An Intersectional Feminist Perspective of Emmett Till in Young Adult Literature

Emmett Till’s murder inspired many novelists, poets, and artists. Recently, Till has inspired several feminist young adult novelists who are introducing his case in an intersectional way to a new generation of readers. The works that I have studied are A Wreath for Emmett Till (2003) by Marilyn Nelson, The Hunger Games Trilogy (2008-2010) by Suzanne Collins, and Midnight without a Moon (2017) by Linda Jackson. By examining how the authors employ a feminist perspective, readers can understand how they are striving for a more inclusive, intersectional feminist movement. This is significant because the publishing industry, specifically for Young Adult Literature, is not diverse. These works, while often overlooked by critics, may be the first exposure most young readers have to Emmett Till. Each of these novels could be used to teach readers not only about Till’s case, but also about current events to help foster a multicultural consciousness

Reopening the Emmett Till Case: Lessons and Challenges for Critical Race Practice

As part of the symposium panel on Re- Trying Racial Injustices, I devote this Essay to an expansion of themes addressed in my earlier work on the reopening of civil rights era prosecutions. I draw upon this work, as well as upon the insights of my co-panelists Anthony Alfieri and Sherrilyn Ifill, to examine the reopening of the Emmett Till case and its critical race practice possibilities. In this Essay, I consider other aspects of these cleansing moments. Are they illusory? Do they provide a misleading sense of closure at the expense of the ongoing hard work of racial justice that leads up to -and must proceed from-those moments? What lessons or teaching moments might these cases create for critical race lawyers in their ongoing social justice work? In notable respects, the impetus to reopen long-dormant cases shares with critical legal theory a justified skepticism of the construct of finality and an idealistic vision of the possibilities for ultimate justice. Procedural and substantive bulwarks of finality may be necessary in a legalistic sense, but they do not signify closure or justice, particularly when structural inequality persists. Reopening, with its promise of restorative justice through racial healing and reconciliation, has the potential to provide the closure that mere finality lacks, but only if that restorative justice is authentic and far-reaching. This Essay proceeds to address the above concerns as follows. In Part I, I discuss the Emmett Till case in greater detail, with brief contextual reference to two historical eras that frame it chronologically and thematically: lynching in the late nineteenth to mid-twentieth centuries, and the civil rights movement of the mid-to late1950s. In Part II, I focus on the significance of the 2004 Till case reopening and lessons that it may offer for critical race practice. These lessons dovetail with recurrent questions in the literature of critical race theory and offer suggestions for fostering the integration of theory and practice (race praxis). Finally, I conclude that the Till case and other similar reopenings will yield transcendent meaning and closure only if a self-reflective approach propels them past the transitory cleansing moments toward a deeper commitment to restorative justice

The Emmett Till Generation: The Birmingham Children\u27s Crusade and the Renewed Civil Rights Movement

In 1954, two white men murdered an African American boy named Emmett Till; his death sparked a generation of children to take part in the Civil Rights Movement during the 1960s. One particular event in Birmingham, Alabama sparked nationwide sympathy for the movement. This event, called the Children\u27s Crusade, highlighted the civil rights struggle in Birmingham by publishing images of children violently attacked by the police in newspapers and on television across the country. This media frenzy garnered sympathy from all Americans and ultimately led to the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, landmark civil rights legislation

2015 February

Press releases for February of 2015

Good grief: an analysis of the character development of Tonya in August Wilson’s King Hedley II through the lens of “the five stages of grief”.

An actor who is portraying a grieving character can also grieve simultaneously about the character’s given circumstances, which affects the character development and mental health of the actor. This thesis assesses how the character Tonya, in August Wilson’s King Hedley II, engages with grief as an African American woman and offers a process for the actor to engage and disengage with loss. “Good Grief” will unpack Constantin Stanislavski’s system of acting, focusing on the Magic “If” and the given circumstances, while also introducing the “Five Stages of Grief” coined by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross. Through the scholarship of theatre practitioners and psychologists coupled with critical self-reflexive analysis, as it relates to constructing the character Tonya, I hypothesize that grief directly impacts character development

Motherhood to Motherhoods: Ideologies of the “Feminine”

The eleven essays in this special issue originated from the “Motherhood to mother-hoods: Ideologies of the ‘Feminine’” conference held at Chapman University in Orange, California, on April 28-30, 2023. Against the background of intense discussions on women’s reproductive rights in the United States (US), the conference provided a fertile ground for reexamining motherhood as a concept extending beyond essentialist and biological determinations