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Grandma Winnie
Emmett Till was a 14-year-old Black boy who was murdered by a group of white men in 1954 for allegedly whistling at a white woman. His death marked a turning point for civil rights activism in the South. In the memoir, his murder also influences Anne in her understanding of the evils of racism and drives her interest in civil rights activism.
Emmett Till Quotes in Coming of Age in Mississippi
The Coming of Age in Mississippi quotes below are all either spoken by Emmett Till or refer to Emmett Till. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 10
Quotes
“Just do your work like you don’t know nothing,” she said. “That boy’s a lot better off in heaven than he is here.”
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
When [Mrs. Burke] talked about Emmett Till there was something in her voice that sent chills and fear all over me. Before Emmett Till’s murder, I had known the fear of hunger, hell, and the Devil. But now there was a new fear known to me—the fear of being killed just because I was black.
Chapter 11
Quotes
I was fifteen years old when I began to hate people. I hated the white men who murdered Emmett Till and I hated all the other whites who were responsible for the countless murders Mrs. Rice had told me about and those I vaguely remembered from childhood. But I also hated Negroes. I hated them for not standing up and doing something about the murders. In fact, I think I had a stronger resentment towards Negroes for letting whites kill them than towards the whites.
Get the entire Coming of Age in Mississippi LitChart as a printable PDF.
Emmett Till Quotes in Coming of Age in Mississippi
The Coming of Age in Mississippi quotes below are all either spoken by Emmett Till or refer to Emmett Till. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 10
Quotes
“Just do your work like you don’t know nothing,” she said. “That boy’s a lot better off in heaven than he is here.”
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
When [Mrs. Burke] talked about Emmett Till there was something in her voice that sent chills and fear all over me. Before Emmett Till’s murder, I had known the fear of hunger, hell, and the Devil. But now there was a new fear known to me—the fear of being killed just because I was black.
Chapter 11
Quotes
I was fifteen years old when I began to hate people. I hated the white men who murdered Emmett Till and I hated all the other whites who were responsible for the countless murders Mrs. Rice had told me about and those I vaguely remembered from childhood. But I also hated Negroes. I hated them for not standing up and doing something about the murders. In fact, I think I had a stronger resentment towards Negroes for letting whites kill them than towards the whites.
