If this seemed to hint of her first husband’s attempt to preserve the sanctity of her white womanhood, which propelled both her and him into the public eye, she was quick to add that a real man will respect others and refrain from bullying. J.W. They both plead innocent. The case that brought him worldwide notoriety in 1955 was to him, “just something in the past. Five months later, she both posed and answered the question as to what constitutes the real qualities in a man. Date of Birth (DOB), Birthday: January 24, 1931. “To me, it seems like they just wanted to put on a show and go through the process to make people happy.”. When Roy, Carolyn, and the two youngest children left Louisiana in 1973 and returned to Mississippi, they relocated to Ruleville, in Sunflower County. Carolyn Bryant is still alive, is 74 years old, and lives in Greenville, Mississippi. “He was widely … A cat had a miraculous escape when his owner's home was ripped apart in an explosion on New Year's Day. “We had to slip off the plantation to catch the train, but we didn’t give our right names,” Treola explained. In 1981, a portion of Mississippi 32 was designated as the Henry Clarence Strider Memorial Highway. In the accompanying photographs, both men look happy, but it was obvious the smiles were only a facade. He rarely talked about the case. Two men, Roy Bryant and J.W. After their return to Mississippi, the Bryants managed to continue a low-profile existence, despite living in close proximity to the land of the Till murder. Toward the end of his life, Whitten worked in his law office occasionally, but by then his son John Whitten III did the bulk of the firm’s legal work. But they told me they did not [commit the murder]. Within a few months of the murder, another brother, Leslie Milam, who ran the plantation on which Emmett Till was murdered, was “requested” to leave because many of the black laborers working there were leaving the farm out of fear. Both men are now deceased. An active Methodist, she bought a keyboard and learned to play a few hymns to help her congregation enjoy the benefit of music. Roy Bryant, this vile animal is responsible for the murder of Emmett Till. Students of the Till case remember seeing Juanita stand by her man during the trial and after the jury read the verdict. In 1982, the Inspector General’s office of the U.S. Department of Agriculture learned that Bryant had been purchasing food stamps at a discount for cash and then selling them back to the government at full value. “I just didn’t want to do it,” he later said with regret. Carolyn asked for sole custody of their daughter, the complaint read, because “said child needs the care and guidance which only a devoted mother can give.” Roy failed to dispute any of the allegations. Eula, whom Carolyn described as tough and outspoken, asked Carolyn in front of Roy many times why she stayed married to him. Treola managed to create a new life for herself in Seattle, where she bore five more children. On Dec. 4, 1967, he was at work in Chancery Court and appeared fine. and Juanita had divorced years earlier, as did Roy and Carolyn Bryant, but when J.W. Blacks would no longer work for Milam, and that forced him to pay whites a higher wage for the same work. The youth was found dead in a Mississippi creek with a bullet hole behind the ear. Bryant, who is still alive at an undisclosed location, told the author she could not remember other details about the fleeting encounter with Till, who went into the store to buy gum. The couple stayed together till Roy’s last breath. That night at the store, however, Carolyn went to a car that she said belonged to Juanita, to get a gun. He stopped at Roy Bryant's general store in Money, 20 miles south of Glendora, where he was alone for a moment with Bryant's young wife, Carolyn. Three days later, at around 2 a.m., the woman's husband, Roy Bryant, and his half-brother, J. W. Milam, forced their way into the Wright home, grabbed Till out of bed at gunpoint, and took him away. Two men, Roy Bryant and J.W. Visit his website at emmetttillmurder.com. Six months later on Nov. 19, Roy and Carolyn Bryant were riding as passengers in a car driven by Carolyn’s 18-year-old brother, James Holloway, in Greenville, when they were involved in a head-on collision at about 1:45 a.m. She’s still alive (though many other key players in the case are not). Bryant believed that his acquittal in the Till case meant that people should leave that past alone. In fact, in 1977, both Roy and his brother, James Bryant, were listed as two of five challengers to Ruleville’s incumbent aldermen. Till-Mobley created an additional way of keeping her son’s memory alive by establishing a performing group in 1973, the Emmett Till Players, made up of children who memorized and recited the speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Over the years they performed at schools and churches, and a decade after its founding, Till-Mobley estimated that over 200 children had been part of the troupe. This thread is archived. He was just a boy. died, Juanita was listed as his wife in his obituary. Because Carolyn had been sick with the measles during her pregnancy, her daughter was born deaf. Four months after that, he was convicted of assault and battery, fined $30, and sentenced to 10 days in jail. The only one to emerge publicly at the national level was Mamie Bradley, but it did not happen for 30 years. The Bryants shortly moved to Orange, Texas, where a daughter was born two years later. She and Roy Bryant divorced in 1979 and she has since remarried three times. Milam and Bryant were arrested just after the abduction and went on trial for murder on Sept. 19, 1955. Bail was set for Bryant at $10,000, and for Campbell at $5,000. In July 1968, Strider admitted on the floor of the state Senate that he had paid for votes during his 1951 campaign for Tallahatchie County sheriff. “That’s something you never put out of your mind. Nick name: Roy. would live out the rest of his life. People Still Want Carolyn Bryant To Answer For Lynching Despite several decades gone by, justice has yet to be served. Milam picked up his wife and Bryant an hour after Till had been in the store, they did not tell him what had happened. Yet Strider would have been happy to rid the Delta of its black citizens. In 2004 the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI opened an investigation into the murder to determine if other people had been involved who might still be alive. He had no contact with any of the other witnesses or Till family members for decades, despite living in Chicago and remaining in close proximity to many of them. Emmett Till would have been 79 years old on July 25 if it wasn’t for Carolyn Bryant. In October 1983, Bryant was indicted on five counts of food stamp fraud, pleaded not guilty and was scheduled for a December trial. After speaking at a few rallies following his late-night move to Chicago on the day the jury issued its verdict, Reed dropped out of sight. Carolyn Bryant 60 Minutes Interview . Huie described them as having “been disappointed,” explaining further that, “They have suffered disillusionment, ingratitude, resentment, misfortune,” but as yet, no guilt. Family members heard enough to know that the case completely destroyed him. Milam and Bryant … By the time the Milams returned to Mississippi a decade after the Till trial, the outrage over the murder had subsided, and they were able to live quietly, for the most part. At about 10:30 p.m., his-half-brother Milam stopped by Bryant’s Grocery. I don’t know Carolyn Bryant’s current attitude toward blacks, or civil rights. He died in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1992. “If they (Negro farm workers) feel like they are put upon or have to live in tents and opportunities are brighter somewhere else, we’ll be glad to get them there,” said Strider’s co-sponsor, Sen. Robert Crook of Ruleville. She is still alive is now 82 yeas old. Reminiscent of his actions in his most famous dirty deed, Bryant had no trouble taking the law into his own hands and threatened to do so. Milam and Bryant … - On Aug. 28, 1955, a 14-year-old named Emmett Till was kidnapped, tortured and murdered for whistling at a white woman in the heart of the Mississippi Delta. 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