Ramblin' with Roger

Still writing about Emmett Till

The Secret History of a Murder in Mississippi

I wrote about Emmett Till on August 28, 2005, on the 50th anniversary of his death, then ten years later. And I’m still writing about Emmett Till.

He was the Chicago-born black teenager who was murdered, purportedly for whistling at a white woman, in rural Mississippi in August 1955. He disappeared 70 years ago today; his mutilated body was found three days later. “His mother allowed photos to be taken of his open casket, and the horrifying pictures helped galvanize the Civil Rights movement, including the ‘I Have a Dream’ speech eight years, to the day, later.”

As I’ve noted, “I want to know why I can see that photo in my mind’s eye when the event took place when I was only two years old. I’m guessing that on the fifth anniversary in 1960, Ebony and/or Jet magazines reran the photos. I saw them, and the images seared in my mind to this day.

“His brutal demise, which helped energize the efforts for black equality, has been the subject of Dreaming Emmett, the first play by the Nobel-winning African-American writer Toni Morrison, in 1986, and the Oscar-nominated short film My Nephew Emmett (2017), both of which I have seen.”

But I have not yet seen Till (2022). “In 1955, after Emmett Till is murdered in a brutal lynching, his mother vows to expose the racism behind the attack while working to have those involved brought to justice.”

Here’s a curious thing I discovered recently: Emmett has an IMDb page, not Till, the character in the movies, but the actual person.

The Barn

I have not read the book The Barn: The Secret History of a Murder in Mississippi by Wright Thompson. “A shocking and revelatory account of the murder of Emmett Till, laying bare the global forces that converged on the Mississippi Delta in the long lead-up to the crime, and how the truth was hidden for so long.

“Wright Thompson’s family farm in Mississippi is twenty-three miles from the site of one of the most notorious and consequential killings in American history, yet he learned of it only when he left the state for college. To this day, fundamental truths about the crime are hidden and unknown, including where it took place and how many people were involved. This is no accident: the cover-up began at once, and it is ongoing.”

From here: “The instant New York Times bestseller • Named a Best Book of the Year by The Washington Post, Slate, Vanity Fair, TIME, Buzzfeed, Smithsonian, BookPage, KCUR, Kirkus, and Boston Globe

“It literally changed my outlook on the world…incredible.” —Shonda Rhimes.

“The Barn is serious history and skillful journalism, but with the nuance and wallop of a finely wrought novel… The Barn describes not just the poison of silence and lies, but also the dignity of courage and truth.” — The Washington Post

CBS Sunday Morning: “The Barn”: A murder in Mississippi, and the evil hiding in plain sight, 1 Dec 2024

A musing about Matthew Shepard as Emmett Till

My Name Is Emmett Till – Emmylou Harris

A monument, and then…

2023: A New Monument to Till Doesn’t Measure Progress, But It Does Matter

February 2025: A new exhibit at the Chicago History Museum focuses on the infamous trial. Seventy years after the racist murder of Chicago teen Till in Mississippi helped inspire the civil rights movement, a new exhibit on him at the Chicago History Museum explores in greater depth what happened after his lynching.

June 2025: National monument honoring Emmett Till at risk of removal due to Trump’s anti-DEI initiatives and budget cuts. They are trying to disappear Emmett again.

Understand the attitude

Heather Cox Richardson wrote on July 25, quoting a Guardian article, about how, on May 2, 2025, “a Florida Highway Patrol officer pulled over a van with 18-year-old U.S. citizen Kenny Laynez-Ambrosio and two undocumented men in it. ” Read about the abuse, but especially the ICE attitude.

Then she noted Emmett Till’s birthday – he would have been 84 -and discussed his death. She cited LIFE magazine photos, two PBS pieces, an article from LOOK magazine, and Saving Places in sharing this stunning parallel:

“In September 1955, an all-white jury took just over an hour to find [Roy] Bryant and [J.W.] Milam not guilty. A member of the jury said, “We wouldn’t have taken so long if we hadn’t stopped to drink pop.”

“Immune from further prosecution, Bryant and Milam told their story to Look magazine for $4,000. They said they had kidnapped and beaten Till to frighten him, but when he refused to beg for mercy, they drove him to the river. Milam asked, ‘You still as good as I am?’ and when Till answered, ‘Yeah,’ they shot him, tied a 75-pound cotton gin fan around his neck with barbed wire, and threw him in.

“‘What else could we do?’ Milam said. ‘He was hopeless. I’m no bully. I never hurt a n#gger in my life. I like n#ggers, in their place. I know how to work ’em. But I just decided it was time a few people got put on notice. As long as I live and can do anything about it, n#ggers are gonna stay in their place.'”

