Emmett Till

The open-casket photographs in Jet, 1955 This influence began with a decision, not a photographer. Mamie Till-Mobley insisted on an open casket for her 14-year-old son so that people could see what had been done to him, and Jet published David Jackson's photographs of his face in its 15 September 1955 issue. The pictures ran in Black publications, not the mainstream white press, and that audience is where their effect is documented: Rosa Parks and John Lewis both spoke of the pictures, and historians credit them with helping to start the modern civil rights movement. Jet was not quite first; another Black magazine had already printed a photograph of the body.