"EMMETT TILL"
(1989)

Back in high school, my History class saw the PBS documentary "Eyes On The Prize" about the civil rights movement. There was a segment in one of the first episodes about a young black boy who said "Bye baby" to a white woman in a heavily segregated area of the South back in the 50's. Later that night, the woman's husband and brother came to the child's house and abducted him. They mutilated and lynched Emmett Till and weighted his body with stones and threw him in the river. One month later they had an open casket funeral for him, to show the world what these men had done. The murderers were set free by an all white jury.

The image of Emmett Till's mangled corpse lying in his coffin gave me nightmares for years. I painted it as a reminder and as a memorial.