Happy Birthday to Emmett Till. He would've been 83 years old today.
At just 14, two white men kidnapped and brutally murdered him through mutilation for 'whistling' at a white woman.
decades later, Carolyn Bryant admitted to lying that Emmett Till made a pass at her.
THREAD
On 28th August 1955, Emmett Till, 14, was kidnapped and brutally murdered for 'whistling' at a white woman.
His killers, Roy Bryant and his half-brother, J.W. Milam, allegedly saw Till whistle at a white women at a gas station.
They abducted the 14-year-old in the middle of night, mutilated his body and tied a cotton gin around his neck.
Emmett’s mother, Mamie Till-Mobley called Chicago Defender, one of the country’s leading black newspaper, and Jet magazine to cover the story. Mamie decided to have an open casket funeral. That decision changed history.
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Footage from Emmett Till Funeral.
2 years ago, the original arrest warrant for Carolyn Bryant, was found in the basement of a Mississippi courthouse. Emmett’s relatives wanted authorities to finally arrest her.
In April 2023, Carolyn Bryant Donham died at 89.
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American medicine has been built upon the abuse of black people with no oversight.
I'll revisit a few cases of how Black people were abused in the field of medicine.
A THREAD!
The Tuskegee syphilis Experiment: It began in 1932. In the syphilis study, doctors were trying to find out more about syphilis test subjects (impoverished African American men), and didn't treat them for syphilis even after they knew penicillin could cure the infection.
The infected men involved in the study were never made aware of their condition upon diagnosis and believed they were being treated for "bad blood".
Bahamians were among the first settlers in Miami. The first name on the city charter in 1896, when the city was incorporated, was a Black man named Silas Austin. Out of 368 men who voted to incorporate Miami,162 of them were Black.
In 1896 Florida had a state law that required a minimum number of registered voters to incorporate. 368 voters signed to incorporate Miami.
Black people mostly occupied Overtown and Coconut Grove, which is also the oldest inhabited neighborhood in Miami.
The Black population was largely made up of Florida born Black folks, Bahamians and Black people who came further south from southern states like North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.
In 1862, Robert Smalls stole a Confederate Ship and sailed it to Freedom disguised as a captain, freeing his crew and their families.
A THREAD!
In 1862, Robert Smalls was serving as the pilot of a steam powered, Confederate ship, The CSS Planter. It was transporting large guns out of Charleston Harbor and deliver them to Union Navy forces on blockade duty
On the evening of 12th May 1862, The ship was docked and the confederate officers left the ship to spend the night on shore, leaving the slave crew on board. Rob had gotten permission to bring the crew’s families on board for the evening, as long as they were gone before curfew.
Did You Know that a Black enslaved man was Responsible for Saving America from a SmallPox Epidemic
Onesimus (potrait unavailable) introduced the idea of vaccination based upon the African practice of inoculation in Libya,to help mitigate spread of smallpox
💉THREAD💉
Onesimus was an enslaved African who introduced the concept of inoculation to America and helped save hundreds of Bostonians from smallpox in 1721. But his role has hardly been told.
It began in 1716. When asked by his owner, prominent Puritan minister Cotton Mather, about a scar on his forearm, Onesimus described the basics of smallpox inoculation - a practice that was common Africa (and Asia) but relatively unknown in the American colonies.
67 years ago today, Mack Parker was murdered by a white mob. It’s considered one of the last civil rights era lynchings.
THREAD
Mack Charles Parker was a 23-year-old truck driver who had returned to his hometown of Lumberton, Mississippi, after receiving a general discharge following two years in the Army.
On the morning of February 24, 1959, Parker was awakened by Marshal Ham Slade and several deputies, who alleged that he had raped a young white woman, June Walters, the night before.