The African-American Media ______

An investigation into the coverage of the cases of Emmett Till and Trayvon Martin by the African-American and mainstream media

Myriah Towner

BA (Hons) Journalism London College of Communication, University of the Arts London, Andrea Mason

May 2013 2

Acknowledgements

I am so grateful for the help of many who have assisted with further developing my dissertation. From the early stages of development, I have to thank Courtney Towner, Auriell Towner, Courtney Cook, and Andrea Mason for their conversations and discussions which assisted me in choosing and furnishing the subject of my dissertation.

I also would like to thank the many academics who willingly allowed me to ask them extensive questions about the books they have written, and who without I would not have extended my knowledge on the subject of race and media, and the African-American media. I extend a grateful thanks to Stephen Tuck, Hank Klibanoff, Davis Houck, and Devery Anderson. A very special thanks is also in order to Dr. Houck for graciously giving me access to the recently discovered St. Louis Argusʼs coverage on the Emmett Till case.

I would like to thank both my parents, Sharon and Greg Towner, as well as my entire family, for their support over the past three years. It is for our faith in God, prayers, and encouragement that have seen me through to the completion of this study.

Thanks also to the faculty and staff of the journalism department at London College of Communication for their encouragement and support throughout my three years on the course.

Lastly, I am indebted to Andrea Mason, who without her accessibility, many meetings, resources, time and guidance, I would not have had the courage to take on and shape such a big project which I am so passionate about. Thank you Andrea for your encouragement, thoughtful criticism, time and understanding during the past eight months. It has been an honour working with you. 3

Declaration of Authenticity

I, Myriah Towner, confirm that this dissertation is all my own work, that all material from other sources has been fully referenced and acknowledged and that none of the essay has been submitted in whole or in part for any previous assessment at this university or elsewhere. 4

Contents

Acknowledgements 2

Declaration of Authenticity 3

Preface 5

Introduction 6

Literature Review 10

Methodology 13

Chapter 1 Murder in the Delta: The Story of Emmett Till 18

Chapter 2 How the media told Trayvon Martin’s Story 28

Chapter 3 Race and the Media 36

Conclusion 40

Bibliography 42

Appendix 54 5

Preface

This dissertation examines the way the American national and African-American media covered two of the most widely reported and racially sensitive stories in the United States: the deaths of Emmett

Till and Trayvon Martin.

By drawing comparisons from the coverage produced by the national and African-American media on the two cases - the death of the 14-year-old African-American teenager, Emmett Till from

Chicago, who was lynched by two white men for whistling at a white woman in Mississippi in 1955; and the 17-year-old African-American Trayvon Martin, who was shot dead by a man in March 2012 while walking home, unarmed in a gated community - this study reveals the African-American media has a crucial function when covering race related stories. The African-American media is argued to be essential for: 1) Identifying stories that are overlooked entirely by the mainstream media; 2)

Correcting inaccuracies and providing various angles on stories from resources within the African-

American community on race related stories; 3) Situating stories in a particular context, often serving to show how a particular incident is one example of a much more widespread problem.

This assertion is supported through an analysis of the reporting on the deaths of Till and Martin by the African-American media, the national media, and examinations of research on how the media covered both cases.

This dissertation draws on Ronald Jacobsʼ adaptation of the idea of public spheres and focuses on the role of the news media in a civil society consisting of multiple public spheres. By doing so, it shows how the African-American press has an important role to play in the cases of Till and Martin, and the creation of a more open and inclusive society (Jacobs, 2000, p.4). 6

Introduction

The African-American media offers something not found in the white press, Gunnar Myrdal explained in his book An American Dilemma: ʻThrough all the Negro press there flows an undercurrent of feeling that the race [African-Americans] considers itself a part of America and yet has no voice in the American newspaper. Members of this group want to learn about each other, they want the stories of their success, conflicts, and issues toldʼ (Myrdal, 1944, p.908).

The African-American press was a platform for African-Americans to have these discussions.

The establishment of the African-American media was essential because of its reporters interest in the advancement of African-Americans. This allowed African-American reporters to cover stories involving race from a proactive position leading to change that positively affected the

African-American community (Myrdal, 1944, p.908).

Established in 1827, the African-American press allowed for a ʻsecure space of self representationʼ to craft common identities and solidarities, and develop arguments ʻwhich might effectively engage white civil societyʼ (Jacobs, 2000, p.5). These ideas are still important in the coverage of the Martin and Till cases.

The mediaʼs inquiries into the Till case made it an important story sparking discussions about the implications behind segregation and Jim Crow laws. Jim Crow laws were customs used to keep African-American and white people segregated, such as: African-American men avoiding physical and eye contact with white women; laws forbidding intermarriage; and private businesses and public institutions keeping African-Americans and whites separate. The news of 7

Tillʼs murder and the ʻsham of a trialʼ that followed it, outraged many Americans across the U.S because the jury chose to acquit Tillʼs murderers in favor of honoring the white supremacist attitudes in Mississippi. Through the coverage of Tillʼs case, the African-American media used their voice to situate Tillʼs murder into the context of racial inequality prevalent in America; Tillʼs case brought to light the structural flaws of racial prejudice for the world to see.

The African-American media in the case of Martin provided a perspective to express largely what his death meant for race relations in America. African-American reporters diligently covered Martinʼs death and brought awareness to racial profiling.

Till and Martin became ʻmass media spectacles of race and violenceʼ (Markovitz, 2011, p.3). For example, newspapers outside of Mississippi were appalled that Till was murdered because he violated an unwritten racial code of expressing interesting in a white woman; people were shocked that a harmless, trivial action could result in such a horrible consequence. News of

Tillʼs murder was followed by outrage from citizens, especially those in the northern states, who condemned the killing and racist attitudes that led to itʼ (Crowe, 2003, p.15&19).

In Martinʼs case, the news of his death was one of the most followed stories during 22-25 March

2012, and ignited conversations about racial injustices still present in America, including the treatment of African-Americans in press coverage.

The first chapter of this dissertation analyses the press coverage of the Till case. Analysing the coverage by both African-American (St. Louis Argus) and national (New York Times) newspapers, this chapter examines the coverage from Tillʼs abduction to after the murder trial. 8

African-American publications such as the Pittsburgh Courier, Chicago Defender and St. Louis

Argus devoted efforts to keep information available on the story long after the trialʼs end. In some cases, the African-American press and its reporters were essential in getting exclusive interviews to which white reporters were unlikely to have access, and in searching for key missing witnesses. This was important because the first half of the century was when mainstream newspapers filtered stories through ʻwartime narratives that pushed racial concerns to the sidelinesʼ (Jacobs, 2000, p.47).

As African-Americans following Tillʼs story sought out the ʻAfrican-American perspectiveʼ, the

African-American press secured the existence of an independent black public sphere for conversations about common concerns (Jacobs, 2000, p.52). The African-American press developed a platform for African-Americans to discuss issues presented in the mainstream media and how it affected those within the African-American community. Myrdal confirms this:

ʻThe Negro press is far more than a mere expression of the Negro protest. By expressing the protest, the press also magnifies it, acting like a huge sounding boardʼ (Myrdal, 1944, p.911).

Chapter two of this study tells the story of Martinʼs death. Martinʼs killing drew attention to the racial profiling of African-Americans, while also bringing awareness to inequalities of institutions meant to serve all Americans.

This chapter reveals the importance of the African-American perspective in coverage of Martinʼs case. This perspective was offered most prominently in opinion editorials written by influential

African-American reporters for mainstream publications including the New York Times, CNN,

Washington Post, and the Huffington Post. From the analysis of reporting by the African- 9

American and mainstream media, it is clear how central of a role the African-American perspective plays when discussing race-related stories.

Chapter three focuses on the similarities and differences between the two cases, and how important the race element, both victims being black, was when reporting the cases. African-

American journalists used the opportunity to share their viewpoints as an alternative interpretation of the race crisis each case represented in the media (Jacobs, 2000, p.1). This chapter lends its hand in showing how important a bold, influential African-American press needs to exist to: ʻprovide a forum for debate and self improvement and to monitor the mainstream pressʼ (Jacobs, 2000, p.4). 10

Literature Review

This study uses Till and Martin as comparative case studies and relies on works that focus on the coverage of their cases while providing insight on the subject of race and the media more generally. There is already an extensive amount of research published on the U.S. media and the coverage of race, in particular the portrayal of African-Americans in news coverage. The works concerning the U.S. media and the coverage of race that were essential in research for this dissertation include Race, Media and Civil Society: From Watts to Rodney King,

Representing Race: Ideology, Identity, and the Media, as well as African Americans and the

Media.

