Nine-year-old Emmett Till (1950) enjoys time with his mom, Mamie Till Bradley. A white woman accused Emmett of offensive, flirtatious advances, and the local white men responded by abducting, beating, mutilating, shooting, and sinking Emmett in a nearby river. They were found “not guilty” of murder.
Olivia Hooker (1921): last surviving witness to the Tulsa Race Massacre—where white mobs torched 1,000 Black businesses, homes, and babies. Tulsa’s Black community had created a thriving business ecosystem and a safe neighborhood. Ms. Hooker was 6 when the mob came to her family’s yard with torches.
