Film and Media Screening Series: ‘The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till,’ with Keith Beauchamp

The Film and Media Screening Series will present The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till (2005) with director Keith Beauchamp; he will participate in a Q&A after the film.

The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till articulates the horrors of racism in the American South of the 1950s. Combining archival photos and footage with deeply felt interviews, this documentary tells the harrowing story of what happened when a 14-year-old black boy from Chicago, visiting relatives in Mississippi, allegedly whistled at a white woman. Till’s brutal murder, and the subsequent acquittal of the white men responsible, would help launch the Civil Rights Movement.

Keith Beauchamp originally studied criminal justice with the intention of becoming a civil rights attorney. After suffering a racially motivated assault by a police officer, he instead felt compelled to fight racism by becoming a filmmaker. Beauchamp has devoted the past 22 years of his life to telling the story of Emmett Till and investigating the historic murder. AS a result of his efforts, the United States Department of Justice reopened the murder case. Beauchamp is also involved with the FBI’s new civil rights “cold case” initiative, producing documentaries on other unsolved civil rights murders in order to help agents bring remaining perpetrators to justice.

The Film and Media Screening Series is supported by the School of Liberal Arts, and the departments of Film, Media and Performing Arts, English and Communication Studies, and Modern Languages and Cultures.

All Film and Media Screening Series events are free and open to the public.