One of the main concerns within this dissertation is the story of Emmett Till. Extensive research can be found on the coverage of Tillʼs death. To get a grasp on the coverage of Tillʼs case, works including Getting Away with Murder: the True Story of the Emmett Till Case, Emmett Till and the Mississippi Press, and The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the

Awakening of a Nation are analyzed to give an overall insight into the role the African-American and the mainstream media played in covering Tillʼs case.

The New York Times and the St. Louis Argus were selected to compare mainstream and

African-American news coverage because of their thorough analysis of the murder trial. The coverage of the Chicago Defender and the Pittsburgh Courier has also been examined, as the analysis of their coverage was important to include as two of the most largely circulated African-

American newspapers during that time. It should be noted that the St. Louis Argusʼs microfilm of the Till trial was only discovered in March 2013 - there has not been a published analysis on the 11 paperʼs coverage of Tillʼs case - and made headlines in the mainstream media as the St. Louis

Argus had ʻnever-before-seen pictures of the NAACPʼs Medgar Evers, as well as articles written during the trial and long forgottenʼ (Lewis, 2013). With the assistance of Dr. Davis Houck, who was in search of the missing microfilm with his students, this dissertation has been able to examine the newly discovered, archival material of the St. Louis Argus.

Apart from the coverage of Tillʼs trial, the most useful analysis of Tillʼs death in the media is The

Race Beat by Hank Klibanoff. This work provides a journalistic insight into the reporting of race- related stories in the Civil Rights era. The mainstream press wrote seldom about ʻNegro

Americans or discrimination against them; that was left to the Negro pressʼ as ʻother than black newspapers and a handful of liberal southern editors, [the mainstream press] simply didnʼt recognise racism in America as a storyʼ (Roberts & Klibanoff, 2006, p.5). This is essential when understanding why the national media did not initially cover Tillʼs death. The Race Beat provides a valuable overview of the approach of the African-American and mainstream press on race issues during the Civil Rights era.

An interview done with Hank Klibanoff, academic and author, provided insight for why Tillʼs coverage received more coverage than other lynchings of that time; how the race story developed into one that was so constant in both the national and African-American media; and why the African-American mediaʼs coverage was essential during Tillʼs trial. From an interview with Dr. Davis Houck, he provided reasons for ways the African-American press were key in

finding information on missing witnesses during Tillʼs trial and ways that race impacts coverage of stories today. The primary research taken from these interviews will serve to explain the coverage and the era of Tillʼs death and the African-American media compared to mainstream media (interview transcripts can be seen in Appendix 1). 12

To provide research on Martin, online articles have been the main primary source of information.

To better analyse the coverage of Martinʼs case, online resources from the New York Times,

Poynter, Mother Jones, and the MIT Center for Civic Media have been included in this study.

These particular news sources are used to analyse the coverage because they provided the most detailed accounts of what occurred the night Martin died, and had the most well-accounted and straightforward reporting. Unlike during Tillʼs trial, this is explained more thoroughly in the methodology section, the African-American media has experienced a decline since the 1970s.

Therefore, it was more difficult to analyse consistent coverage of Martinʼs case from African-

American publications, though the Chicago Defender and New Pittsburgh Courier are analysed to use the same sources from Tillʼs case. It should be noted that the St. Louis Argus could not be accessed or locate any coverage on Martinʼs case, and that the Chicago Defender, Atlanta

Daily World, and the Pittsburgh Courier (now New Pittsburgh Courier) are the only publications used in this study that are still African-American owned.

As mainstream publications including the New York Times had African-American journalists who provided the African-American perspective on the Martin case, this study found those opinion editorials most useful when arguing the importance of the African-American perspective. Similar to the coverage of Tillʼs story, the mainstream media was slow to cover the Martin story, but as

African-American reporter Eric Deggans explains, Martinʼs story was important due to race: it was because the skin color difference between Martin and Zimmerman that news organisations covered the story so intensely (Deggans, 2013). 13

Methodology

This study investigates the mainstream and African-American media's coverage of two major racial stories that occurred in 1955 and 2012. To provide an examination of the cases of Till and

Martin, this work relied on two main types of sources: newspaper articles and academic research. Interviews with academics Hank Klibanoff, Davis Houck, and Stephen Tuck, helped to further develop ideas that are present in this study. Their insight was essential to the development of this dissertation and for analysing the importance of the African-American media.

When considering the best theoretical framework to apply to this study, Ronald Jacobsʼ adaptation of the idea of multiple public spheres presented in Race, Media and the Crisis of Civil

Society: From the Watts Riots to Rodney King, served as a helpful starting point in this study.

Jacobs, along with other academics including Geoff Eley and Nancy Fraser, argue that multiple public spheres and alternative news media help expand the scope of participation and to broaden the essential content of social solidarity in civil society, contrary to Jürgen Habermasʼs idea of a single public sphere (Jacobs, 2000, p.31). To identify the ways the African-American press was important in balancing views produced in the mainstream media during the Till and

Martin cases, Jacobsʼ ideas have been applied to this study. Jacobsʻ use of the idea of multiple public spheres works to explain how the African-American media was crucial in creating the

African-American public sphere, which provided a forum for debate and self improvement; increased black visibility in white civil society; and allowed the African-American media to monitor the mainstream press (Jacobs, 2000, p.4). 14

The concept of public sphere, developed by Habermas, is where private people come together as a public and engage the public authorities in a debate over the general rules governing relations in the public sphere (Habermas, 1991, p.27). Habermas thought of the public sphere mostly as a political space that provided the training ground for a critical public reflection and was the regulation of civil society (Habermas, 1991, p.29&52). However critics along with

Jacobs contend that Habermasʼs idea of the public sphere is not satisfactory. Consider Fraserʼs argument: ʻThe problem is not only that Habermas idealises the liberal public sphere, but also that he fails to examine other, nonliberal, nonbourgeois, competing public spheresʼ (Calhoun,

1992, p.115). Fraser suggests that multiple public spheres are important because without them, members of subordinated groups have no arenas for deliberation among themselves about their needs, objectives, and strategies nor would they be able to defend their interests in the comprehensive public sphere (Calhoun, 1992, p.123). To achieve a greater democracy, the idea of multiple public spheres is important as it was more inclusive of subordinate classes.

Similarly, Jacobs argues that the new model of civil society emerging is one of a ʻmultiplicity of public spheres, communities, and associations nested within one anotherʼ; and within these overlapping and different public spheres, the news media provide a ʻcommon stockʼ of information and culture that citizens rely on in their everyday conversations with others (Jacobs,

2000, p.3). As the news media has a strong presence in contemporary civil society, Jacobs believes that communities must attempt to strike a balance between ʻprotecting their cultural autonomy and engaging other publics in discussionʼ (Jacobs, 2000, p.24). To protect cultural independence, communities have to develop ʻsmaller, local spaces of discussionʼ over which they have much control; this suggests ʻsmaller, more targeted news media, such as the African-

American press, have an important role to play in the creation of a more open and inclusive civil societyʼ according to Jacobs (Jacobs, 2000, p.24). 15

As a minority group, African-Americans turned to alternative public spheres and media to make up for their exclusion from the dominant public sphere. In the alternative public spheres, they discovered common interests, developed arguments to effectively engage white civil society, and provided spaces to nurture the development of new public leaders (Jacobs, 2000, p.28).

This can be seen in the early development of the African-American press shaped by ʻthe experience of exclusion and the hope of future engagementʼ, and as the fight for inclusion increased throughout the twentieth century, ʻthe black press thrivedʼ (Jacobs, 2000, p.29).

Before the Civil Rights movement, race was not recognised as a news story by the mainstream media; it was rare for race news to account for more than one percent of total news space in the mainstream press (Jacobs, 2000, p.5). Therefore, by creating an independent African-American press, African-Americans established a secure space of self-representation (Jacobs, 2000, p.5).

During Tillʼs case this is evident as the African-American press was crucial in providing an

African-American perspective contrary to what was published in Mississippi and mainstream newspapers; but also was key in urging the government to introduce anti-lynching laws, end segregation, and locate key missing witnesses during the trial.

The African-American press was strongest during the period of ʻforced residential segregation and mainstream press neglectʼ between 1900 and 1950, where it provided an important space for forming arguments about integration and civil rights (Jacobs, 2000, p.5). Between 1950 and

1970, the mainstream press began paying more attention to African-American issues as a result of the Civil Rights Movement (Jacobs, 2000, p.6). Civil rights advocate and the first African-

American member of the U.S. Supreme Court, Thurgood Marshall, claimed in 1954 that the

African-American press was an ʻindispensable part of the early Civil Rights Movement because of the way that it allowed for debate about matters of racial concern to circulate among black 16 elites as well as ordinary black citizensʼ (Jacobs, 2000, p.29). Marshall was correct, however,

African-American intellectuals believed that racial integration would eliminate the need for a separate African-American newspaper in the early 1960s. Over time, African-American newspapers have seen their circulation decrease rapidly, particularly from the 1970s, due to the general decline in newspaper use from the rise of television news, and an inability of African-

American newspapers to publish a daily edition (Jacobs, 2000, p.5). As a result of this decline, the African-American public sphere is more dependent on mainstream news media (Jacobs,

2000, p.37).

