Lives Less Ordinary

I was there the night Emmett Till was taken


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Wheeler Parker is Emmett Till's cousin and the last surviving witness to his abduction.

Emmett's brutal murder in Mississippi in 1955 sparked a wave of protest in America. The 14-year-old African American was lynched for whistling at a white woman, Carolyn Bryant Donham, who recently died aged 88. Reverend Wheeler Parker was Emmett's cousin and was in the next room to him when he was kidnapped. The horrific events of that night have shaped Wheeler's life. We spoke to him before the news of Donham's death.

Wheeler has written a book alongside lawyer and journalist Christopher Benson called: A Few Days Full of Trouble. We spoke to them before the death of Carolyn Bryant Donham.

This programme contains some distressing scenes.

Presenter: Jo Fidgen

Producer: Deiniol Buxton and Troy Holmes
Editor: Munazza Khan

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Lives Less OrdinaryBy BBC World Service

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