OPINION: Sex and racism in Emmett Till’s Mississippi

In 1965, Calvin Hernton wrote a popular book, entitled Sex and Racism in America, in which he delved into the myths and truths regarding sex and sexuality across racial lines; the sexual considerations behind segregation and many Jim Crow practices; and the reasons behind the often violent white reactions to interracial marriage and dating, especially when it involves a Black male and a white female. Although the book was written 100 years after slavery, its arguments have roots there, and though it was written 10 years after the lynching of Emmett Till, it is easy to see Till’s savage murder as a product of what Hernton discussed in his book.

We are herein examining two aspects of the problem: 1) the sexualized reactions of white to Black male/white female relationships; and 2) white male perspectives of Black females. It is not that the other aspects do not matter. It is that white males were so clearly in charge of the politics and economics of society during the period under discussion. It remains to a degree today.

We have taken the liberty of referring to the environment being viewed as Emmett Till’s Mississippi not only because it is the state in which he was lynched. It is because it is the state shaping the fears of Till’s mother Mamie Till, as she worried about his visit that summer. (She and her relatives had lived in and migrated from Tallahatchie, Leflore, Quitman, and Holmes counties.) It is also because it is the state having molded the Bryant and Milam families, including their fears of Black sexuality and willingness to keep Black men in check. (Leflore, Sunflower, and Tallahatchie counties were the counties of their residence at the time of the lynching.)

Many people have read or heard accounts of the Emmett Till/Carolyn Bryant encounter in the grocery story, Till’s abduction from the home of Rev. Mose Wright, the torture and murder of Till, and the disposal of his body. What often is not emphasized is the belief that far more people than Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam were involved in the torture and murder; that other members of their family and known Klansmen were involved, from the abduction through the cover-up. What is often not emphasized is the viciousness of the torture. Both of these elements are important because underlying them was the desire to send a strong definitive message regarding sex, even sexual attraction when it comes to Black males and white females. That message was the most savage punishment must be meted out and there must be total commitment to sending the message.

What many realize, and what Hernton implies, is that a great deal of the reaction of white males in the area of racial sexuality is based upon their hypocrisy, fears, and projections. To put it another way, a great deal of raping and otherwise taking advantage of Black women had taken place on slave ships, plantations, and elsewhere that the whites do not want visited upon them. Furthermore, not all of it happened during slavery, but some of it was contemporary.

During the same time period in which Emmett Till was growing up, white men were fantasizing about and taking advantage of Black women. Just a few examples here reveal the nature and the breadth of such. One very popular blues musician in Leflore County often stayed “on the road” because a local white businessman was so frequently “visiting” with his wife, which he felt powerless to stop. Two large plantation owners in Bolivar County had multiple children by Black women, but also remained with their white families. One high-level Washington County political leader was openly criticized by white opponents for his love of whiskey and “n—- women,” to the neglect of state legislation. One Bolivar County Ku Klux Klan Grand Dragon for years had sexual liaisons with one of the Black women who worked by day in his laundry, as did a white male police officer with another Black woman, in the same community. Both men were married. In some small towns, there were houses of ill-repute frequented only by white men and serviced by Black women. On one occasion, the writer, as a 12-year-old, was asked by two white men where they might get some “n—- p—-.” There were no limits to how aggressive and disrespectful some white men could be in their pursuits, which turned inside out, also meant there were no limits to how far they would go to oppress Black men whom they believed desired or pursued white women. 

These were all things that were fairly common in Emmett Till’s Mississippi. They were reasons why so many white men were so willing to engage in the lynching of Black men accused of sexual involvement with white women. It does not matter much that there were many other reasons why Black people were lynched in Till”s Mississippi. Those in power, generally white men, wanted to make sure that Black men, in particular, were fearful enough and powerless enough that they could not challenge them politically, economically, or sexually. They wanted to make sure that no Black man ever stepped out of line or white women were put in a position of sexual vulnerability. White men feared and did not want done to their white women what they had done to Black women. Projection is a serious psychological flaw, and when it comes to racist white men it can be deadly for Black men. What the data shows is that the more heavily Black is the population of an area, the more aggressively are Black men oppressed, then and even now.

Such was the Mississippi that Mamie Till knew. Therefore, she was fearful of what could happen to Emmett in Mississippi in the summer of 1955. Such was the Mississippi that was the domain of Roy Bryant, J.W. Milam, and their co-conspirators in August of 1955, enabling them to feel free to abduct and murder Emmett Till after he supposedly flirted with Carolyn Bryant.