New forms of African-American media are available through the television network Black

Entertainment Television, talk radio, African-American publications such as the Chicago

Defender and New Pittsburgh Courier still exist, and many mainstream newspapers have taken on African-American journalists to represent the African-American perspective. Jacobs argues, that even if these new public forums support a vibrant African-American public sphere without

African-American newspapers, ʻthe loss of a vital black press would still constitute a crisisʼ (Jacobs, 2000, p.6). This is not relatively true as evident last year in the coverage of

Martinʼs case, where African-American journalists worked diligently to help explain African-

American affairs to a white society; i.e. how Martinʼs case was a part of a larger concern of the ongoing issues of racial profiling targeting African-Americans.

A diversity of news media is important for guaranteeing a diversity of public voices and increasing the likelihood of a vital public debate about matters of common concern (Jacobs,

2000, p.6). As Jacobs argues: ʻthe formation of a national black press was seen as the solution to the ills of black society, white society, and the nation as a wholeʼ, and without it, the crisis of the African-American press is then a crisis for American civil society (Jacobs, 2000, p.37). 17

This study uses Jacobsʼ theory on public spheres to explain the importance of separate public spheres existing, particularly through the establishment of the African-American press and its role in the Till and Martin cases. Separate public spheres allowed for spaces to be created where groups could come together over common interests. From these separate spaces came the creation of the African-American press which could address the misrepresentations or misunderstandings of African-Americans presented in the mainstream media.

The African-American press was instrumental in the Till and Martin cases by providing a perspective which was not provided in the mainstream media, but more importantly: placed the stories into a context where there was a call for something to be done such as the introduction of anti-lynching laws and an end to racial profiling. Jacobsʼ theory provides the foundation for understanding the importance of the establishment of the African-American press and allows this study to argue the ways in which it was essential in the Till and Martin cases. 18

Chapter One ______Murder in the Delta: the story of Emmett Till

On 24 August 1955, inside Bryantʼs Grocery and Meat located in Money, Mississippi, Emmett

Till allegedly whistled at a white woman, Carolyn Bryant. Three nights later, Roy Bryant,

Carolynʼs husband, and his half brother J.W. Milam drove to the home of Tillʼs great-uncle, Mose

Wright, and took Till away. The sheriff of Leflore County acted quickly to take Roy Bryant in to custody, which led to Tillʼs disappearance quickly becoming a news story (Roberts & Klibanoff,

2006, pp.86-87).

On 31 August 1955, Tillʼs tortured and decomposed body floated to the surface of the

Tallahatchie River, with his neck wrapped in barbed wire attached to a cotton gin fan, the left side of his face beaten in and one eye ball dangling from its socket; this tragedy unavoidably became a big news story across Mississippi and in the national press as Bryant and Milam were charged with murder (Roberts & Klibanoff, 2006, p.87).

The African-American press covered Tillʼs death actively with their coverage differing from the mainstream mediaʼs coverage in the following ways: 1) It connected Tillʼs case to larger issues such as racially motivated violence, instead of focusing on the grisly details and treating the case as a unique tragedy by focusing on Tillʼs age and grieving mother; 2) The press demanded legislative changes such as anti-lynching laws; and 3) It sought out information that was overlooked by the mainstream media. This chapter is organised by these points to provide 19 an account and understanding of how the African-American media was essential during Tillʼs case.

Reporters from national newspapers including John Popham from the New York Times were sent to cover the Till trial because ʻnational newspapers like the New York Times, among others, started a southern beat for its reporters. Moreover, you had major, racially inflected stories, beginning with Brown versus the Board of Education moving to Tillʼ (Houck to Towner, 2013).

As Till and his mother were from Chicago, newspapers from there took interest in the story and covered it in an active way, particularly the African-American newspaper the Chicago Defender.

The mainstream and African-American media covered the Till trial because it was rare. In

Mississippi, more than 500 lynchings had occurred since 1880, but this was the first time white men had been indicted for killing an African-American person (Whitfield, 1991, p.22; Crowe,

2003, p.22).

In a St. Louis Argus story, it wrote of how the Jackson Daily News included a front page story on

Louis Till, Tillʼs father, and how he was executed in Italy for rape and murder. For this reason, the St. Louis Argus served the role of what the African-American media is essential for: ʻThey chronicled Jim Crow injustices in ways the "straight" or objective white press would notʼ (Houck to Towner, 2013). The African-American media throughout the trial gave a different perspective,

ʻwas very helpful to have when they went to search out witnessesʼ, and had a front row to reporting what the white press was not covering during the trial (Klibanoff to Towner, 2013). 20

The African American Press, Tillʼs case, and larger issues

The tone of most African-American media coverage was that of anger over Tillʼs brutal killing.

This anger however led to the press presenting how Tillʼs case was connected to larger issues.

From Tillʼs hometown, the Chicago Defender wrote of how shocked the state of Chicago was at the murder of Till. In the story ʻProtest Mississippi Shameʼ, the Chicago Defender in their anger urged for the prosecution of those guilty of the murder in a letter to President Eisenhower.

The decision to show the graphic image of Tillʼs body printed on the front pages of newspapers catapulted his story even further in the media (Torres, 2003, p.26). Tillʼs story received intense coverage because ʻit was so dramatic, so shocking. If you couple that with the fact that he was only 14 years old, there was a real shock value to that for all Americansʼ (Klibanoff to Towner,

2013). Some of the more progressive editors of newspapers in southern states thought the decision to let the media capture Tillʼs deconstructed body was ʻunconscionable propagandaʼ (Roberts & Klibanoff, 2006, p.89; Whitfield, 1991, p.145). However, the image led to newspapers including sensational headlines and efforts being made by editors and reporters to bring awareness to lynchings (see Appendix 2, p.69).

To initiate conversations of change on things concerning racial hatred, a 16 September article in the St. Louis Argus quoted Dr. Joseph H. Jackson (see Appendix 2, p.68). In the article he said:

ʻThe resolution urges “the people of this country, both white and black, to discontinue those methods which breed hate and increase tension”ʼ (St. Louis Argus, 1955). Jacksonʼs words expressed how the murder of Till only dramatised the campaign of hate by whites towards

African-Americans in Mississippi. 21

The St. Louis Argus largely used their editorials as an opportunity to hone in on the ways Tillʼs death was a part of the ongoing violent racist acts towards African-Americans in southern states. In the report, ʻTwo Men Held on Murder Indictmentʼ, the St. Louis Argus wrote of the other deaths of African-Americans during that time to put the story of Tillʼs death into a broader context of racist acts committed towards African-Americans: ʻOn Aug. 13, Lamar Smith a 63 year old farmer, was shot to death on a crowded courthouse square at Brookhaven Miss. Smith also had been active in encouraging Negroes to registerʼ (St. Louis Argus, 1955).

Similarly, the Chicago Defender and Pittsburgh Courier used editorials to express how the murder of Till was a lynching of American ʻdecency and respect for law and orderʼ (Chicago

Defender, 1955, p.1.) The murder of Till was not only a poor reflection of America in the eyes of other countries, but it served to warn African-Americans to work together to end such acts in fear of losing more to racial hatred. In the editorial, ʻBlood On Their Handsʼ, the Chicago

Defender warns readers that if nothing is done to stop racially motivated killings, their child could be the next victim of the white supremacists (see Appendix 2, p.63). In the Pittsburgh

Courierʼs story, ʻMurder Listed as 1955 Legacy, Deaths Made Top Newsʼ, it told of how Tillʼs murder was a manifestation of the dying throes of prejudice and discrimination in Americaʼs southland.

The African-American media coverage that followed, covering the trial of Tillʼs killers, brought worldwide attention on the legal proceedings which took place in Mississippi. The coverage exposed the racial intolerance that still existed in southern states abiding Jim Crow laws in

America. 22

The African-American press and legislative changes

After Tillʼs mother, Mamie Till Bradley, convinced Mississippi officials to send her sonʼs body to

Chicago, when his body arrived, the casket was opened where some of his skull fell off and brains fell out (Roberts & Klibanoff, 2006, p.88). Mamie Till Bradley insisted on the casket remaining open for ʻall to witnessʼ (Roberts & Klibanoff, 2006, p. 88).

At this ghastly sight, the Chicago Defender used their editorials as an opportunity to urge for action to come from officials in Washington to end the ʻcrime of lynching that has degradedʼ the nation, and for a federal anti-lynching law to be passed by the government (Chicago Defender,

1955). The Chicago Defender urged for the administration in Washington to not only pass a federal anti-lynching law, but to make it a federal offense to interfere with or attack any religious or racial group elections.

