After the murder Emmitt's mother demanded to have an open casket at his funeral so the whole world could see what the men had done to her son. The funeral had lasted for four days and thousands of people had seen Emmitt Till's body. Many blacks who would not have known of the murder quickly found out about it by the gruesome pictures and article in Jet magazine. Five out of every six black preachers in the nation were preaching about Emmitt Till, and half of them were demanding that something be done. For the first time, Northern blacks realized that what happens in the South can impact what goes on in the North. The Emmitt Till murder and case started the Civil Rights Movement.

"Two months ago I had a nice apartment in Chicago. I had a good job. I had a son. When something happened to the Negroes in the South I said, `That's their business, not mine.' Now I know how wrong. I was. The murder of my son has shown me that what happens to any of us, anywhere in the world, had better be the business of us all."

A quote of Mamie Till's, Emmitt's mom, said after the murder.