Shadows of Emmett Till

Shadows of Emmett Till – The Mississippi Delta has been called “The Most Southern Place on Earth”. It’s a region of layered histories that collide with each other on a daily basis. It defines America like no other part of the country – a culture entwined with slavery, poverty, and political and economic oppression. It is the land that gave birth to the creative genius of B. B. King and to the murder of young Emmett Till. Shadows of Emmett Till seeks to probe that complex past by observing the many ways the shadow of Till’s murder still hangs over the Delta. This work breathes the Delta air and seeks to frame the region and its people in a 21st-century context, at a time when white America may be starting to finally come to terms with the sins of its past. Along the way, past spills into present, with parallels to George Floyd and so many others.