In the column, ʻDope and Dataʼ, the Chicago Defender continued their efforts to understand where the hatred from whites towards African-Americans comes from, how ʻthe Negro seems to have committed a crime by being bornʼ, and why African-Americans are hated so violently that they are afraid to look any white person straight in the face (Martin, 1955, p.9; see Appendix 2, p.64).

The Chicago Defender urged the government to ensure justice was served in the case of Till.

With the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) charging that

Mississippi maintained white supremacy by killing Till, the Tuskegee Institute investigated the murder to see if it could be classified as a lynching in the story ʻNation Shocked, Vow Action In

Lynching Of Chicago Youthʼ (Chicago Defender, 1955, p.1). The story also noted that 23

Mississippi had been free of lynching since 1951 until May 1954, and that Till was the third person to fall in Mississippiʼs anti-Negro war in less than five months.

Many law officials spoke out for the need of legislation to stop racial hate crimes following news of Tillʼs murder. Senator Paul Douglas said in the Chicago Defender that he was a co-sponsor of anti-lynching legislation in the Senate of the U.S. and that Tillʼs murder reveals even more the need for such legislation to be passed; and Attorney Huff said the case shed light on the need for a bill to make lynching a federal crime (Chicago Defender, 1955, p.1).

The African-American press and information overlooked by the mainstream media

As the story continued gaining attention, the African-American press thoroughly covered the trial, at often times revealing key information not presented in the mainstream media. For instance, in the early stages of the trial, the St. Louis Argus on 9 September 1955 titled ʻTwo

Men Held on Murder Indictmentʼ, included the fact that Carolyn Bryant had disappeared and a warrant charging kidnapping had been issued against her.

In a story giving a detailed account of what happened the day Till first encountered Carolyn

Bryant at Bryantʼs Grocery, the Chicago Defender listed the names of all those present with Till that day and was one of the only papers to do so. The list included: Wheeler Parker, Thelton

Parker, Roosevelt Crawford, Maurice Wright, Simeon Wright and Ruth Mae Crawford (Chicago

Defender, 1955).

To provide background information on the town of Sumner, the St. Louis Argus on 16 September

1955, wrote of Sumner where the trial was held, and focused on the race element in the story. 24

Including quotes from residents of the town, it discussed how the attention from the trial on

Sumner led white residents to believe it was an attempt to ʻstir up trouble between Negroes and whitesʼ (St. Louis Argus, 1955). Another resident in the story stated that if a white boyʼs body

ʻhad been pulled from the river, no one north of Memphis would have ever read about the caseʼ (St. Louis Argus, 1955), providing a contrast in opinion presented in most mainstream newspapers that focused on the fact that Till was African-American.

When concerned with information overlooked by the mainstream media, the African-American press was probably strongest in providing information about the key missing witnesses. The St.

Louis Argus gave accounts of the missing witnesses Leroy “Too Tight” Collins and Henry Lee

Loggins who were continuously pursued by the African-American press, and later found to be placed in jail by the defense team so they could not testify against Milam and Bryant. They were important to the trial as they were believed to have been eyewitnesses to the murder of Till. First mentioned in a 23 September story in the St. Louis Argus, the prosecution revealed that there were five mystery witnesses who had damaging evidence that would contradict statements made by Milam and Bryant who said they released Till unharmed (see Appendix 2, p.70).

On 7 October, the St. Louis Argus wrote in ʻAdditional Evidence by Witnessʼ that Collins and

Loggins are reported to have been seen with Till and several white men on the morning that he was kidnapped (St. Louis Argus, 1955, p.1). The report also revealed that Collins and Loggins were hidden in jail under assumed names during the trial without charge until Milam and Bryant were acquitted.

In a letter to the White House on 29 September, the Pittsburgh Courier said that Leroy Collins admitted to washing blood out of the 1955 Chevrolet pick-up truck that was used to haul Till 25 from the Milam planation to the river, and that he was deliberately placed in jail until the prosecutorʼs testimony had been complete (Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum,

1955). The confirmation of Collins statement was important in the need for President

Eisenhower to intervene to ensure justice was done in Mississippi.

In their continued search for information on the witnesses, on 28 October the St. Louis Argus revealed that Loggins was missing and that a third witness of Tillʼs murder was found and willing to talk if protected. The African American pressʼs determination to secure information about the witnesses of Tillʼs murder was key in proving Milam and Bryant murdered Till, however because

Tillʼs murderers were acquitted, the information did not ʻblow open the caseʼ as hoped by the press.

Throughout the rest of the trial, the African-American press covered stories from many angles during the trial securing interviews with well known African-American activists including the St.

Louis Argusʼs interview with Dr. T. R. M. Howard and spoke with Tillʼs relatives as exhibited in the Pittsburgh Courierʼs interview with Tillʼs grandfather (Appendix 2, p.65&67). The purpose of these interviews allowed readers to get a more thorough review of opinions from people who had an important perspective to offer on Tillʼs murder. The interview with Tillʼs grandfather allowed readers to get a better understanding of who Till was as a person: ʻBo was a good boy...kind-hearted and all..ʼ (Higgins, 1955, p.7).

By the end of October, the St. Louis Argus continued coverage of the Till case and even in pursuing Loggins. On 4 November 1955, the St. Louis Argus reported in ʻTill Kidnap Trial Starts

Next Mondayʼ that Milam and Bryant faced charges of kidnap in trial, and on 11 November wrote that the door was closed on the Emmett Till case ʻas far as Mississippi is concernedʼ as the 26 judge for the trial ʻrefused to indictʼ Bryant and Milam on charges of kidnapping of Till (St. Louis

Argus, 1955). As the trial ended, the efforts of the African-American press continued and their dedication to revealing the story and details of the trial were successful.

The mainstream media

Newspapers across the country, but particularly in northern states, denounced the killing and racist attitudes that led to Tillʼs death (Crowe, 2003, p.18). The Jackson Daily News, which was known for reflecting a white-supremacist attitude, showed sympathy over the murder of Till writing: ʻEvery responsible citizen in the state of Mississippi agrees that the murder was a brutal, senseless crimeʼ (Aretha, 2008, p.57).

The coverage in general produced by the New York Times during the trial was very straight, informative, and thorough, revealing the details on the case, while the African-American press had a more human element and urgency to act in their coverage. Interestingly, the New York

Times and the St. Louis Argus, both wrote features on Mississippi, giving readers a background on the town of Sumner. The Times coverage focused on the how the stateʼs role would play out as a ʻmilitant defender of racial segregation practicesʼ (New York Times, 1955).

Apart from the traditional straight reporting, Pophamʼs opinions occasionally came through in editorials for the New York Times, as it did in this feature when he referred to Tillʼs murder as a picture of ʻwhite supremacy that skates thin ice separating it from white tyrannyʼ (New York

Times, 1955; see Appendix 3, p.71). Pophamʼs feature went on to support the idea that Tillʼs murder was a part of a much bigger picture, as he said, ʻthe reaction to it involves the whole picture of race relationsʼ (New York Times, 1955). 27

Throughout the trial, the New York Timesʼ coverage was mostly concerned with providing an accurate, detailed account of the trial and with race relations in Mississippi.

In a story on the investigation of the shooting, the New York Times disclosed that the District

Attorney would have a Greenwood, Mississippi doctor as his most important witness, as he examined Tillʼs body. The following day, the Times ran a story, ʻIndictment in Mississippiʼ, revealing that Mississippi has the largest ʻNegro population, according to the latest census, than any other state in the Unionʼ, which made it important for ʻtesting the ground in race relationsʼ (New York Times, 1955). In the story, the Times made a point to acknowledge that the grand jury is ʻmade up of white menʼ and how Mississippi ʻstood at the headʼ of the list of states where lynchings occurred (New York Times, 1955).

At the end of the trial, the all-white jury took 67 minutes, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, to declare its verdict of Bryant and Milam as not guilty (Tuck, 2010, p.262). Following the conclusion of the murder trial, coverage still continued. In the Times, coverage two months after the murder trial consisted of updates on the kidnapping charges Milam and Bryant still faced, as well as different editorials on race relations in Mississippi.

During Tillʼs trial, the mainstream media covered Tillʼs murder by dedicating their efforts to providing consistent, detailed information; however, the African-American media allowed for larger issues to be raised and demands for legislative changes as a result of his death. As explained in this chapter, not only did the African-American press simply cover the trial, it was instrumental in searching for witnesses Collins and Loggins; but essentially used Tillʼs death as a platform to raise awareness to the need for change in terms of race relations in America. 28

Chapter Two ______How the media told Trayvon Martin’s story

On 26 February 2012, Trayvon Martin was shot dead in Sanford, Florida by the neighbourhood watch patrol, George Zimmerman, when returning home in a gated community (Barry et al.,

2012). Martin was leaving the convenient store 7-Eleven, with the candy Skittles and an iced tea in hand, when headed back to the residential complex the Retreat at Twin Lakes, where his family waited for him (Barry et al., 2012). George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch coordinator was armed with a licensed, 9 millimeter handgun, and was inside of his truck when he saw a hooded figure walking through the neighborhood (Barry et al., 2012).

