Carolyn Bryant Donham is a former store owner and wife of Roy Bryant, one of the killers of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old African American boy, in 1955.
She was born in 1934 in Indianola, Mississippi, where her father managed a plantation and her mother worked as a nurse.
She dropped out of high school and married Roy Bryant, a military veteran and white supremacist, after winning two beauty pageants.
She and her husband ran a grocery store in Money, Mississippi that served mostly black growers. On August 24, 1955, she claimed that Emmett had flirted with her and touched her arm at the store, leading to the kidnapping, torture, and rape of her husband and his half-brother, J.W. Milam. Till was executed on August 28.
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- Full name: Carolyn Bryant Donham
- Date of birth: May 19, 1934
- Age: 89 years old
- Female
- Birthplace: Indianola, Mississippi, USA
- Nationality: American
- Occupation: Former store owner
- Height: 5’10”
- Parents: Frank and Nettie Bryant
- Siblings: Not applicable
- Spouse: Roy Bryant (m. 1951-1979), David Donham (m. 1980-1995), James Roberts (m. 1997-2010)
- Children: Roy Bryant Jr. and Frank Bryant
- Relationship status: Widowed
- Net worth: 300 thousand USD
Early Life & Education
Carolyn Bryant, now 89 years old, was born on May 19, 1934 in Indianola, Mississippi, USA. She was the daughter of Frank and Nettie Bryant, white Southerners.
Her father was a plantation manager, and her mother was a nurse. She grew up in a racist and segregated society where black people were treated as inferior and suffered violence and discrimination.
She attended Indianola High School, where she was a cheerleader and beauty queen. She won the titles of Miss Sunflower County and Miss Delta Rice in 1950.
She dropped out of school at age 16 and married Roy Bryant, a 21-year-old veteran and white supremacist, in 1951.
She moved with him to Money, Mississippi, where they opened a grocery store serving primarily black customers.
Personal life
Carolyn Bryant’s personal life was marked by tragedy and controversy. She married Roy Bryant in 1951 and had two sons with him, Roy Jr. and Frank.
Their marriage was unhappy and abusive as Roy was often violent and unfaithful. He was also addicted to alcohol and engaged in illegal activities, such as smuggling and gambling.
In 1955, Carolyn Bryant accused Emmett Till, a 14-year-old black boy from Chicago, of flirting with her and touching her arm at their store.
This accusation sparked one of the most notorious and brutal murders in American history, when Roy Bryant and his half-brother, JW Milam, kidnapped, tortured and killed Till on August 28, 1955.
They dumped his mutilated body in the Tallahatchie River, where it was later found. The two men were arrested and tried for murder, but an all-white jury acquitted them in September 1955.
They later confessed to the crime in a magazine interview in 1956 but were never tried again due to double jeopardy laws.
Till’s murder and the acquittal of his killers sparked outrage and protests across the country and world, and became a catalyst for the civil rights movement.
Carolyn Bryant testified against Till during the trial, but she later recanted her testimony and admitted that she lied about his actions.
She said that Till never touched her or performed any sexual acts and that he was innocent of any wrongdoing.
She also said that she felt “gentle sadness” for Till’s mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, who fought for justice for her son until her death in 2003.
Carolyn Bryant has never apologized or expressed remorse for her role in Till’s death, and she has been widely condemned and vilified by the public and media.
She also faced death threats and harassment and lived in hiding for most of her life. She changed her name several times and moved to different locations, such as Greenville, Mississippi, Raleigh, North Carolina, and Ocean Springs, Mississippi. She divorced Roy Bryant in 1979 after he was convicted of assault and battery and sentenced to six months in prison.
She remarried twice, first to David Donham, a Baptist minister, in 1980 and then to James Roberts, a retired Air Force officer, in 1997.
Both of her husbands died of cancer in 1995 and 2010, respectively. She has two grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
She currently lives in a nursing home in Mississippi, where she suffers from dementia and other health problems.
Career
Carolyn Bryant did not have a prominent career because she was mainly a housewife and store owner. She helped her first husband, Roy Bryant, run their grocery store in Money, Mississippi, from 1951 to 1956.
The store was a source of income for the couple because they sold goods and services to mostly black customers, sharecroppers, and farm workers.
The store was also the site of the meeting between Carolyn Bryant and Emmett Till, which led to the latter’s murder and the subsequent trial and acquittal of the killers.
The store closed in 1956 after the Bryant family lost business due to boycotts and backlash from the black community.
They moved to Texas, where they worked as sharecroppers for a time before returning to Mississippi in 1957. They opened another store in Ruleville, Mississippi, but it was unsuccessful and closed in 1961.
Carolyn Bryant did not work again after that and she lived on her husband’s pension and social security benefits. She also received royalties from her memoir, I Am More Than a Wolf Whistle, which was leaked and published in 2022.
Net value
Carolyn Bryant’s net worth is estimated to be around $300 thousand.
Death
Carolyn Bryant is still alive as of 2023 but is in poor health and has to go to a nursing home. She suffers from dementia and other age-related illnesses, and she is always cared for and supervised.
She has not made any public appearances or statements since 2008, when she admitted to historian Timothy Tyson that she lied about Emmett Till’s actions.
She had not received any visits or letters from family or friends and she had been isolated and lonely. She did not express any regret or apology for her role in Till’s death, nor did she show any remorse or remorse.
She has not faced any legal or moral consequences for her actions, and she bears no responsibility for her part in one of the most horrifying and shameful episodes in United States history. Ky.
Argumentative
Carolyn Bryant was embroiled in a number of controversies and scandals throughout her life, most notably the murder of Emmett Till and the acquittal of his killers.
She has been accused of lying, racism, hatred, cruelty and complicity in crime, and has been condemned and despised by the public and the media.
She has also been sued and challenged by Till’s family and civil rights activists, who demand justice and accountability for Till’s death. Some controversies and scandals that Carolyn Bryant has encountered are:
In 1955, she claimed that Emmett Till had flirted with her and touched her arm at her store, leading her husband and his half-brother to kidnap, torture, and kill Till on September 28. August.
She testified against Till during the trial, but she later admitted that she had lied and that Till was innocent.
In 1956, she and her husband sold her story to Look magazine for $4,000, and they confessed to Till’s murder in a magazine interview. They were never retried or punished for this crime due to double jeopardy laws.
In 1962, she and her husband were sued for $100,000 by Till’s uncle, Mose Wright, for kidnapping and false imprisonment. The case was dismissed by a federal judge, who ruled that the statute of limitations had expired.
Social Media
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