Simeon Wright details cousin's 1955 murder in segregated South at Tyler center tonight

“Thar he.”

Two words that escaped the mouth of Moses Wright, a poor black sharecropper in Mississippi, after he stood up and pointed out in open court the two white men on trial for the murder of his 14-year-old great-nephew, Emmett Till, in 1955. He went down in history as possibly the first black man to accuse a white man of a crime in open court and live.

It’s the kind of courage that should be exemplified with the latest Civil Rights issues, said Simeon Wright, Moses’ son and Till’s cousin.

Moses was “prepared to die,” Wright said. “That’s what we need... the courage you need to tell it and run before you take it back.”

Wright spoke about his cousin’s murder at Tyler Mahoning Valley History Center, 325 W. Federal St., to the scores of people that came out Wednesday night.

Read more of his remarks in Thursday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.