The figure he saw was Martin, and Zimmerman who was suspicious of him, called the local law enforcement authorities (Barry et al., 2012). Martin as he realised Zimmerman was following him, started walking fast; this prompted Zimmerman to jump out of his car and follow Martin even though the police officer on the phone with him told him not to (Barry et al., 2012). After an exchange of words, it is unclear exactly what happened next, but Zimmerman and Martin could be seen wrestling on the ground, but soon a ʻcrack of gunfire cut the nightʼ; less than half an hour later Martin died (Barry et al., 2012).

Two days after Martinʼs death, a story in the Florida-based Orlando Sentinel went online with the headline: ʻBoy, 17 shot to death in Sanford during “altercation,” police sayʼ (Santo, 2012). Within a week, Martinʼs death was covered by newspapers state-wide, but it took several weeks before the national media coverage began to cover the story. On 8 March, African-American, 29

Huffington Post reporter Trymaine Lee began blogging about the case as the story became widespread and heavily reported on, offering the African-American perspective on the story

(McBride, 2012).

The African American media in the context of the Martin case now not only represented the

African-American perspective on Martinʼs death, but also served three key purposes: 1) It placed the story into a context about issues of racial profiling present in the U.S.; 2) The African-

American press was able to shed light on how institutions of society do not work for African-

Americans the way they work for white people; 3) The press used Martinʼs death as the grounds for demanding changes to the Stand Your Ground laws.

As analysed in this chapter, the African-American press was crucial during the Martin case contrary to what was offered by the mainstream media.

Martinʼs death and racial profiling

Days following Martinʼs death, the few media organisations that covered the story were missing an important link that made the story newsworthy; ʻMartin was black and the shooter who killed him was notʼ (Deggans, 2012; see Appendix 4, p.76). The issue of race is an important key in this case because as Klibanoff explains, race will always be a subject that is on the minds of

Americans if not all people: ʻYou canʼt sort of have it both ways where we live in a society that both legitimizes the differences suggested by race, and yet encourages racial pride. Weʼre still at a place in this country where racial pride still mattersʼ (Klibanoff to Towner, 2013). As Klibanoff explained, race is a part of the U.S.ʼs history and proved to be an important factor in the narrative of many news stories concerning Martinʼs death. 30

As the racial elements played out to be very important in the mainstream media, it was particularly important to the African-American press as they covered the story. African-American reporters realised they had an angle for a news story that would elevate the shooting of a young boy into a story that had implications about racial profiling (Deggans, 2012). Four African-

American journalists played a ʻcrucial roleʼ in the reporting of Martinʼs story and contributed to the U.S. Justice Department opening an investigation into the case and includes: Trymaine Lee from the Huffington Post, Charles Blow from the New York Times, Eugene Robinson from the

Washington Post, and a Louisiana university professor from Tulane University, Melissa Harris-

Perry (Wood, 2012; see Appendix 4, p.73). These reporters have offered a ʻcertain degree of understanding that comes from minorities, and particularly African-Americansʼ CNN anchor Don

Lemon said in a New York Times report (Stelter, 2012).

As African-American reporters felt a personal stake in the Martin case, this led to some compelling pieces in the media (Deggans, 2013). In the story ʻTriumph and Tragedyʼ in the

Chicago Defender, the writer expresses how Martinʼs death takes him back to pre-Civil Rights

America when ʻbeing black and male at the wrong place and time could get you killed. To those who would act violently based on stereotypes, it says: “If heʼs black and looks dangerous to you, then itʼs OK to shoot him”ʼ (Zopp, 2012). Zopp is referring to the racial profiling that based off of stereotypes.

Consider Zimmermanʼs description of Martin to police as he was following him: he described

Martin as a ʻsuspicious guyʼ who looked black, and asked how long it would be until the police arrived because he said these guys ʻalways get awayʼ (Barry et al., 2012). As African-American

Yale professor, Elijah Anderson, who wrote for the Huffington Postʼs Black Voices section, he infers that while the facts are still under investigation, from what is known it is fair to say that 31

Zimmerman saw a young African-American man wearing a hoodie and assumed he was ghetto and therefore out of place in the gated community (Anderson, 2013; see Appendix 4, p.74).

This idea of racial profiling is explained more in depth by Anderson as he writes of how the racial prejudice that led to Martinʼs death is different from the racism that led to Tillʼs death.

Anderson asserts that the racial prejudice that led to Martinʼs death is due to the stereotype in

America of ʻghetto-lookingʼ African-Americans, particularly geared towards young men, and is perhaps why Zimmerman thought Martin was suspicious based on the way he looked on the night of his death.

The death of Martin allowed for the African-American media to use their perspective to highlight the ongoing issues of racial profiling present in America. The African-American media used their position as a voice for African-American people to bring attention to these issues as a result of

Martinʼs death.

Institutions of Inequality

Martinʼs story, for African-American media outlets, was an opportunity to say ʻsometimes there is a suspicion that the institutions in society donʼt work for people of color the way they work for white peopleʼ (Powell, 2012). This meant that if the shooter had been African-American and the victim white, that justice would have been a higher priority.

In a poll by USA Today and Gallup, it revealed that African-Americans are more than twice as likely as non-African-Americans to believe that if Martin had been white, his killer would have been arrested rather than set free (Curry, 2012; see Appendix 4, p.75). 32

In an opinion editorial by Benjamin Todd Jealous, President and CEO of the NAACP, he expresses how forms of racial profiling works by poisoning the judgment of those meant to protect us. Jealous references the ʻstop-and-friskʼ policing which the New York Police

Department (NYPD) is currently fighting a class-action lawsuit due to it being racially biased

(Jealous, 2013). ʻStop-and-friskʼ allows police officers to stop, question and physically search people who they believe to be suspicious. Jealous reported on the statistics of this type of policing: ʻIn 2011, NYPD officers stopped nearly 800,000 people for alleged "suspicious activity."

Nine out of ten were innocent, 99 percent did not have a gun -- and nine out of ten were black or

Latino.ʼ This type of policing expresses how a system that is meant to be fair is evidently racially biased by targeting minorities.

The New Pittsburgh Courier included an editorial piece which explained how Martinʼs death related directly to the inequalities of the same systems in place for all Americans. He said:

The death of Trayvon Martin remains especially disturbing to many of us because of what it says about the racial profiling of young Black males, police departments that are often slow to protect their rights, and a fatally flawed law [Stand Your Ground] that gives people— possibly even criminals—the right to shoot first and ask questions later (Morial, 2013).

The African-American press was able to make aware how these institutions in place do not work effectively, or equally, for all races. As a result of Martinʼs death, the African-American press used the opportunity to explain more of what his death meant in a larger context. 33

Demands for legislative changes

In Spring 2012, protestors took to the streets to bring awareness of the injustice of Martinʼs killing wearing hoodies and carrying bags of Skittles. The unrelenting reporting and protesting paid off; Floridaʼs governor appointed a special prosecutor, Angela Corey, who charged

Zimmerman with second-degree murder and he was finally taken into custody (Blow, 2012).

However, Zimmerman may not be prosecuted because of the protection from the Stand Your

Ground law, as Blow wrote in the New York Times: ʻThere is a possibility that the case may never go to trial or, even if it does, there will be no conviction. But whatever the outcome, satisfaction must be taken in the fact that the system recognized the value of Trayvonʼs life and the tragic circumstances of his deathʼ (Blow, 2012). The Stand Your Ground law could allow

Zimmerman to claim self defense and not be charged for Martinʼs death, which is the ʻbroadest protection of self defense in the countryʼ; a law that barred police from arresting Zimmerman and requires law enforcement officials to prove that he did not act in self defense (Barry et al.,

2012).

Reports have revealed that the Stand Your Ground law is racially discriminatory, with research showing homicides involving white shooters and African-American victims being 11 times more likely to be deemed justifiable than those where the races are reversed (Levintova, 2012). As the African-American press has been diligent in ensuring Martinʼs story was brought into the mainstream media, they were able to expose the work of the American Legislative Exchange

Council (ALEC). In a New Pittsburgh Courier story by African-American reporter Roland Martin, he details how the death of Martin exposed the ALEC, a corporate-funded group that has been a leading force behind Stand Your Ground laws. He said: ʻOnce the light hit them, their involvement in other issues, such as voter ID laws, was made publicʼ (Martin, 2013). 34

The attention from Martinʼs death in the media also led to African-American reporters calling on the government to regulate gun laws. In a Washington Post editorial, president and founder of the Childrenʼs Defense Fund Marian Wright Edelman related the death of President Kennedy to

Martinʼs by pointing out they both were killed by guns. She explained that both tragedies reveal that no one is safe from the pervasive threat of gun violence regardless of their skin color, and urged Americans must work together to stop the plague of violence (Edelman, 2013).

