My Name is Emmett Till

I was born a black boy My name is Emmett Till I walked this earth for fourteen years Then one night I was killed For speaking to a woman Whose skin was as white as dough That's a sin in Mississippi But how was I to know I'd come down from Chicago To visit with my kin Up there I was a cheeky kid I guess I always been But the harm they put upon me Was too hard for what I done For I was just a black boy I never hurt no one They took me from my uncle's house Mose Wright was his name He'd later stand and without hesitation Point the blame At the ones who beat and cut me And shot me with a gun Then threw me in the river Like I was trash when they were done I was sent back to my mother At least what was left of me She kept my casket open For the whole wide world to see The awful desecration And the evidence of hate You could not recognize me The mutilation was so great There came a cry for justice then To be finally fulfilled All because of me, a black boy My name is Emmett Till But I'd have rather lived 'Til I was too old to die young Not miss all I left behind All that might have come The summer clouds above my head The grass beneath my feet The warmth of a good woman Her kisses soft and sweet Perhaps to be a father With a black boy of my own And watch him grow into A kinder world than I had known Where no child would be murdered For the color of his skin And love would be the only thing Inside the hearts of men They say the horror of that night Is still haunting heaven still Where I am one more black boy My name is Emmett Till --- My Name Is Emmett Till - Emmylou Harris