28 August

Today is the 50th anniversary of the murder of young Emmett Till. His murderers, Roy Bryant and J. W. Milam, were tried and acquitted. When double jeopardy rules precluded their further prosecution, they publicly confessed to what they had done. Here's what Emmett Till looked like before and after they finished with him. If you can stand it, here's a closer look, still. John W. Fountain's"Dead End: On the Trail of a Civil Rights Icon, Starting Where He Did," Washington Post, 28 August, is a fairly depressing return to the neighborhoods where memory of what happened to Emmett Till was once vital. On 15-17 September, I'll join David Beito of Liberty & Power at a conference at Stillman College on"The Murder of Emmett Till and the Struggle for Civil Rights." The conference is organized by David's wife, Dr. Linda Beito of Stillman College's history department.

Today is also the 42nd anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington. I see no memory of it in today's press. A stroke and heart attack have left Mrs. King hospitalized and near speechless. It is painful to think that no one else remembers or that so few of my surviving friends in the movement insist on it. Perhaps it suffers from over-exposure, but here is the text of"I Have a Dream."