The mainstream press

By 12 March 2012, the coverage of Martinʼs death was spreading into the mainstream media.

Publications such as the New York Times dedicated many stories to Martinʼs case.

The mainstream news sources that gave the most thorough and balanced accounts of Martinʼs death were the New York Times and Mother Jones (see Appendix 5, p.80). In their coverage of the Martin case, the mainstream media stuck to the facts to offer informative stories on the developments in the case. In particular, the New York Times provided a detailed account of what happened the night of Martinʼs death in the story, ʻIn Slain Teenagerʼs Case, A Long Route To

National Attentionʼ (Barry et al., 2012; see Appendix 5, p.78). This story also included the way in which the national media covered the case (Barry et al., 2012).

Throughout the New York Timesʼ coverage, it focused on covering the development of Martinʼs case relating to gun laws in Florida and discussed the implications of the Stand Your Ground law. In the story ʻA Florida Law Gets Scrutiny After A Teenagerʼs Killingʼ, the New York Times asked whether Zimmerman was acting in self defense (Alvarez, 2012). To continue the conversation on gun laws and Martinʼs death, Gail Collins in an opinion editorial writes of how 35 the Stand Your Ground law allows for shooting first and asking questions later, while also calling for a strict national gun control law making it difficult to get a concealed weapons permit (Collins,

2012). Mother Jones also published stories on the implications behind the Stand Your Ground law. In the story ʻTargeting Americaʼs Stand Your Ground Lawsʼ, Mother Jones explained how a national organisation urged lawmakers to reform the laws that sanction the controversial self- defense doctrine (Weinstein, 2012; see Appendix 5, p.79).

Mother Jones also acknowledged the racial implications involved in the case through their coverage. In the story, ʻThe Trayvon Martin Killing, One Year Laterʼ, Mark Follman wrote how it had been a year since Martinʼs death saying that the story ʻsparked a firestorm of debate over racial tensionsʼ and was ʻtinged with racial tensions from the startʼ (Follman, 2013).

In their coverage, the mainstream media did contribute to efforts made bringing forth awareness to the issues with the Stand Your Ground law, and for legislative changes to be introduced concerning gun laws; however the mainstream media, without the use of African-American reporters, was unable to present a perspective that came from personal experience in terms of placing the story into a context for understanding racial profiling and inequalities existing in

America. In this way, the African-American media had an important role in covering Martinʼs case to help non-African-American readers understand what his death represented about the state of the country as a whole. 36

Chapter Three ______Race and the Media

Martin and Till were young African-American boys who forced the nation to talk about unwritten racial codes (Blake, 2012). While the circumstances and time periods are completely different, the coverage of both present the same argument: how essential the role of the African-American media was during both cases. The coverage of the murder of Till inspired millions to demand justice (Aretha, 2008, p.56). The ʻbullet that passed betweenʼ Martin and Zimmerman ʻsilenced a child, but ignited a nationʼ, with thousands marching and millions signing petitions, for justice to be done in his case (Blow, 2012). Martin and Till caused intense media coverage in both the

African-American and national media, as America saw its ʻconcept of basic fairness sinking in to the marsh of miscarried justiceʼ in two tragedies (Blow, 2012).

One important aspect of the coverage for both cases became the importance of the African-

American media to give a personal perspective and to ʻget it rightʼ. The Chicago Defender covered Tillʼs murder case, but made every effort to raise awareness to what his death represented about America (Crowe, 2003, p.66). When covering Martinʼs killing, African-

American news outlets had the freedom to continually cover the case, even when other news happened, because of the ʻpassion and commitment to the story to the endʼ until justice was doneʼ, argued Nisa Muhammad, a staff writer for Final Call and the chairwoman for the National

Association of Black Journalistsʼ Black Press Task Forceʼ (Powell, 2012). 37

Muhammad said that ʻblack audiences, in particular, are not going to get everything they need to knowʼ about a story like Martinʼs or Tillʼs from the mainstream media,” (Powell, 2012) Both these examples in the cases of Till and Martin proved the importance of the African-American press to encourage ʻcontinuous discussion about matters of common concernʼ and to ʻcorrect the prejudicesʼ made in non-African-American news outlets (Jacobs, 2000, p.5).

In an interview with Dr. T. R. M. Howard, the Pittsburgh Courier provided its readers with a first hand experience through Dr. Howardʼs account of what it was like to be an African-American living in Mississippi. By asking questions including ʻwhat were the conditions surrounding the Till trial?ʼ and ʻwhat about the fear complex of Negroes in Mississippi?ʼ, the Pittsburgh Courier provided its readers with a better understanding of the case and the racial codes followed in

Mississippi (Pittsburgh Courier, 1955).

Simmons explains the role of the African-American press: Once African-American readers found a story covered in the mainstream press, they expected ʻto see a strong opinion, a strong demand, if appropriate, for equal civil rightsʼ [in the Negro newspaper] (Simmons, 1998, pp.

71-72).

Concerning the cases of Till and Martin, neither were initially picked up in mainstream media.

Mostly regional newspapers covered the first few days of Tillʼs abduction, and it was not until his tortured body was found in the Tallahatchie River, and his killers were charged with murder, that national media covered the story. Before the 1960s, less than one percent of journalists were

African-American, and it was unusual for race news to account for more than one percent of total news space in the mainstream press as a result of the prevalence of segregation (Jacobs, 38

2000, p.5). However, the attention to African-Americans and African-American issues increased dramatically in the mainstream press, thanks to the coverage of Tillʼs case which galvanised the media of the time (Jacobs, 2000, p.6). Similarly, in chapter two, it is revealed that it was nearly

12 days following Martin being shot by Zimmerman before national media picked up his story. It was not until the race of both were revealed and Martinʼs father publicly spoke about the death of his son that key publications including the New York Times and the Washington Post realised the impact of such a newsworthy story.

The stories were newsworthy because of the race element: both victims were African-American and racial concerns became the central focus of these cases. More specifically, both Till and

Martin were the targets of racist violence. Since the audience wants race issues to be simple, it potentially leads to a problem where journalists cover racial stories, with the temptation to ʻprove the person at the center of a controversial story is a racistʼ (Deggans, 2012). It is argued that to place real-life circumstances into this mold, it can result in an issue with ethical journalism, and in the case of Martin, journalists are essentially balancing conflicts between different journalistʼs values (Deggans, 2012). However, in Tillʼs case this was different. From some southern newspapers came ʻno sense of the depth of feeling on either side of the racial divideʼ with reporters serving as ʻadjunct investigative bodies for law enforcementʼ (Roberts & Klibanoff,

2006, p.111).

The race issue, was a very integral part of Martinʼs case, and the African-American media placed the story into context about larger issues existing as a result of his death. After Tillʼs trial, southern racism won the battle, but it was its last victory as the Civil Rights Movement took off and waged a war against integration and racial equality (Crowe, 2003, p.107). In Martinʼs case,

June 2013 will decide whether his death will live on to be a catalyst for change, but it already 39 has served to help bring awareness to racial profiling, the inequality of some institutions in place that are meant to work for all Americans, and the faults of the Stand Your Ground law.

40

Conclusion ______

The African-American reporter is a fighting partisan; the people who read his newspaper expect him to put up a good fight for them (Simmons, 1998, p.71). The African-American media is not only essential in relaying information to African-American readers, but plays a key role in making

African-Americans aware of how particular incidents affect the overall outcome of the African-

American community. For instance, the African-American media was instrumental in encouraging the northward migration into a ʻNegro protest movementʼ (Myrdal, 1944, p.914). It also helped set the stage for the monumental transformation from school desegregation in 1954 to the Voting Rights Bill of 1957, as well as the marches, sit-ins and Civil Rights legislation of

1964 (Muhammad, 2003).

The African-American media was just as important when reporting on the cases of Till and

Martin. Through story-telling by the African-American media, Till and Martin represent in their own eras, how much work America has left to do for addressing race problems. This was evident through reports that revealed the Stand Your Ground law is racially discriminatory as outlined in chapter two. Martinʼs killer, Zimmerman, was able to use the Stand Your Ground Law to initially not be charged with his murder on the grounds that he acted in self defense. This same law was disproportionately in favor of those who claimed self defense when the shooter was white and the victim was African-American.

In a feature titled ʻThe Nationʼ, the New York Times wrote on the case of Till after the trial, but put the story into a different context by focusing on the racial attitudes and tensions that were 41 present in Mississippi then (see Appendix 3, p.71). The piece said ʻthough criminal law does not in Mississippi differentiate between black and white, the color line has by many devious ways extended into court casesʼ (New York Times, 1955). After Milam and Bryant were found not guilty on the charges of murder, it was then that the case became a time to ʻtest Mississippi law and Mississippi moresʼ or traditions as the New York Times reported in their coverage (New York

Times, 1955). The African-American media simply provided black visibility in white civil society.

