The Many Narratives of Emmett Till: A Case Study on Responses to the Lynching of Emmett Till

Lynching has a contested history in the United States. Contemporarily, there are still conflicts over its definition and use, including disagreements over what acts constitute a lynching. Previous research has addressed the causes of lynchings, but a lesser studied area is that of the responses to these lynching events: how were narratives around lynching constructed? This thesis is a case study on press responses to the lynching of Emmett Till utilizing digitized newspaper articles. The analysis revealed contested narratives in response to Till’s lynching. This led to a categorization of press responses based on geographic reach and audience to help understand the narratives produced. Varying frames of race, place, and racism were all essential to the construction of these narratives. The divisions in press responses have broader implications for the discussions on race, racism, racial violence, power, and state legitimacy in the United States. Keywords: lynching, press responses, race

Author

• Axelrod, Brooke

Language

• en

Keyword

• racial violence
• press responses
• race
• racism
• discourse
• lynching

Date created

• 2024

Type of Work

• Master's Thesis

License

• All rights reserved

Rights statement

• In Copyright

GW Unit

• Sociology

Degree

• M.A.

Advisor

• Buntman, Fran L
• Bustamante, Carlos F

Persistent URL

•  https://scholarspace.library.gwu.edu/etd/n583xv63b