Willie Louis was interviewed in 2003 for the PBS documentary The Murder of Emmett Till and was interviewed the next year on the CBS News television program 60 Minutes.
17 Facts About Willie Louis
1.
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Willie Reed, as Willie Louis was then known, was born in 1937 in Greenwood, Mississippi, at the eastern edge of the Mississippi Delta.
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Willie Louis was raised in Drew, Mississippi, by his grandparents who worked as sharecroppers.
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Willie Louis was shown a picture of Till and testified that it looked like the boy he had seen in the back of the truck.
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Willie Louis identified Milam and testified that he had seen Milam come out of the barn to get a drink of water and then return to the barn.
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Every word that was gotten from Willie Louis had to be pulled out word by word.
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That's because Willie Louis is 18 years old and has probably been to school only 3 years.
8.
Willie Louis had nothing to gain: he had no family ties to Emmett Till; he didn't know him.
9.
Willie Louis was this 18-year-old kid who goes into this very hostile atmosphere.
10.
Willie Louis was employed as an orderly at Woodlawn Hospital and later at Jackson Park Hospital.
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In 1976, he was married to Juliet Willie Louis, who was a nursing aide at Jackson Park.
12.
Willie Louis remained silent about his role in the Emmett Till case.
13.
In 2003, Willie Louis was located and interviewed by Stanley Nelson, who later wrote a book and produced a documentary on the case.
14.
Willie Louis Reed stood up, and with incredible bravery pointed out the people who had taken and murdered Emmett Till.
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Willie Louis was from Mississippi, and somewhere in his heart of hearts, he had to know that these people would not be convicted.
16.
Thereafter, Willie Louis met Till's mother and began speaking in public about the case.
17.
In July 2013, Willie Louis died of intestinal bleeding at age 76 in Oak Lawn, Illinois.