Louis Till | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | February 7, 1922 Cape Girardeau, Missouri, U.S. |
| Died | July 2, 1945 (aged 23) |
| Cause of death | Execution by hanging |
| Resting place | Oise-Aisne American Cemetery Plot E, France |
| Education | Argo Community High School |
| Years active | 1943–1945 |
| Spouse | |
| Children | Emmett Till |
| Conviction(s) | Premeditated murder Rape (2 counts) |
| Criminal penalty | Death |
Louis Till (February 7, 1922 – July 2, 1945) was an African American GI during World War II. After enlisting in the United States Army following trial for domestic violence against his estranged wife Mamie Till, and having chosen military service over jail time, Till was court-martialed on two counts of rape and one count of murder during the Italian Campaign. He was found guilty and was executed by hanging at Aversa.[1] Till was the estranged father of Emmett Till, whose murder in August 1955 at the age of 14 galvanized the civil rights movement. The circumstances of Till's death remained largely unknown, until they were revealed after the highly controversial acquittal of his son's murderers 10 years later.
There is debate on the matter of Louis Till's guilt concerning the crime for which he was executed. In 2013, in a book documenting every court martial and execution of GIs in North Africa and Europe during World War II, United States Army Colonel French MacLean acknowledges the lynching murder of Till's son, but insists that even though justice was not done to Emmett Till's murderers, the documents kept on the case by Judge Advocate General's Corps suggest that justice was in fact done to Louis Till. An unrelated 2016 analysis by John Edgar Wideman, using the same case files, suggests Till to be innocent, and theorizes racial bias to be a factor in his guilty verdict, comparing the execution to the murder of Till's son.
- ^ MacLean, French L. The Fifth Field: The Story of the 96 American Soldiers Sentenced to Death and Executed in Europe and North Africa in World War II:, Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing, 2013. Page 216. ISBN 978-0764345777.