Clenora Hudson-Weems, Ph.D.
It has always been said that truth will ultimately prevail. This three part book represents that truism. Part One presents the untainted facts surrounding the story of Till’s brutal lynching and the establishment of that incident as the true catalyst of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s. Unearthing and establishing Till as catalyst found its origins over thirty years after it happened, in the 1988 Ford Doctoral Dissertation, “Emmett Till: The Impetus of the Modern Civil Rights Movement,” by this author at the University of Iowa. It speaks the truth about the seminal role of the innocent fourteen-year-old northern youth whose brief visit to Mississippi, the metaphor for American racism, rendered him the status of martyr for victims of centuries of abject racial oppression.
Part Two presents the raison d’être for the book, as it confronts and exposes the abominable acts of plagiarism by several people whose obvious goal is to acquire fame and fortune for themselves. Part Three highlights the continuing commitment to the struggle on the part of the author via demonstrating the Till Continuum, represented by modern day examples of Black victimization. The plight of Black farmers, who are loosing 9,000 acres of land per week, and land owners in general, such as “Smokin’ Joe” Frazier who lost 140 acres of prime property in Bucks County, PA valued at 100 million dollars, are supreme paradigms of this reality. Thus, the injustices of robbing Black people and their future generations of their land legacy and the theft of the intellectual property of one who is dedicated to truth in its totality are the key elements in this book. Scholars, attorneys, celebrities, and others have offered their testimonies to demonstrate their dedication to bringing a halt once and for all to such pervasive injustices.
Clenora Hudson-Weems, Prof. of English, UMC, received BA degree-LeMoyne College; MA degree-Atlanta U.; Ph. D. degree-U. of Iowa; Certificate of French Studies - L’Université de Dijon. She is the author of Africana Womanist Literary Theory, Emmett Till: The Sacrificial Lamb of the Civil Rights Movement, Africana Womanism: Reclaiming Ourselves, & co-author of Toni Morrison. She edited Contemporary Africana Theory, Thought and Action: A Guide to Africana Studies 2007 and was guest editor for a special issue “Africana Womanism”, for The Western Journal of Black Studies, Fall 2001. She has chapters/articles in Call and Response: The Riverside Anthology of the African American Literary Tradition, 1997; Out of the Revolution: The Development of Africana Studies, A Historical & Bibliographical Guide to the African American Experience, Jan 2000; State of the Race, 2004, & Sisterhood, Feminisms and Power, 1998. A recipient of several awards and grants, i.e. National Endowment for the Humanities, Ford Foundation Fellowship, and CIC Internship, her current work is a movie script Emmett: Passion for Truth (with Barry Morrow, Oscar award winning co-writer of Rain Man, and producer). Her novel, Soul Mates, is forthcoming; latest passion is the plight of Black farmers and land owners.
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One Woman’s Battle for Justice
New Book Chronicles Author’s Fight to Retain Intellectual Property Surrounding Infamous Till Murder Case
COLUMBIA, Mo. – “It has been said that truth will ultimately prevail,” writes Clenora Hudson-Weems, Ph.D., the first to establish Emmett Till as a catalyst of the Civil Rights Movement. According to Hudson-Weems, her book, The Definitive Emmett Till: Passion and Battle of a Woman for Truth and Intellectual Justice (now available through AuthorHouse), represents that truism.
This three-part work is a sequel to her earlier book, Emmett Till: Sacrificial Lamb of the Civil Rights Movement (also available through AuthorHouse). Part 1 presents what Hudson-Weems says are “the untainted facts” surrounding the story of the Aug. 28, 1955, lynching of Till, a 14-year-old black Chicago youth, for whistling at a 21-year-old white woman in Money, Miss. The author reaffirms her basic premise that the incident was “the true catalyst of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s.” The cornerstones of her case found their origins more than 30 years after the murder, in the 1988 Ford Doctoral Dissertation that would become the book, Emmett Till: Sacrificial Lamb of the Civil Rights Movement.
