What Happened to Carolyn Bryant? Who is She? Know More Details

Who was Carolyn Bryant?

Carolyn Bryant Donham, formerly known as Carolyn Bryant, is a historically significant figure in the Civil Rights Movement in America. She was the white woman who accused Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Black boy, of making inappropriate advances towards her in her store in Mississippi in 1955. Her false accusations, which were part of a much larger history of false accusations against Black men, led to the brutal lynching of Till by white supremacists, sparking widespread outrage and catalyzing the burgeoning Civil Rights Movement.

In 2017, Donham made headlines when she admitted in an interview with author Timothy Tyson that her accusations against Till were false and that Till had not made any advances toward her. She also revealed that her former husband, Roy Bryant, and his half-brother, J.W. Milam, were responsible for Till's murder. Donham's admission, made over 60 years after the incident, fueled renewed investigations and discussions about the Till case and the ongoing legacy of racial violence and injustice in America.

Since the interview, Donham has largely lived a private life, and there is little information publicly available about her current status or whereabouts. Nevertheless, her role in the Till case and her subsequent admission has had a profound impact on the ongoing struggle for justice and equality in America, serving as a reminder of the ongoing work that still needs to be done to address the systemic racism and injustices that continue to plague our society.

What Happened to Carolyn Bryant?

The woman whose accusations led to the torture and killing of 14-year-old Black teenager Emmett Till, an unpunished crime that incited national outrage and propelled the civil rights movement, has passed away.

According to Mississippi Today, Carolyn Bryant Donham passed away at the age of 88 while under hospice care for cancer, as confirmed by the Calcasieu Parish Coroner's Office in Louisiana on Thursday.

When Emmett Till was just 14 years old and visiting family in Mississippi in 1955, Carolyn Bryant Donham, who was 21 at the time, accused him of making inappropriate comments and physical advances toward her in a grocery store. A few days later, Till was abducted at gunpoint by two white men, with evidence suggesting that Donham may have identified Till to them.

After beating and shooting Emmett Till in the head, his attackers tied his body to a metal fan using barbed wire and threw it into a river. Till's disfigured corpse was discovered several days later. At Till's funeral in Chicago, his mother, Mamie Till Mobley, chose to leave his casket open so that the world could see the brutality inflicted upon her son, an act that sparked nationwide outrage and galvanized the civil rights movement.

In 1955, Carolyn Bryant Donham, along with her husband Roy Bryant and brother-in-law JW Milam, were charged with the abduction of Emmett Till as per an unserved warrant. However, the county sheriff, despite releasing the warrant publicly, did not want to pursue Donham's arrest citing her parental responsibilities and unavailability.

Bryant and Milam were tried for Till's murder but were acquitted by an all-white jury. Later, in a magazine interview, they confessed to killing Till. Donham's unpublished memoir, reviewed by the AP, claimed that she did not know what would happen to Till, and tried to deny his identity when he was brought to her, but Till identified himself. Both Bryant and Milam have since passed away.

Carolyn Bryant Donham has Died at 88

On Tuesday, Carolyn Bryant Donham passed away at the age of 88 in Westlake, Louisiana. Her allegation that Emmett Till whistled at her during a grocery store visit in 1955 resulted in Till's brutal murder, which outraged the nation and sparked the civil rights movement.

The Calcasieu Parish coroner's office in Louisiana confirmed today that Donham passed away while under hospice care.

At the time of Till's lynching, Donham was known as Carolyn Bryant and was the 21-year-old owner-cashier of a small general store in Money, Mississippi. Till, a Chicago boy who was visiting relatives in town, first encountered Donham there. After Donham told her then-husband Roy Bryant and his half-brother J.W. Milam that Till had whistled at her in the store, which has been much disputed and remains unfounded, the two men abducted, tortured, and murdered him.

Despite the confession of the murderers and the discovery of an old arrest warrant against Carolyn Bryant, a grand jury declined to indict her last year due to a lack of new evidence. The brutal murder of Emmett Till in 1955, which went unpunished as an all-white jury acquitted the murderers, triggered nationwide outrage and fueled the Civil Rights movement after Till's mother insisted on an open casket funeral in Chicago. A photograph of Till's disfigured face was published in Jet magazine, sparking public outrage.

