Rev. Wheeler Parker was there in the bedroom when Emmett Till was abducted. His memoir recounts the 70-year push for federal charges

Christopher Borrelli | (TNS) Chicago Tribune

The Rev. Wheeler Parker Jr. lives just outside Justice.

This has been true his whole life. In the geographic sense, he has lived in Summit (or the subdivision of Argo, annexed long ago into Summit) for most of his 83 years. Summit ambles alongside the Des Plaines River, a bit north of the village of Justice. In a more poetic sense, though, Parker has also lived outside justice since 1955, when he visited Mississippi with his cousin Emmett Till. He is the last witness to the encounter that sealed Till’s fate and the last living witness to Till’s abduction four nights later.

Other than Carolyn Bryant, whose accusation unleashed the full wrath of Jim Crow.

She’s almost 90

→ Continue reading at Silicon Valley

More from author

Related posts

Advertisment

Latest posts

GM pauses sales of Chevy Blazer EV over software issues | CNN Business

New York CNN  —  GM has paused sales of its brand new Chevy Blazer EVs after some customers reported...

Crypto’s 2023 was marred by fraud and scandal. It was its best year ever | CNN Business

New York CNN  —  Crypto’s 14th year in existence was one marred by scandal, bankruptcy, fraud and regulatory squabbling....

The Tantalizing Mystery of the Solar System’s Hidden Oceans

The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine.For most of humankind’s existence, Earth was the only known ocean-draped world, seemingly unlike any...