Mamie wanted to have an open-casket funeral as a way of reflecting the world’s horror back onto itself. Jet felt a duty to amplify this. And so, in every home and on every newsstand within Jet’s circulation, there was the picture of Emmett Till’s remains. The photo created an urgency around a movement. The things black people had been experiencing and trying to tell the world about were presented, right there, for everyone to see. A worthwhile reason to fight back emerged. The casket was always going to be open, as Mamie Till wished. But it was Jet’s ability to capture the moment that made the
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