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White Woman Whose False Accusation Led to Emmett Till’s Lynching Dies Without Ever Facing Justice

HeadlineApr 28, 2023

The white woman whose discredited accusations led to the lynching death of Black teenager Emmett Till in Mississippi seven decades ago has died of cancer at the age of 88. It was 1955 when Carolyn Bryant Donham accused Till of whistling at her in her store. That prompted Till’s abduction, torture and murder. Donham’s husband and his half-brother were tried for the lynching and acquitted by an all-white jury. In 2007, Donham confessed she had fabricated her claim, leading the FBI to reopen Till’s case. But the Justice Department ended its investigation in 2021 without filing charges. Last year, a team searching for evidence in Emmett Till’s case found an unserved warrant charging Donham in his kidnapping.

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