It was August 28, 1955, and the weather in Mississippi was above 90 degrees, but little did Mississippians know that this date would live as a historical stain against the state. Collaboraction and The DuSable Museum of African American History are partnering to present Trial In The Delta: The Murder of Emmett Till, the first-ever stage adaptation of the two men’s actual, recently unearthed 1955 trial transcript found not guilty of murdering Emmett Till.

This reenactment of what occurred in a rural Mississippi courtroom, where an all-white room of men decide the faith of a young black boy (Emmett Till) heinously killed for whistling at a white shopkeeper’s wife. Considered one of the brutal cases in humanity that disfigured the entire body, featuring the torn face of Till skin from his skull, the men submerged him underwater, tied to a Gin fan with barbed wire around his neck. 

Mississippi had a law where blacks could not testify against whites, so Willie Louis, a black man, testifying against whites accused of kidnapping and murdering 14-year-old Emmett Till, made him one of the most notable figures in American history. Close to 100 years after abolishing the Southern Black Codes, segregated Mississippi whites still weren’t prosecuted and even brought to trial for killing blacks. But the murder against Till, a young black boy from Chicago, was so egregious that it forced Mississippi into trying the shopkeeper, Roy Bryant, and his stepbrother, J.W. Milam.

Collaboraction company members and playwriting duo G. Riley Mills and Willie Round co-adapted Trial in the Delta: The Murder of Emmett Till. Through docudrama style and pushing from first-time actual courtroom transcripts, which disappeared (or were buried) for 50 years, the agonizing and heartbreaking Trial of Emmett Till was being seen 65 years later by an audience in 2022

Collaboraction tried to bring the audience into the courtroom as the trial began by having everyone stand when the judge entered, which unfortunately didn’t work. What they should have done to bring the intense drama of the trial to the audience was allowed only whites to sit in the front rows. Unfortunately, the trial in rural Mississippi only allowed whites and a few blacks into the courtroom. 

Trial in the Delta: The Murder of Emmett Till is definitely a worthy compilation of history that continuously needs to be discussed to bring about social change while educating our children about the tragic periods of history for blacks in America, and although this theatrical dramatization was factual, it lacks in luring or captivating its audience. I found it hard to focus continuously on this play announced that night to be 90 minutes but went over two hours. Collaboraction set up a Q&A session at the end of the play. Unfortunately, many decided to leave after reliving the pain of hatred against Till, with little educational value or additional acknowledgment received.

Trial in the Delta: The Murder of Emmett Till was only a two-day event that ended today, Sunday, February 27, 2022. Hopefully, Collaboraction’s goal is to continue to share this historical event with other audiences within Chicago, including high schools and colleges. But they need to find an interactive way to captivate the latter audience because their attention span for something like this will only last about 15 minutes.   

The DuSable Museum – 740 E. 56th Place
Completed on Sunday, February 27, 2022