Part 2 confronts and exposes “the abominable acts of plagiarism” by others who have written about the case, says Hudson-Weems. The book contains many photographs, documents and letters, including some sent to the author by Mamie Till Mobley, Emmett’s mother, which the author states prove her authenticity as the original Till expert. Part 3 highlights the continuing commitment to the struggle on the part of the author via demonstrating the Till Continuum, which is represented by modern-day examples of black victimization.
“The plight of black farmers, who are losing 9,000 acres of land per week, and landowners in general … are supreme paradigms of this reality,” she writes. “Thus, Emmett’s sacrifice, misinformation surrounding his murder, land theft of blacks, which deprives their future generations of their land legacy, and the theft of intellectual property of one who is dedicated to truth in its totality are key elements in this book.”
The book also includes testimonies by renowned attorneys, authors, celebrities, sports and media personalities, all of whom demonstrate empathy with the author in their general support of her and her efforts, applauding her refusal to let the theft of her pioneering work go uncontested.
Hudson-Weems is a professor at UMC. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Iowa. In addition to authoring several books, she also has chapters and articles in numerous publications. Her current works include a movie script, “Emmett and the Passion of a Woman,” with Barry Morrow, Oscar-winning co-writer of “Rain Man,” and her first novel, Soul Mates (forthcoming).
AuthorHouse is the premier publishing house for emerging authors and new voices in literature. For more information, please visit www.authorhouse.com.
Jacket Blurbs (The Definitive Emmett Till)
I met Dr. Clenora Hudson-Weems in D. C. at the National Ford Annual Conference in 1987. She was one of the plenary speakers, rendering a most eloquent and engaging slide presentation on her groundbreaking thesis of Till as catalyst of the civil rights movement. It was astounding; I remember it as though it were yesterday. Clenora’s work resonates with me to this day. At that moment, she resurrected and established Till as the beginning of the Movement. Later, shortly before completing the Ph.D. in May 1988, she began communicating with Emmett’s mother, Mamie Till Mobley and encouraging her to seek justice for her son’s brutal murder. Thus, anyone who lays claim to exhuming the Till saga before Dr. Hudson-Weems demands to be questioned.
Dr. William Turner, Vice Pres; Assoc. Provost, U. of KY--
It is the responsibility of all writers to cite the research and writings of those who come before them. In a world where credit is often given to mediocrity, we can ill afford to ignore the work of the scholars who pave the way for us to craft story. Hudson-Weems' Till writings are clearly the first full length studies to establish the lynching of this martyr as the true catalyst for the Modern Civil Rights Movement. Hence, anyone writing after her on this subject has the responsibility to not only know the source but to cite her work as well. To not do this or to claim ignorance of her work is an obvious sign of fraud, inferior research, or arrogance.
Evelyn Coleman, Award-Winning Author of What a Woman’s Gotta Do
For nearly 20 years, Hudson-Weems was the lone voice calling for a fresh assessment of the true historical significance of the murder of Emmett Till. That voice has lately been joined by a host of others, but there is disharmony in the choir. The de facto failure to credit, let alone acknowledge, both her pioneering work and her rightful place as the preeminent Till scholar is more than intellectual theft; it is personal grand larceny. The truth needs to get out that the real authority about Emmett’s story is Clenora. When someone’s dedicated his or her life, and mined the subject as much as Clenora has, her name needs to be connected with what she’s done. Further, my own effort to assist Clenora in realizing her dream of producing a motion picture based on her research and vision of racial healing through redemption has also been compromised by this sudden rash of Till “experts.” Modern day pirates beware; legions stand between you and your greed. With the support of her many friends, colleagues, and true believers, Dr. Hudson-Weems’ unique voice will not be lost in the present cacophony, nor will her impersonators go unchallenged.
