Erin DrummondApril 6, 2014Research PaperEmmett Louis Till, a young black boy only fourteen years old, lived in Chicago and traveled the South in the mid-20th century. Although he lived for very few years, his life and death impacted the lives of everyone in America's present and past. This boy was accused, stalked, brutally beaten, and ultimately murdered because he was black. His murderers were acquitted even with ample evidence against them because they were white. Emmett is said to have sparked the civil rights movement, which inspired people like Rosa Parks and many others. On July 25, 1941, the day Emmett was born, God was with him. He survived many ordeals, including a breach birth. Although doctors said he would be disabled for life and institutionalized, this was not the case, he grew into a very active young boy. Emmett loved going out and playing with his many friends. His best friend was his cousin, Wheeler Parker, who lived across the street. When Emmett was only two years old, Louis Till, his father, was drafted into the army. In 1945, Emmett's mother Mamie and four-year-old Emmett learned that Louis had been executed for willful misconduct. There was no explanation for the crime at the time. At the age of five, Emmett was diagnosed with polio. He recovered with only a stutter in his speech, which was later self-corrected to wheezing. Emmett is named after Mamie's favorite uncle, Emmett, and her husband, Louis. His nickname was BoBo or Bo. He was surrounded by successful black people who, like Emmett, had an unwavering faith in God. Even though Emmett had jobs to earn money, he also had jobs at home. He cooked, cleaned, washed clothes and did all other household chores. "He took all the... middle of paper ...... his story was published in Look magazine in an article titled "The Shocking Story of Approved Murder in Mississippi", for which they were paid . Less than a hundred days after Emmett's death, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white person. She later recalled: "I thought about Emmett and I couldn't. I just couldn't go back." (Source #4). Emmett sparked the civil rights movement and opened America's eyes to a problem that needed immediate correction. Nine years after his assassination, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. “People really don't know these things happen,” Mamie said, “and the fact that it happened to a child, that makes all the difference” (Source #1) Mamie chose to tell her story by writing a book published in 2003, entitled Death of Innocence Mamie died the same year, but her story will live on..