role remains unclear.

Tyson said that it’s easier for America to view this as only a story about monsters rather than seeing the terrible social system that clearly didn’t care about Emmett Till or thousands more like him. Neither the national government nor Mississippi did anything to stop or punish those responsible for this murder. It’s easier for us to criticize Donham but harder for us to accept what America was and still is.

Last year, a group of people from the New Black Panther Party and other activists visited different places where they thought that an older lady called Donham was present. They were trying to arrest her and put her on trial without permission from a court.

After the police found a warrant for something they never served, Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch said there was no proof to start criminal charges against Donham. In August, a district attorney had also told us that a grand jury in Leflore County decided not to press charges against Donham.

Till’s cousin, Priscilla Sterling, made an official complaint against the current Leflore County Sheriff, Ricky Banks. On February 7th, she wanted him to use a 1955 warrant on Donham. But on April 13th, the lawyer for Banks said it would be pointless because Donham was not found guilty last year by the Grand Jury.

The Emmett Till Legacy Foundation, managed by some of Till’s family members, posted a black empty square picture on social media websites on Thursday after hearing the news of Donham’s death. People from Wake Forest, North Carolina and Washington also contributed to this report.