As long as race remains an important topic in America, the role of the African-American media will continue to be vital. As Klibanoff explains:

Race will be a part of our total awareness for a long time and as a result it will be something we turn to for an explanation of things weʼre curious about. I think thatʼs as natural as human nature and I donʼt see that going away. I donʼt have a strong feeling that understanding things racially ever ought to go away (Klibanoff to Towner, 2013).

As evident in this study, the African-American media worked in both cases to keep information

flowing in about the stories and to give a perspective to better understand the effect their deaths had on the African-American communities. The death of Till revealed so much more about the racism not only in Mississippi, but still present within America then. As the Pittsburgh Courier wrote at the close of 1955, Tillʼs murder was a ʻmanifestation of the dying throes of prejudice and discrimination in Americaʼs Southlandʼ. Till has left a lasting legacy that served as a catalyst for challenging segregation, but Martinʼs legacy is still untold; however it is for certain that both became rhetorical devices in the heated, never-ending national disagreements about race

(Barry et al., 2012).

10,425 words 42

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April 2013]. 54

Appendix 1

This appendix includes interviews from the three academics who helped to further develop the ideas presented in this study. The interview transcript from the interview done with Dr. Davis Houck followed by interview transcripts from Hank Klibanoff and Stephen Tuck.

Dr. Davis Houck, 18 April 2013

MT: Why do you think the death of Till received more intense media coverage than the lynchings and deaths of other African Americans during that time?

DH: Well, two things really: he was from Chicago and they had a terrific black newspaper there, the Chicago Defender. Remember that a huge number of black Chicagoans were refugees from Mississippi (that's why the paper had a branch office, so to speak, in Memphis, the Tri-State Defender). And, we needn't forget that he was 14 and Mamie Till pulled the coffin open and allowed the press in. That single act of resistance cannot be overestimated when it comes to understanding the Till case and what happened in its aftermath. It also radicalized an entire generation of activists, who would might call the SNCC generation.

MT: Why do you think the "race story" developed into a story that was so constant and enduring in the African American press, but also later in national news?

DH: Because national newspapers like the New York Times, among others, started a southern beat for its reporters. The book The Race Beat does a nice job of answering this question. Moreover, you had major, major racially inflected stories, beginning with Brown, moving to Till and the University of Alabama, to Little Rock, and on it goes. The story at some point (Brown?) ceased really to be a regional story and quickly became a national one.

MT: Why do you believe that the African American press at the Till trial was "absolutely vital"? In what ways did it provide something that the national news could not?

DH: Well, they chronicled Jim Crow injustices in ways that the "straight" or objective white press wouldn't. Moreover, Jimmy Hicks wrote a remarkable account of what happened in the pursuit of more witnesses to the actual murder, most of which turned out to be true. The New York Times would never have been invited to that dance. Have you read the Hicks account? It's really remarkable and was syndicated all over the black press. Frankly, without the help of the black press, Willie Reed and others do not testify at the case and we know nothing of 55

Till's murder in a small shed in Drew, Mississippi (if you want present day pictures of that shed, I have them)

MT: Which national newspapers do you think covered Till's case in a balanced way? Which did not?

DH: I really don't know this one, Myriah, as I haven't studied the national press on the case. My good friend Devery Anderson who runs the www.emmetttillmurder.com site would be far better at answering it. And he'd be glad to help. Really nice man and terrific scholar.

MT: In your opinion, which African American newspapers were key in covering Till's case?

DH: Several were, but probably The Chicago Defender first and foremost simply because Emmett was from Chicago and they really filled out who he was and who his family was. But certainly Jet Magazine, the Pittsburgh Courier, the Argus and others were vital too as they helped catalyze black public opinion in the days, weeks and months following the murder. Again, The Race Beat book does a nice job with this.

MT: Why do you think during a time of segregation in the US, that the national media spoke out and denounced Till's murder?

DH: Because it was so egregious and the evidence was so full proof. And then you had the "confession" in January 1956, just months after the verdict. The country knew that Mississippi was racial poison at that point.

MT: How do you think race impacts coverage of a news story today?

DH: We're often too quick to draw comparisons...a great one being Trayvon Martin. We're much too quick to bring Emmett Till in as THE archetype of black injustice (here in Florida it involved a 14 year old black boy by the name of Martin Lee Anderson, who was essentially murdered at a boot camp in Bay County, FL). Moreover, have a look at Ken Burns' latest documentary work on The Central Park Five. Wow...what a travesty of justice for those black (and one Hispanic) boys. Frankly, we love the comforting narrative of out of control black men/youth preying upon white innocence. That's a frame we Americans still struggle with. And will for quite some time.

To clarify my remarks about Emmett Till, let's just say that because the nation now knows the case (and that's a really interesting question about how the case reentered public discourse in the '80s and '90s) and we're quick to make parallels between the Till case and white on black (youth) injustice whenever and wherever we find it. Why? Because it's handy and well known but I think it tends 56

to obscure rather than clarify. The Till case, in it specifics, is really sui generis; that's why we're still talking about it. 57

Hank Klibanoff, 23 March 2013

MT: Why did Tillʼs case get more coverage over other lynchings of the time?

HK:The first reason is that his mother made sure the world saw what he looked like. By insisting that the casket be open. It was so dramatic, so shocking. And if you couple that with the fact that he was only 14 years old, there was a real shock value to that for all Americans. Not every American, but across all sorts of demographics. The fact that a 14 year old going to visit his uncle would be killed so brutally was a shock. I think the other very practical reason was that he was from Chicago and the Chicago press decided to cover it in a very active way. It was a competitive story for them. There was only 4 or 5 Chicago newspapers that covered it as well as the Chicago Defender and it created a compelling story. There were more newspapers back then, both the Memphis newspapers went to cover them.

MT:Why did the race story develop into a constant and enduring story in the national news?

HK:The race story - America fought an entire war over race, over slavery, it was only black people - race has always been apart of our history and always has been. If you think about it, in 1955, we werenʼt so far removed from that civil war. I was 6 years old at that time, and I had a lot of friends who had civil war memorabilia in their homes and grandparents who came from that era. It was not that far removed. The other or immediate reason was that Emmett Till was killed in August of 1955 which is a year and three months after the Brown vs Board decision when the US supreme courts struck down school segregation as unconstitutional and everyone understood that other barriers of segregation were most certain to fall. And this also happened in the Mississippi delta where the white citizens council formed, the uptown clan, a real bitter feeling in the Mississippi delta with all the plantations. And it was feared there that a black kid might get a little uppity. Race didnʼt come out of nowhere, it came out of somewhere and erupted into a story and that somewhere was our own American story.

MT:John Popham said: I think our handling of the Till case may be the last time anyone is going to be able to get out and get a decent respect for balanced coverage. What does he mean?

HK:A white reporter from the south, progressive in his thinking, who thinks he has friends from both sides of the divide and has been trying to explain to the NYT why heʼs done covering the race story and saying send someone else. This story is breaking my heart. I can go cover the other big stories in the emerging south. He was saying we are becoming so divided that we are no longer having a nuanced balanced coverage on this story. Itʼs going to be hard to ever have 58

anything again that is going to be balanced and fair. But that argument can be made in America today on anything that divides people and put their bias on it.

MT: Do you think the African-American coverage was essential in giving perspective in Tillʼs case?

HK:It gave a different perspective, thereʼs no doubt. And it was very helpful to have black reporters to have when the went to search out witnesses. The black press is sometimes while we think, has great virtue and was on the front row and reporting what the white press wasnʼt reporting, it sometimes went too far. But after the trial, they took one of the witnesses Too Tight Collins and got their reporter and drove him to Chicago where they were going to interview him on the real Emmett Till. And as they write stories Too Tight is going to tell us the truth about Till and at the end, he didnʼt even say much. I donʼt know if that was useful. I know the black press would have given a fair rendering of the trial than the Mississippi press.Did black readers who read the Chicago Defender and Chicago newspapers come away with different beliefs or sense of the trial from one and how was it different?

MT:Do you think the black press is important to continue to have when covering stories involving race?

HK:I donʼt know what the Atlanta Daily World has done, but I assume they are using a wire service story or a syndicated columnist who may weigh in on it (Martin case). I think that if you think about it in these terms: do you think it is important that they cover it? I think itʼs important if they donʼt. If the black press does not think the Martin story is a page one story, but the national press does, what does that say? Especially local stories saying heʼs not a local story. Every newspaper that is sending a message by its decisions of what it includes in the paper: you are sending a message whether you put it on the front page, whether itʼs long or short, or whether you run anything at all.