Timothy B. Tyson, a historian who studied Till's case in 2017, Donham confessed to lying during her husband's trial about Till's behavior at the grocery store to make it seem more "menacing" and "sexual." Mamie Till Mobley, who passed away in 2003, forgave her son's killers before her death.

The murder of Emmett Till has been the focus of many documentaries and movies, including the recent film "Till" released last year. The film featured Danielle Deadwyler as Mamie Till, Jalyn Hall as Emmett Till, and Haley Bennett as Carolyn Bryant.

Carolyn Bryant Gets Away from Emmett Till’s Murder

The names of Roy and Carolyn Bryant and J.W. Milam will forever be associated with the 1955 killing of Emmett Till. They are remembered by many as the group that committed murder and faced no consequences.

Carolyn Bryant, the daughter of a plantation manager and a nurse, came from Indianola, Mississippi, which was at the center of the White Citizens' Councils, a group of segregationists and supremacists. Despite dropping out of high school, she won two beauty pageants and later married Roy Bryant, who was a former soldier.

Bryant's Grocery & Meat Market, a small store that provided goods to black sharecroppers and their children, was run by Roy and Carolyn Bryant. It was situated at one end of the main street in the small town of Money, which was the epicenter of the Mississippi Delta's cotton-growing region. They resided in two small rooms at the back of the store and had two sons.

Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam worked together as truckers to earn additional income. Milam, a World War II veteran who had received combat medals, was known for his ability to "handle" black individuals.

On the evening of August 24, 1955, after a long day of picking cotton, Emmett Till and his cousins and friends went to Bryant's Grocery for refreshments. The boys entered the store one or two at a time to purchase soda or bubble gum, and Emmett Till bought two cents' worth of bubble gum. What exactly occurred next remains unclear, but according to witnesses, Carolyn Bryant became angry and stormed out of the store, threatening to retrieve a pistol. Fearing for their safety, Emmett and his group left the store.

Juanita informed Carolyn about the incident with Emmett, and they both decided to keep it from their husbands who were away on a trucking job. When Roy and J. W. returned, they were informed by one of the kids at the scene what had happened. In the Deep South where racial segregation was enforced by law, the two men decided to take matters into their own hands and teach Emmett a lesson.

Under the cover of darkness on August 28, around 2:30 a.m., Roy and J.W. arrived at Moses Wright's home, where Emmett was staying, and took him away. Wright stated that he saw someone in the car, potentially Carolyn, who helped to identify Emmett. The body of the boy was discovered a few days later in the Tallahatchie River, disfigured and decomposed. Moses Wright could only identify the body through a ring with initials that had belonged to Emmett's father, Louis Till.

Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam were accused and arrested for the murder of Emmett Till. They couldn't afford a legal defense, so five local lawyers represented them pro bono. During the trial, the press labeled them as celebrities and many white supporters showed up to watch the show. Carolyn testified under oath that Emmett made "ugly remarks" to her before whistling. After they were acquitted, the men sold their story to a reporter and admitted to killing Emmett. They were ostracized and their businesses went bankrupt. Roy and J.W. eventually died of cancer, but no one ever served time for Emmett's murder.

What Happened to Carolyn Bryant - FAQs

Carolyn Bryant was the wife of Roy Bryant, one of the men accused and acquitted of the murder of Emmett Till in 1955.

Carolyn Bryant accused Emmett Till of making advances towards her at Bryant's Grocery, the store owned by her and her husband, which led to Till's abduction and murder by Roy Bryant and his half-brother J.W. Milam.

Carolyn Bryant testified that Emmett Till had made sexual advances towards her, including grabbing her and making vulgar comments, which she said prompted her to leave the store and retrieve a gun. However, her testimony was given outside the presence of the jury and was not heard by the panel.

In 2007, historian Timothy Tyson interviewed Carolyn Bryant and she admitted that she had fabricated parts of her testimony. She said that Till did not physically touch her or make any lewd comments, and that she had lied about Till's behavior to justify her husband's subsequent violence towards him.

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