"Even though no one will be held to account for the death of my cousin and best friend, it is up to all of us to be accountable to the challenges we still face in overcoming racial injustice," the Rev. Witnesses have died in the decades since Till was lynched, and its unclear what happened to evidence collected by investigators. Donham, then 21, accused him of making lewd remarks and grabbing her while she worked at a family grocery store in Money, Mississippi. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. Donham then named Carolyn Bryant accused him of wolf-whistling at her in a grocery store. Stidhum said he wishes he knew how Donham reckoned with her own conscience. "Serve it and charge her," Teri Watts said. Carolyn Bryants legacy will be one of dishonesty and injustice, Shabazz said. But there could be accountability. Emmett Till investigation closed, no charges against Carolyn Donham The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. There are plenty of roadblocks. Who was Carolyn Bryant Donham and what happened with Emmett Till Still, Donham stayed married to the killer for about 20 years after Till was killed and never offered a public word about the matter. A Till relative who was there at the time, Wheeler Parker, told The Associated Press that Till whistled at the woman. And sadly, nobody whos responsible for his death will be held to account.. hide caption. In August 1955, Till traveled from Chicago to visit relatives in Mississippi. The community is the last known address of Carolyn Bryant Donham, who accused Till of making made improper advances and obscene comments towards her in 1955. . An unserved arrest warrant from 1955 for Donham, charging her in Tills kidnapping, was discovered in a Mississippi courthouse last year. Emmett Till's relatives seek his accuser's prosecution in the 1955 kidnapping. I think she didnt recall it, he said. Two years later, Congress passed the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act. A relative of Emmett Till is suing to try to make a Mississippi sheriff serve a 1955 arrest warrant on a white woman in the kidnapping that led to the brutal lynching of the Black teenager. Till's family demanded justice after recovering an . For Donham, I have only questions, and contempt. In this 1955 file photo, Carolyn Bryant poses for a photo. The Rev. However, Banks told The Associated Press last month it was the first time he's known about the warrant. The legal system has declined for decades to charge Donham with a crime, and on Friday an aide to the Mississippi attorney general made clear that there are no plans to reopen the case against Donham now. Emmett Till's accuser Carolyn Bryant Donham seen in Kentucky for the first time in nearly 20 years . Even the location of the original warrant is a mystery. If there was probable cause to issue that warrant and to name her in that warrant back then, that probable cause disappeared over time. Till relatives met in March with . I cant hate, he said. Carolyn Bryant Donham Dies at 88; Her Words Doomed Emmett Till I dont think she had a pleasant or happy life.. In 2004, the U.S. Department of Justice Department opened an investigation of Till's killing after it received inquiries about whether charges could be brought against anyone still living. Carolyn Bryant Donham was named nearly 67 years ago in a warrant that accused her in Tills abduction, even before his mangled body was found in a river, FBI records show, yet she was never arrested or brought to trial in a case that shocked the world for its brutality. The family feels both the federal government, along with the state of Mississippi, are "protecting [Bryant]" because of authorities telling Richardson to "not move forward on the warrant," Sterling told reporters. His lynching was a tipping point for the Civil Rights Movement. Benson lamented the end of a quest for accountability in the case. rediscovered the long-missing trial transcript. Thats a heavy burden to carry., Woman Linked to 1955 Emmett Till Murder Tells Historian Her Claims Were False, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/27/us/emmett-till-lynching-carolyn-bryant-donham.html. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. Here's the proof against Carolyn Bryant Donham in the Emmett Till case Donham set off the case in August 1955 by accusing the 14-year-old Till of making improper advances at a family store in Money, Mississippi. Thousands of American workers are sickened or injured on the job every day. she added. A Mississippi sheriff has pushed back against calls from relatives of Emmett Till to arrest a White woman who claimed Till had whistled at her inappropriately, an accusation that led to his. She was the daughter of a plantation manager and a nurse. But Teri Watts said the Till family believes the warrant accusing Donham of kidnapping amounts to new evidence. Carolyn Bryant Donham has died - Mississippi Today The Rev. Milam, Roy Bryant's half-brother, were tried for Till's murder but were quickly acquitted by an all-white jury. A woman holds a sign in honor of Emmett Till during a protest on June 13, 2020 in Chicago, Ill. Till's family urged authorities to move on a recently discovered unserved warrant from 1955 that charges a white woman for the murder and kidnapping of the teenager. Emmett Till's relatives want his accuser to be prosecuted in his 1955 kidnapping. . The decision comes despite recent revelations about an unserved arrest warrant and the 87-year-old Donham's unpublished memoir. Patrick Weems, executive director of the Emmett Till Interpretive Center in Sumner, Mississippi,said Donham's "lies in 1955 put the torture of Emmett in motion.