The Florida State University Libraries Special Collections and Archives recently received rare legal documents from a landmark civil rights case.
On Monday, the school announced it had acquired historical records from the Tallahatchie County Courthouse in Sumner, Mississippi the place where J.W. Milam and Roy Bryant were tried for the abduction and murder of Emmett Till in 1955.
Milam and Bryant were tried less than four weeks after Till’s death. An all-white and male jury acquitted them both. They both later confessed to the crime to a magazine journalist. Till’s death fueled the growing momentum behind the Civil Rights Movement.
FSU says they received the historic legal documents from independent researchers Kevin Murphy and Colleen Fitzpatrick. They say the donated records include “Circuit Court case files for each charge against Milam and Bryant, including records related to witnesses called to trial.”
FSU says researchers used special masks, gloves, and lighting to recover the documents from the courthouse basement.
The entire experience was profoundly moving; to rub our fingers over the actual signatures of Mose Wright, Willie Reed, Mandy Bradley, et al in the State Witness Fee Book, brought us right back to those days of 1955,” Murphy said per FSU’s release.
Fitzpatrick says the team is digitizing this latest set of documents. FSU says neighbors can view their libraries’ digital repository here.
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