Just this week, thousands of pages of records have been released detailing the government’s response to the lynching.

Part 2 of the Hot Soul Singles of 1975

cool, laidback image

Here is Part 2 of the Hot Soul Singles of 1975. The 23 songs here led the charts for a solitary week.

Express -B.T. Express

Supernatural Thing – Part 1 – Ben E. King

Shoeshine Boy – Eddie Kendricks. I was pleased that the Temps and former Temps were still faring well commercially.

Shakey Ground – The Temptations. I first heard the Delbert McClinton cover, but then I bought the Temps LP House Party as a cutout.

What Am I Gonna Do With You – Barry White. Written, produced, and arranged by Barry White, as usual.

Baby That’s Backatcha – Smokey Robinson. “Smokey’s first solo-billed release to reach the top of Billboard’s R&B singles chart.”

Spirit of the Boogie – Kool & the Gang

Love Won’t Let Me Wait – Major Harris. At the time, I was shocked that the song, with its explicit lyrics, made it to #5 on the pop charts.

Rockin’ Chair – Gwen McCrae

No Ray Davies

Give The People What They Want – the O’Jays. Not to be confused with the Kinks song from the early 1980s.

Look At Me (I’m In Love) -Moments

Slippery When Wet – Commodores. Unrelated to the 1986 Bon Jovi album

Hope That We Can Be Together Soon – Sharon Paige and Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes. Gamble and Huff, of course.

Dream Merchant—New Birth. I didn’t remember the title of this song, but I have heard it.

Your Love – Graham Central Station, led by the great Larry Graham of Sly & the Family Stone

It Only Takes A Minute – Tavares. They were an American R&B/soul group composed of five Cape Verdean-American brothers.

Do It Anyway You Wanna – Peoples Choice. Leon Huff and TSOP

“They Just Can’t Stop It” The (Games People Play) -Spinners, possibly the oddest punctuation in a pop hit.

To Each His Own – Faith Hope & Charity. Van McCoy wrote, arranged, and produced.

Sweet Sticky Thing – Ohio Players

Low Rider– War. It was “used as the theme song for the George Lopez self-titled ABC sitcom, which ran from 2002 to 2007.” The song has been repurposed for a recent prescription drug ad; meh!

I Love Music (Part 1) – O’Jays. More Gamble and Huff

Full of Fire – Al Green

Lydster: New York City twice

Urban Stomp

My daughter went to New York City twice in two weeks. The background: my mother-in-law ostensibly has a timeshare plan, but my wife has been paying for it. Because she’s been busy working, we haven’t utilized the service sufficiently. Fortunately, one of my BILs is taking it over on October 1.

My daughter went to the City in mid-July with her bestie, Kay, and stayed at the location on 45th Street in Manhattan. They attended a very much Off-Off-Broadway play directed by my niece Alexa.

The highlight was going to the Museum of the City of New York, 1220 Fifth Avenue at 103rd Street. I will admit that I had never heard of it. They enjoyed Above Ground: Art from the Martin Wong Graffiti Collection (through October 5, 2025), Urban Stomp: Dreams & Defiance on the Dance Floor (through February 22, 2026), and the ongoing Songs of New York: 100 Years of Imagining the City Through Music. My daughter rightly assumes I will love that latter exhibit.

Part Two

The final week of July, my wife and daughter went to New York. My wife had never been to the Manhattan property. I’d been there thrice, once with my sister Leslie and twice with my daughter, and my daughter and I insisted that she go up to the 33rd floor at night.

My wife and daughter went to the Guggenheim Museum at 1071 Fifth Ave., designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The daughter was particularly taken by the Rashid Johnson: A Poem for Deep Thinkers exhibit.

The Whitney Museum of American Art, 99 Gansevoort Street, is “located in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District—steps away from the Hudson River Greenway and the West Side Highway.” Unfortunately, the highlight of their visit, the Amy Sherald: American Sublime exhibit, ended on August 10; it had been featured on CBS News. You’ll likely recognize her famous portrait of Michelle Obama if you don’t know her name. But the collection has over 26,000 works representing 6000 artists.

Our daughter, who relished the return trip, took my wife to the Museum of the City of New York. On Wednesday morning, they had brunch with cousin/niece Alexa before returning home.

I should note that they went down to NYC the same day that some guy drove from Las Vegas to Manhattan and shot several people in a Manhattan office, killing four. Although I knew my family was safe – they were at least ten blocks away – it was oddly unsettling.

