Interview with Keith Beauchamp, director of The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till. DVD in stores now.

You seem like a young man, what inspired you to work 9 years to bring this story to life?
Keith Beauchamp-Well I heard about the case, I was first introduced to the Emmett Till case at the age of 10. I was in my parents study and I came across a Jet Magazine that covered the Till case in 1955. I saw the photograph of Emmett Till's corpse and like many of us who say that image I was shocked. I couldn't believe that a kid was murdered in that manner and tortured and how disfigured his face was. It was almost like looking at a reflection of myself and I was ten years old and Emmett was 14 when he was murdered.

My parents came in and they explained the story to me but throughout my life Emmett's name was resurfacing in my parents household. When I get into high school I was interracially dating. The first thing they would tell me before I left the house at night was "Don't let what happened to Emmett Till happen to you." It was basically used as an educational tool in my families household to keep me aware of the race system in the South. Two weeks before my high school graduation I had my own wake up call with racism. I was actually beat up by an undercover police officer for dancing with a white friend of mine. That's what kind of spurred me to want to do something towards the injustice in this country and I felt the only way I could make a difference was to become a part of the system, so I studied criminal justice at Southern University at Baton Rouge and to become a civil rights attorney and my senior year two of my childhood friends moved to New York and started their own film production company and I got interested in film through them.

The first feature I ever thought about writing was the Emmett Till story. It actually started out as a feature film first. The things that I began to gather, the evidence that I began to gather was initially only to produce a screenplay. But after I met Emmett's mom, Emmett's mother she basically encouraged me to put the feature film aside and try to do something quickly like producing a documentary so we could use it as a stepping stone to getting the case re-opened and of course that worked to our benefit.

I'm from Chicago and like you I first became interested in the Till case when I read about it in the Jet Magazine. When I learned about your movie at first I was like, "Oh I have seen everything there is to see about this case," so I thought I knew what I was going to see but actually I was surprised as to just how much Mamie Till Mobley opened up in your film. How easy was it talking to her about the case?
Keith Beauchamp-It was a little difficult at first because she was very selective about who she put around her. I basically had to prove myself to her. The first conversation that we ever had we sat on the phone over 2 ½ hours and we talked about her son and what I wanted to do. I said that I would not touch this story unless I had her blessing. I couldn't do anything unless I had her support. From our first conversation she was so surprised that someone so young could be interested in her songs story. So basically we became very close. She became an adoptive grandmother to me. I worked with her for 7 ½ -8 years until she unfortunately passed away. Through that time we became very close.

We had opportunities to share those private moments of what actually transpired and what she went through at that time, she will be the most prolific person I would ever meet in my lifetime she basically helped sculpt me into this activist that I have become. She nurtured me without even knowing. At the time I actually started shooting the film I was 24 and we became very, very close and she ultimately said to me she finally believed I was preordained to tell this story so she was believing in me before I believed in myself.

I can never ever forget the times that we shared, like I said she will be the most prolific person that I would ever meet in my lifetime. I would never meet anyone like that. She was so powerful, her words moved your soul. I have never had anyone that affected me in that manner. My parents, I love my parents they've done a lot for me and they supported me though this and it was my parents and Mrs. Mobley who supported me through this effort, its hard, its bittersweet for me because its hard losing her. At the time she knew everything was going to happen, she knew all the evidence I had on the case before she passed away, she saw everything was building up and we used to sit on the phone talking about what we were going to wear to court together. How are we going to fly and get into Mississippi. We fantasized about it and to finally find out this case was going to be re-opened, it was re-opened a year after her passing. So I'm trying to keep it going. It's a promise I gave to her before she passed away that I would do everything in my power to make sure justice is done.

Listen to Keith Beauchamp

For additional details visit http://www.emmetttillstory.com/

Dorrie Williams-Wheeler is an author and the webmaster For Thabiz.com.
Keith Beauchamp interview copyright Dorrie Williams-Wheeler, and Thabiz.com 2006
Dorrie Williams-Wheeler is the author of Be My Sorority Sister Under Pressure and the Unplanned Pregnancy Book for Teens and College Students. She is the founder of Thabiz.com and Imissthe80s.com and writes for the Rap, Teen, and 1980s section at Bellaonline.com. She is an ASCAP member as a writer and a publisher. Please contact Dorrie for advertising inquiries, lyric writing inquiries, reprint rights, paying entertainment jobs, or general comments.
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Keith Beauchamp interview may not be reprinted, copied or distribute without permission. You may link to this interview.Interview copyright Dorrie Williams-Wheeler, thabiz.com March 2006.