MT:How balanced has the coverage been on Martin?

HK:Initial story on 911 call and the editing of that on NBC who had also mistaken wire service coverage...to the extent that that happened, that is really bad, and misleading. And itʼs a shame that happened. Look at American Journalism Review and Columbia Journalism Review.

MT: Why did local and national media spoke out and denounced Tillʼs murder?

HK:I think it was their attitude and their importance of black people. There was a real white supremacist attitude in Mississippi. The local papers resented that international press was coming and that other people thought this was a story, and their white supremacist feelings over took them. They were beginning to think they were in war and to treat Emmett Till as a person was defeating the 59

point. Newspaper in Westpoint, Mississippi, a news reporter David Halberstam asked if he could go cover and his editor Henry Harris said absolutely not because he didnʼt think it was an important story.

MT:Do you think there could have been a story or words written that could have compared or captured the open casket picture of Till?

HK:I do have enough faith in writing to believe that someone, if we did not believe in a world of photography, that could have written a descriptive piece showing the world the disfigurement of Tillʼs body in a way that would have been pretty shocking. I think if Mrs. Till had called a press conference and just let reporters see without photographers they would have written with great power, emotion, and upsetness.

MT:Do you think the race story will always be a story?

HK:I think race will always be a subject that is on the minds of Americans if not all people. You canʼt sort of have it both ways where we live in a society that both legitimizes the differences suggested by race, and yet encourages racial pride. Weʼre still at a place in this country where racial pride still matters. White people donʼt understand why itʼs okay to talk about black pride but not about white pride and I think thereʼs a resentment there. I think it will be apart of our awareness for a long time. How long will it be a default consideration when one is weighing cause and effect motivation? Inspiration? It will be apart of our total awareness for a long time and as a result it will be something we turn to for an explanation of things weʼre curious about. I think thatʼs as natural as human nature and I donʼt see that going away. I donʼt have a strong feeling that understanding things racially ever ought to go away.

MT:What are some of the other tipping points that served as changing points or changing Americaʼs view on race?

HK:Iʼm not sure that the Till case changed Americaʼs view. It brought the story into view to a lot of Americans but Emmett Till is not apart of the civil rights movement. He was a kid who was brutually murdered. Rosa Parks was the movement. She was apart of it and knew what she was doing. Those who participated at lunch counter sit ins they were apart of the movement and taking an active role in what became known as civil rights. Emmett Till did not. There are a lot of things that might be referred to as civil rights murders that ought to be called rights “era” murders. There are a lot of people who were murdered but had nothing to do with civil rights and some white person found some reason to resent them. He was certainly a catalyst. I think thereʼs Rosa Parks, the North Carolina A&T, the Freedom Riders, the 1965 Jimmie Lee Jackson murder in Marion, Alabama that sparked the Selma march. Be aware that there are important differences between some of these people. Cold Case Project are investigating cases that are not civil rights leaders. They were just normal people. 60

One was a black man who all he did was successful and got promoted and that upset white people. One upset the Klan because he drove a new car. But they werenʼt apart of the movement, they were just normal people. 61

Stephen Tuck, 10 January 2013

MT:The death of Till has been described as a “mockery of a fair trial” and "the moment they [student activists in the Civil Rights Movement] resolved to protest one day". Why do you think the death of Till received more intense media coverage than the lynchings of other African Americans during that time?

ST:Timing (1950s): new and more extensive media, appetite for US to end this kind of racist violence among northerners,; story went back up to Chicago rather than stayed down south; Mamie Till.

MT:Mrs. Mamie Till Bradley insisted that the "corpse be displayed in an open casket ahead of the Chicago funeral" and the picture of Emmett in his casket was "seen around the world". How do you think this contributed to exposing the ongoing and ever present racial discrimination in the South?

ST:Huge amount, many activists said it was a key moment, more generally people (inc. pols) who were opposed to Jim Crow but not going to get involved aware that it mattered for US global standing.

MT:From the coverage of Emmett Tillʼs death to the coverage of Trayvon Martinʼs death, do you think the American mediaʼs coverage of race in these particular instances has evolved over time? If yes, in what ways?

ST:Any number of ways: TV, consensus that such action is wrong, global circulation of images, online opportunities for organizing campaigns. At same time, needs an esp. big outrage to get attention.

“Thus far from declining, African American struggles for meaningful freedom continued in force at the end of the 20th century. It would be little surprise, then, that such struggles would continue and develop into the 21st century. What would be a surprise, though, was the extent to which the question of racial equality would return to such prominence in mainstream American society." 1) From this, could you elaborate on this point and perhaps explain why you believe the question of racial equality would return to prominence in mainstream American society? 2) In the 21st century, what do you think of the treatment of African Americans in U.S. media coverage compared to the coverage during the civil rights era?

1) Issue stays prominent even though headline years of civil rights movement over 2) No single media story -- many different media outlets/positions, no simple narrative of good vs evil 62

MT:"What Katrina did show, though, was the continued breadth of racial divisions in the United States at the start of the millennium." Do you think there is a racial misrepresentation of American Americans in the U.S. media today? If yes, why?

ST:Not sure how the question follows? THis refers to the polls which showed that almost all black Americans thought gvt slow to act because of race, but most white Americans didn't, and because disproportionate levels of poverty among black community were exposed.

MT:"Racism is based on false assumptions about racial characteristics. But it still mattered, and it matters today." Why do you think the race story developed into a story that was so enduring in national news then and now?

ST:Actually, as per question two above, I argued that it was still prominent, just not a simple narrative. As per below.

MT:"The answers also lie in part on the media's rather one-dimensional portrayal of the 1960s protest." 1) How important is the role of the U.S. media in covering race-related stories? 2) In your opinion, what are the failings in the American mediaʼs coverage of race-related stories? What are the strengths?

ST:Media, by definition, key to covering race related stories. Strengths: can be very attuned to race. Weaknesses: the usual, bias, overs implication, audience fatigue with particular stories etc. 63

Appendix 2

The following are articles from the African-American press including the St. Louis Argus, Chicago Defender, and Pittsburgh Courier relating to the Till case.

Chicago Defender, 10 September 1955 64

Chicago Defender, 17 September 1955 65

Pittsburgh Courier, 8 October 1955 66 67

Pittsburgh Courier, 24 September 1955 68

St. Louis Argus, 16 September 1955 69

St. Louis Argus, 23 September 1955 70

St. Louis Argus, 23 September 1955 71

Appendix 3

The following are articles from the New York Times relating to the Till case.

New York Times, 25 September 1955 72

New York Times, 22 October 1955 73

Appendix 4

The following are articles from the African-American media and reporters relating to Martin.

Charles Blow, 16 March 2012 74

Elijah Anderson, 4 May 2013 75

Atlanta Daily World, 19 May 2012 76

Eric Deggans, 23 October 2012 77 78

Appendix 4

The following are articles from the mainstream media relating to Martin. Please note that some articles are only excerpts not articles included in their entirety.

New York Times, 1 April 2012 79

Mother Jones, 25 May 2012 80

Mother Jones, 18 March 2012The Trayvon Martin Killing, Explained http://www.motherjones.com/print/168136

The Trayvon Martin Killing, Explained The latest on how a teenager armed with Skittles and iced tea got gunned down by an overeager neighborhood watch captain.

By —By Adam Weinstein and the MoJo news team | Sun Mar. 18, 2012 10:42 AM PDT

This explainer has been regularly updated; click here for the most recent post. Or read on for a primer.

On the evening of February 26, Trayvon Martin—an unarmed 17-year-old African American student—was confronted, shot, and killed near his home by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch captain in Sanford, Florida. Since Martin's death and the revelation of more Photos by Jerome Horton (Martin) and details, the case has drawn national outcry and sparked Seminole County Sheriff's Office/Zuma Press hot debate over racial tensions, vigilantism, police (Zimmerman) practices, and gun laws.

Read on for the rest of our primer, or jump to these recent updates:

New evidence released, including Zimmerman reenactment video Sanford police chief resigns; Zimmerman attorney apologizes for apology Zimmerman to be charged with 2nd-degree murder, now in custody Zimmerman's attorneys withdraw from case; Zimmerman calls Fox's Sean Hannity Fox affiliate calls Sanford neo-Nazis "civil rights group"; grand jury called off Screams on 911 call aren't Zimmerman's, experts say Report: Zimmerman lost job due to aggression; new witness disputes his account MoJo publishes document trove; questions arise about Zimmerman's self-defense claim Sanford investigator wanted to arrest Zimmerman; a struggle for Zimmerman's gun? EXCLUSIVE: Zimmerman can still buy guns instantly, walk around most of America armed President Obama weighs in on Trayvon—and the wingnuts go nuts EXCLUSIVE: Zimmerman's earlier 911 calls—including his obsession with black hoodlums

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