August 28th: Today in 1955 a young man named Emmett Till who was visiting relatives in Mississippi was brutally murdered for daring to flirt with a white girl. In an attempt to hide the brutality of his killing his coffin was nailed shut but his mother removed the nails and insisted on an open coffin funeral so the world could see what had been done. Images from the murder horrified the public and helped spark the Civil Rights movement by lending a sense of urgency to their mission.

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