Emmett Till (1941-1955) Background and Early Years: Emmett Louis "Bobo" Till was born on July 25, 1941 and was a 14-year-old black boy from Chicago who was brutally murdered in Money , Miss., a small city in the Delta region of the state. His murder has been cited as one of the key events that energized the nascent civil rights movement. The main suspects in the case of his death were acquitted, but later admitted committing the crime. Till's mother, Mamie, insisted on a public memorial service with an open casket for everyone to see the way he had been brutally killed. He had been shot, beaten and had his eye gouged out before he was thrown into the Tallahatchie River with a 75-pound cotton ginning fan tied around his neck with barbed wire to weigh him down. His body remained in the river for three days until it was discovered and recovered by two fishermen. Till's body rests in Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois. The murder case was officially reopened in May 2004 and, as part of the investigation, the body was exhumed so an autopsy could be performed. The body was buried by the family in the same place later that week. Till was the son of Mamie and Louis Till. Emmett's mother was born to John and Alma Carthan in the small town of Webb, Miss. When he was 2 years old, his family moved to Illinois. Mamie raised Till mostly alone, as she and Louis separated when Till was only one year old. Louis was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1943. While serving in Italy, he was convicted of raping two women and killing a third. The Army executed him by hanging in July 1945. Before Till's death; the family did not know any of the details of Louis' hanging. They only knew that Louis had been killed due to a “willful…middle of paper…misrepresentation of the law.” This was a bold suggestion to make to any Mississippi newspaper editor at the time while defending a black teenager. Too Soon to Leave After Till's horribly disfigured body was found, it was placed in a pine box and almost buried, however, Mamie wanted the body returned to Chicago. The Chicago funeral home had agreed to have a closed casket, but Mamie fought that decision by threatening to open it herself, insisting that she had the right to see her son. After viewing the body, he also insisted on leaving the coffin open for the duration of the funeral to allow people to take photos. Photographs of Till's mutilated corpse circulated throughout the country, notably appearing in Jet magazine, sparking intense public reaction. Till was buried on September 6 in Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois. That same day, Roy and Milam were indicted by a grand jury..