The white woman who accused the black teen of making improper advances before he was lynched in Mississippi in 1955 said she didn't want him to be killed.
Carolyn Bryant Donham says she was unaware of what would happen to the 14-year-old Till, who lived in Chicago and was visiting relatives in Mississippi when he was kidnapped, killed and thrown in a river. Donham was only 21 years old. After being acquitted of murder charges, Roy Bryant and his half-brother confessed in a magazine interview.
The Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting reported the contents of the manuscript. A copy of Donham's book was given to the AP by Timothy Tyson of Durham.
The manuscript was placed in an archive at the University of North Carolina with the understanding that it wouldn't be made public for a long time. Following the discovery of an arrest warrant for Donham in 1955, he decided to make it public.
The potential for an investigation was more important than the agreements. This is the last chance to get an indictment.
The memoir is new evidence that shows Donham's involvement in the case and is especially important when combined with the arrest warrant, according to Deborah Watts, a cousin of Till.
She believes the developments can't be ignored by the authorities in Mississippi.
In the memoir, Donham says she tried to help Till once he'd been found by her husband and brother-in-law and brought to her for identification.
Donham says in the manuscript that she didn't know what was going to happen to Emmett and didn't want him to get hurt. I told Roy that he wasn't the one. It is not him. He should be taken home. She claims in the manuscript that Till identified himself after he was kidnapped from a family home.
She paid a heavy price for what happened to him and felt like a victim.
I have been praying that God would bless the family. At the end of the manuscript, which is signed Carolyn but indicates that it was written by her daughter-in-law, she apologized for the pain his family had been caused.
Dale Killinger, a retired FBI agent who investigated the case more than 15 years ago, said that the memoir is remarkable because it is the most extensive account of the sensational episode ever recorded by Donham.
Killinger said that Donham claims in the memoir to have yelled for help after being confronted by Till inside the family grocery store in Money, Mississippi. Donham did not mention that she and Roy Bryant talked about the abduction. She claims they did in the manuscript.
Killinger thought that it seemed ludicrous. How would you handle a big event in your life?
The most recent investigation by the Justice Department into the case ended in December, and Mississippi authorities haven't given any indication they plan to charge Donham with any crimes. The Till family is trying to get something done.
The memoir shows that Killinger was involved in the murder of Till and that she should have been held accountable for it.
The fight will continue until justice is served.
The arrest warrant with Donham's name on it was discovered by two of Till's relatives.
Tyson, the historian who provided the roughly 35,000-word manuscript to the AP, helped spur the government's most recent investigation into the killing by publishing a book in which he quoted Donham as saying she lied when she claimed Till grabbed her. She claimed in the memoir that Till did those things. The FBI was told by Donham that she had never recanted.
Tyson said Donham's statements in the memoir exonerating herself of wrongdoing need to be taken with a good-sized shovel full of salt.
In 1955, two white men with guns dragged him out of his aunt and uncle's house in the Mississippi Delta. Tyson doesn't think that he identified himself for a second.
Donham and her family have not responded to phone calls or messages from the AP. It's not clear if Donham has an attorney. She lived in Raleigh, North Carolina.
That's right.
Tyson gave a copy of the manuscript to the FBI for an investigation that ended last year, not 2007, as was previously reported.
That's right.
The reporter was from Alabama. He is a member of the race and ethnicity team
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