Remembering Willie Louis, Emile Griffith, Virginia Johnson

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• published: 21 Aug 2013
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A Brave 18 Year Old Who Testified EMMETT TILL, THE TRAGIC WELTERWIEGHT, AND HUMAN SEXUAL RESPONSE Willie Louis was an 18 year-old boy who testified at the 1955 murder trial of Emmett Till. His name then was Willie Reed and to testify in those days against white defendants in Mississippi meant risking one's life. The trial and its aftermath were one of the seminal moments of the civil rights movement. Emile Griffith was one of the best fighters of his generation. In a 1962 welterweight championship fight he knocked out Benny "Kid" Paret and Paret died after the fight. this was the first boxing death witnessed by a television audience and the beginning of the end of boxing for boxing on television. Virginia Johnson, along with her husband and research partner William Masters, revolutionized the academic study of sex with their research in the 1960's and 1970's. Emmett Louis Till (July 25, 1941 -- August 28, 1955) was an African-American boy who was murdered in Mississippi at the age of 14 after reportedly flirting with a white woman. Till was from Chicago, Illinois, visiting his relatives in Money, Mississippi, in the Mississippi Delta region, when he spoke to 21-year-old Carolyn Bryant, the married proprietor of a small grocery store there. Several nights later, Bryant's husband Roy and his half-brother J. W. Milam arrived at Till's great-uncle's house where they took Till, transported him to a barn, beat him and gouged out one of his eyes, before shooting him through the head and disposing of his body in the Tallahatchie River, weighting it with a 70-pound (32 kg) cotton gin fan tied around his neck with barbed wire. His body was discovered and retrieved from the river three days later. Till was returned to Chicago and his mother, who had raised him mostly by herself, insisted on a public funeral service with an open casket to show the world the brutality of the killing. Tens of thousands attended his funeral or viewed his casket and images of his mutilated body were published in black magazines and newspapers, rallying popular black support and white sympathy across the U.S. Intense scrutiny was brought to bear on the condition of black civil rights in Mississippi, with newspapers around the country critical of the state. Although initially local newspapers and law enforcement officials decried the violence against Till and called for justice, they soon began responding to national criticism by defending Mississippians, which eventually transformed into support for the killers. The trial attracted a vast amount of press attention. Bryant and Milam were acquitted of Till's kidnapping and murder, but only months later, in a magazine interview, protected against double jeopardy, they admitted to killing him. Till's murder is noted as a pivotal event motivating the African-American Civil Rights Movement. Problems identifying Till affected the trial, partially leading to Bryant's and Milam's acquittals, and the case was officially reopened by the United States Department of Justice in 2004. As part of the investigation, the body was exhumed and autopsied resulting in a positive identification. He was reburied in a new casket, which is the standard practice in cases of body exhumation. His original casket was donated to the Smithsonian Institution. Events surrounding Emmett Till's life and death, according to historians, continue to resonate, and almost every story about Mississippi returns to Till, or the region in which he died, in "some spiritual, homing way" Emile Alphonse Griffith (February 3, 1938 -- July 23, 2013) was a professional boxer from the U.S. Virgin Islands who became a world champion in the welterweight and middleweight classes. His best known contest was a 1962 title match with Benny Paret. At the weigh in, Paret infuriated Griffith by touching his buttocks and calling him a homosexual. Griffith won the bout by knockout; Paret never recovered consciousness and died in hospital 10 days later. Griffith turned professional in 1958 and fought frequently in New York City. Griffith captured the Welterweight title from Cuban Benny "The Kid" Paret by knocking him out in the 13th round on April 1, 1961. Six months later Griffith lost the title to Paret in a narrow split decision. Griffith regained the title from Paret on March 24, 1962 in the controversial bout after which Paret died. "detailed below" But many boxing fans believed he was never quite the same fighter after Paret's death. From the Paret bout to his retirement in 1977, Griffith fought 80 bouts but only scored twelve knockouts. He later admitted to being gentler with his opponents and relying on his superior boxing skills, because he was terrified of killing someone else in the ring. Like so many other fighters, Griffith fought well past his prime. He won only nine of his last twenty three fights.