The Forgotten Story of Clinton Melton

Radio Diaries

Radio Diaries & Radiotopia

Documentary, Society & Culture

4.6 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 10 March 2022

⏱️ 15 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week, the Senate unanimously passed legislation that would make lynching a federal hate crime. It was a historic moment. Congress has tried and failed to pass antilynching legislation more than 200 times over the course of more than a century.

The Emmett Till Antilynching Act is named for a 14-year-old boy whose murder 67 years ago shocked the nation. Till had traveled from Chicago to the Mississippi Delta to visit family when he was kidnapped, horribly beaten, and killed by white men after allegedly flirting with a white woman. His body was later found in the Tallahatchie river. Today, Emmett Till’s death is considered the spark that ignited the burgeoning Civil Rights Movement.

But few people know about another brazen murder of a Black man that happened just three months later, in a neighboring town in the Delta. Today on the Radio Diaries Podcast, we tell the forgotten story of Clinton Melton.

This episode first aired on NPR in 2020.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I want to tell you about another podcast we love.
0:02.7	The folks at Brooklyn Public Library just launched a new podcast series called Barrowed
0:06.8	and Band.
0:08.3	Over seven episodes, the hosts tell the story of America's ideological war with its bookshelves.
0:14.0	The series explores how and why books are being removed from library shelves across the
0:18.0	country today, and what people are doing about it.
0:21.0	We hear from students, teachers, and librarians, and the writers whose books have become a political
0:26.2	battleground.
0:27.6	You can subscribe to Barrowed and Band wherever you get your podcasts.
0:36.5	From PRX's Radio Topia, this is Radio Diaries, I'm Joe Richmond.
0:40.8	This week, the Senate unanimously passed legislation that would make lynching a federal
0:45.0	hate crime.
0:46.0	It was a historic moment, Congress has tried and failed to pass anti-lynching legislation
0:51.6	more than 200 times over the course of more than a century.
0:55.8	According to the NLACP, more than 4,700 people were lynched in the United States between
1:00.6	1882 and 1968.
1:03.6	The perpetrators rarely faced consequences.
1:08.0	The new Emmett Till anti-lynching act, as it's called, is named for the 14 year old boy
1:13.2	whose murder, 67 years ago, shocked the nation.
1:17.2	In 1955, Emmett Till had traveled from Chicago to the Mississippi Delta to visit family.
1:24.0	He was kidnapped, beaten, and killed, after allegedly flirting with a white woman.
1:29.5	His body was later found in the Talhachi River.
	...

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