Born in Slaughter, Mississippi in 1939 – Wheeler Parker’s family relocated to Chicago in 1947 with the hope of providing better living conditions and a better education for their children.

Wheeler returned to Mississippi with his grandfather, Moses Wright during the summer 1955. Traveling with him was his 14 year old cousin Emmett Till. The events of that week changed his life forever. The incident at the store in Money; the night of terror when Emmett was taken from the home and murdered, and his return to Chicago alone and in constant fear for his own life, still causes him to tremble and weep. He always believed he would see Emmett again, not being able to accept that the horrific corpse returned to Chicago was Emmett, and he was able to cope by believing he was not dead. The last living eyewitness (besides Till’s accuser), Wheeler is a survivor of this event – an event that
sparked the civil rights movement – an event that Time Magazine said “Changed The World.” This event? The murder of Emmett Till.

свернуть