Just days before the 70th anniversary of Emmett Till’s brutal killing, the federal government on Friday released thousands of pages of newly public records tied to the case.

The documents, now available through the National Archives, were disclosed under the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Collection Act of 2018 and compiled by the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Review Board. They shed light on how the Justice Department, FBI, and the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights handled investigations into the 1955 lynching of the 14-year-old Black teenager.

“Our thoughts are with the Till family,” the National Archives and Records Administration said in a statement.

The Murder That Shocked a Nation

Emmett Till, a Chicago native, was visiting relatives in Mississippi when he was falsely accused of whistling at a white woman in a grocery store. Four days later, in the early hours of the morning, he was abducted from his great-uncle’s home by Roy Bryant and John William “J.W.” Milam.

The two white men tortured and murdered Till in a barn, then dumped his body in the Tallahatchie River. His disfigured remains were discovered days later.

Although Bryant and Milam were charged with murder, an all-white jury acquitted them. Months later, both men admitted in a magazine interview that they had indeed kidnapped and killed Till.

A Catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement

Till’s mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, galvanized the movement when she demanded an open-casket funeral, ensuring the world saw the brutality her son endured.

His death became a defining moment in American history, fueling decades of activism. In 2022, President Joe Biden signed the Emmett Till Antilynching Act, making lynching a federal hate crime. A year later, he designated a national monument honoring Till and his mother.

Newly Released Files

Many of the newly released materials have never been seen before. They include:

• FBI and Justice Department reports
• Telegrams and case files
• Correspondence from the NAACP, the White House, and FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover

The records are available online in the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Collection through the National Archives.

A representative for the Till family did not immediately respond to a request for comment.