American Experience

When 14-year-old Emmett Till took a train from Chicago to Money, Mississippi in the summer of 1955, he entered the heart of Jim Crow country. Though he might have experienced segregation in Chicago, the outgoing youngster had little concept of how hostile white Southerners could be to African Americans.

Explore segregation circa 1955 in Chicago and Mississippi, through the eyes of Till's contemporaries and friends. Then see Till's experience through the eyes of African American teenagers in those two places today.

Featuring images and words by eighth- and ninth-graders from the Betty Shabazz International Charter School in Chicago, Illinois and Ruleville Central High School in Ruleville, Mississippi.