Emmett Till was an African-American teenager who was brutally murdered for allegedly flirting with a white woman. His death, which took place at the time when racial hatred and crimes against blacks were mounting, marked a turning point in the emerging Civil Rights Movement in the United States. Till was just 14 years old when he was accused of misbehavior by a white woman who alleged that he made sexual advances towards her and tried to molest her. Days later, the teenager’s badly mutilated body was pulled out of a river, shocking the American society. Enraged by the brutality with which her only son had been murdered, Emmett’s mother held an open funeral which allowed the public to view the teenager’s body. This shocking incident helped shed light on racial violence and lynching of blacks that was so prevalent in the Mississippi area at the time. While it was public knowledge that the boy had been kidnapped by the woman’s husband and a relative, Till’s family could never bring the murderers to justice despite their desperate attempts. Though the law enforcement officials initially demanded justice for the boy, the killers were not convicted even after they publically admitted to the crime. This shocking incident, however, helped galvanize the African-Americans to spring into action and start the Civil Rights Movement.