Emmett Till's Cousin Recounts Journey for Justice in New Book

Cover art for "A Few Days of Trouble."

Rev. Wheeler Parker Jr. provides moving reflections as the last surviving eyewitness to the lynching of 14-year-old Emmett Till in 1955, the event that set off the Civil Rights Movement, in his book, “A Few Days Full of Trouble: Revelations on the Journey to Justice for My Cousin and Best Friend, Emmett Till.”

In the spirit of its anti-racism work, Winnetka Congregational Church is partnering with The Book Stall to host an author talk with Rev. Parker, 6:30-8:30 p.m. Tuesday, February 28 at the church, 725 Pine St. in Winnetka. The event is free to the public, but registration is requested at http://bit.ly/3JkKc8u

Going beyond Rev. Wheeler Parker’s own vivid memories, he and Christopher Benson (lawyer, journalist and professor) lay out facts about the case that have never before been revealed.

Driven by the question, “What does justice mean in the resolution of a 66-year old cold case?” “A Few Days of Trouble” opens with the 2017 recanting of Carolyn Bryant Donham’s lie that cost Till his life (although a grand jury still refused to indict her) and in 2018, the FBI taking more interest in the dormant Till investigation.

The book reveals the ways in which reporting errors and prejudices of the 1950s, manipulations, and political pushback led to today. In a hypnotic interplay between uncovered facts and vivid recall, the 83-year-old Rev. Wheeler tells his story, with moving recollections of Till as a boy, critical insights into the recent investigation, and powerful lessons for racial reckoning, both then and now.

Specifically, this powerful work provides:

• Critical missing pieces to the body of work on Emmett Till: An exclusive look at the last phase of the investigation into the Till case, via Rev. Parker’s rare access to federal and Mississippi state authorities' confidential documents and briefings.

• The perspective of Rev. Parker, who had a personal relationship with Till, as his closest friend and who unlike Emmett's mother, Mrs. Mamie Till-Mobley, was in Mississippi with Till and was a direct witness to events that unfolded.

• Award-winning collaborator: Christopher Benson coauthored the late Mamie Till-Mobley's Pulitzer-nominated, Robert F. Kennedy Award-winning “Death of Innocence.”

“Emmett Till should have been the beginning and the end of this conversation on racism and racial violence,” Rev. Parker wrote. “But we are still experiencing it….We saw it in 2012 with the slaying of Trayvon Martin and the beginning of the Black Lives Matter Movement. To know Emmett Till is to know Trayvon Martin. And Michael Brown. And Tamir Rice. And Eric Garner. And Philando Castile, Laquan McDonald, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd. And on and on and on. Emmett Till was the first Black Lives Matter story.”

Co-author Rev. Wheeler Parker, Jr.

Images provided by Penguin Random House.

Reverend Wheeler Parker, Jr. is pastor and district superintendent of the Argo Temple Church of God in Christ in Summit, Illinois, the church built by Alma Carthan, the grandmother of Emmett Till. A sought-after public speaker, Rev. Parker lectures and teaches on the history of the struggle for equal justice in America. He has been married for more than 55 years to the former Dr. Marvel McCain, a member of the Summit board of trustees.

Co-author Christopher Benson

Images provided by Penguin Random House.

Christopher Benson is a lawyer, journalist, and an associate professor in the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. He was Washington Editor of Ebony and has contributed to Chicago magazine, the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun-Times, The New York Times, HuffPost, and The Chicago Reporter. He has also received two regional Emmys and a Peter Lisagor Award for exemplary journalism for his work on the documentary " Paper Trail: 100 Years of The Chicago Defender."