Overby Center to host author and scholar Ronald Collins

New book, “Tragedy on Trial,” details the injustices after the 1955 murder of Emmett Till and will be the focus of Oct. 9 program

The Overby Center for Southern Journalism and Politics will host Ronald Collins, retired law professor and scholar, to discuss his new book on the trial of Emmett Till. The program will be Wednesday, Oct. 9, at 5 p.m. in the Overby Center Auditorium on the University of Mississippi campus. Collins will be discussing “Tragedy on Trial: The Story of the Infamous Emmett Till Murder Trial.” 

Till, a Black teen-ager from Chicago, was visiting relatives in Money, Miss., in the Mississippi Delta during the summer of 1955. After being accused of offending a white woman, he was abducted and murdered. Two local white men were indicted for the murder but were acquitted by an all-male, all-white jury. Numerous irregularities occurred during the investigation and the trial, and these are documented in Collins’ book. The two accused men, not fearing further prosecution after their acquittal because of the constitutional protection against double jeopardy, later sold their story admitting the murder to Look magazine. Till’s murder and the subsequent events would be a catalyst for the civil rights movement. 

Collins taught constitutional law at the University of Washington and is the author of 13 books. He served as a judicial fellow under United States Chief Justice Warren Burger and clerked for Justice Hans Linde on the Oregon Supreme Court. His work on free speech, civil rights, and constitutional law has appeared in leading academic journals and major national publications. He was a Thomas Grey Fellow at Stanford Law School. Later, he was a senior scholar at the Newseum’s First Amendment Center in Washington, D.C. 

Otis Sanford, professor emeritus in journalism at the University of Memphis, will moderate the session.

Moderating the event is Otis Sanford, professor emeritus in Journalism and Strategic Media at the University of Memphis and a member of the Overby Center panel of experts. Sanford wrote the critically acclaimed book, “From Boss Crump to King Willie: How Race Changed Memphis Politics,” and co-authored, “In a Colorful Place: Seasoned Opinion About Memphis, About Home, About Life.” Sanford formerly served as managing editor, editorial page editor and Viewpoint columnist for The Commercial Appeal in Memphis.

Collins’ book will be the focus of two events at the Harvard Law School this fall and has been described as “groundbreaking” by Janai Nelson, president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. In the Foreword of the book, former congressman Bobby L. Rush of Chicago hailed the work as an “amazing book that throws yet more logs on the raging fire of the judicial injustice that still permeates America's legal system.” 

The event is open to the public and there is no charge. Free parking is available, and a reception open to all will follow the program. 

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Ahmer Khan is a graduate student assistant in the Overby Center. He is studying law and journalism at the University of Mississippi.