The day after their return, there was flooding in NYC, including the subway near Grand Central Station, where they had been just the day before. Their timing was remarkably good.

Trying to write a FantaCo book

the gestalt

As I have mentioned to some of you, I’m trying to write a FantaCo book, that is, a book about the comic book store/publisher/convention operator/mail-order entity FantaCo at 21 Central Avenue in Albany, which operated from 1978 to 1998 and still exists in some electronic version.

I worked there officially from May 1980 to November 1988. Frankly, I’ve written almost nothing, though I have done some interviews. I have a pretty good idea of how it’s laying out in terms of chronological facts.

What I haven’t quite grasped is why FantaCo was that special place. When working there, you try to do the best job possible to make the experience pleasant. How the customers perceive that is a harder thing to define.

I did get a couple of insights from some interviews I’ve done. One is that FantaCo was part of a larger Lark Street/lower Central Ave/Metroland scene. How does one explain what a scene feels like? The other thing I’ve heard is that we were responsive to what our customers wanted without making any conscious plan.

FantaCo was a fascinating place that started primarily as a comic book store. It never stopped being one, but got much more into film items. The publishing got more into the horror genre.

Decade One

The book will focus on the first ten years, 1978-1988. I need more information about the first two years before I officially worked there, from August 1978 until May 1980. After that, I recorded most of the stuff in a series of diaries. I’ve also written some of it via interviews and incorporated the diaries into this blog.

Once upon a time, I gathered information for a Raoul Vezina Wikipedia page. Though it never happened, I still have some unique items.

I have scads of photos. To my surprise, I identified most of the individuals and the date.

Again, I’m less worried about the narrative while I was there, although I’d be interested if you have some stories to share. I’m focused on the feelings/atmosphere—if you will pardon the expression, the gestalt.

How would you explain FantaCo’s vibe? Please get in touch with me by leaving a comment on this post, by email, or by Facebook/Messenger. I’d love to hear your insights on this topic. Thank you.

Sunday Stealing — Rise and Shine!

“Snap, what a happy sound.”

Welcome to Sunday Stealing. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions. Cheers to all of us thieves!

This week we once again turn to husband-and-wife bloggers, Jeff and Charli, who are getting our week started with a meme inspired by one they stole from Jennine.

Morning Meme: Rise and Shine!

1) What do you typically have for breakfast?

Usually, I get up and make oatmeal while my wife is showering. She comes down and we eat. The trick is that each of us has our own milk; I have 1%, my wife has almond milk, and if our daughter joins us, she has oat milk, though she is often on a different sleep schedule. It’s sometimes difficult to keep track of because when I buy the almond milk from one store, the packaging is of a specific color scheme, and when my wife buys it from another store, it’s totally different. I only remember that almond milk is for my wife because her middle initial is A.

Cereal killer

2) What was your favorite breakfast cereal when you were a kid?

I liked several pre-sweetened cereals, such as Froot Loops, Sugar Smacks, which they now call Honey Smacks, and Alpha Bits. But we also had Shredded Wheat, Wheaties (Breakfast of Champions), Cheerios, and Rice Krispies, which had the best theme song. I wrote here in 2006: “Personally, I like to mix my non-presweetened cereals. They must differ by grain and by shape.” In 2012, I noted my favorite cereals, but ate very few of them by then. I own Kellogg’s cereal bowls.

3) Orange juice, tomato juice, or cranberry juice?

Actually, my favorite thing is a mix of half orange juice and half cranberry juice. It makes the cranberry juice less tart and the orange juice less ordinary. I blend a lot of foods.

4) What time is your alarm clock set for?

I don’t use an alarm clock. That’s the whole idea behind being retired. Unfortunately, my wife sometimes uses an alarm clock.. It can be set for as early as six or as late as seven. Usually, I get up when she does. Sometimes, after she goes to work, I go back to bed.

Morning Has Broken

5) Do you have any tips for preventing stress and making the morning go more smoothly?

The morning goes most smoothly when I wake up before my wife does. I post my blog to Facebook and BlueSky and then start writing something. If my wife goes for a walk, I’ll work on a blog post. But if she’s in a hurry and must shower right away, I’ll make breakfast. Then she’ll go to work, and I’ll finish writing the blog post.

Writing in the morning is much better than any other time of the day, and it makes my morning much better when I feel like I can check something off my list. I also like to read the paper first thing in the morning, although sometimes they pile up, and I don’t get to them until three or four days later. It doesn’t take long to read. I also tend to empty the dishwasher in the morning while waiting for the oatmeal water to boil, and then reload the dishwasher after breakfast.

Thank you for playing! Please come back next week.