Barry Morrow, Oscar Award-Winning Co-Writer for Rain Man; Producer
From Foreword
From the beginning of American Democracy, the record of events has been distorted to suit those who share the power of the pen… Is it a sin to aspire to proper conduct of a higher order, which modern day writers may be incapable of achieving? This book is sassy, curt to some, and a breath of fresh air to others, but all in all, it is the vintage Africana womanist militancy of Dr. Clenora Hudson-Weems that propels this book into orbit. Here, a little history is worth thousands of words. . .
Dr. Clenora Hudson-Weems’ research “in the trenches” must be respected, honored, and recognized as the original truth of this sad chapter in American Democracy. It was because of Emmett Till’s second class citizenship status that his lynching was just that of another dead “Negro” in America, but her fight to bring forth the political, economic and social dynamics that changed America for the better cannot be discounted. “Emmett Till: The Impetus of the Modern Civil Rights Movement,” (1988), later published as Emmett Till: The Sacrificial Lamb of the Civil Rights Movement (1994) spell out in vivid details all of what we now know was the true catalyst of the Modern Civil Rights Movement. Just as her first book on the impact of the Emmett Till case propelled us into a clearer understanding of the Modern Civil Rights Movement, this new book, The Definitive Emmett Till: Battle for Truth and Intellectual Justice, will now do the same for the battle for intellectual justice for all and hopefully will bring about the end of such a brutal crime against one’s total personhood--mind, body and soul.
Atty. Alvin O. Chambliss, Jr., “the last original Civil Rights attorney in America,” 2006 Charles Hamilton Houston Chair at N. C. C. U. School of Law Durham, N.C.
From Preface
In many respects, Dr. Hudson-Weems’ crusade for intellectual justice mirrors the struggle for justice for Emmett Till waged by his family members and supporters. By insisting on an open casket at the funeral, Till’s relatives refused to allow the horrific evidence of institutionalized racial violence to be covered up any longer. Building on this precedent, Dr. Hudson-Weems is now demonstrating her refusal to let injustice reign by allowing the theft of her Till work to go uncontested through silence. And now it is time for all Black intellectuals and their supporters, too, to stand up and refuse to allow media capitalists to expand their efforts to disseminate highly stylized and often misrepresented accounts of critical events in African American history in the popular media, while ignoring and displacing serious intellectual discourse.
Everyone is mesmerized by popular culture, so much so that they fail to give attention to those who are really responsible for bringing forth uncanny truths for the purpose of enlightening all to ensure the continuing search for justice. While the youths in this particular instance, because the modern civil rights movement predates their birth, may not get the total picture, though they arrogantly think that they do, there is absolutely no excuse for the position taken by many from our older generation, who are so obsessed with getting their moments of glory in the spot lights that they sacrifice truth needed for the salvation of our children and our future generations. They pose as authoritative consultants, jumping at the opportunity to ride the waves to fame, fortune, and glory. And so it is with today’s young and old Till “experts” alike, whose primary concern, unfortunately, is to promote themselves.
Dr. James B. Stewart, Prof. of Labor Studies & Industrial Relations, African American Studies & Management & Organization., Penn State University
From Introduction
The history of the murder of the fourteen-year-old child has all the markings of high drama made in America. The history in itself belongs to nobody. Not even the ghosts of Emmett or his beloved mother can claim it. However, when the facts of that history are given particular form, and that form itself is given name or title, and is codified as being of the hand or mind of a named person and published as such, that history is an artifact, a commodity, protected by copyright law and custom as intellectual property. . . .
It is legend that T.S. Eliot claimed that good writers (artists and cultural commentators) appropriate from others, but genius steals. Hidden in this legendary observation is part of Eliot’s meaning that was lost to our modern-day, intellectual pirates: genius has the insight to re-configure an idea or image into something that gives the appearance of a new synthesis—at least that! However, Hudson-Weems’ original work nailed down the coordinates of the Emmett Till affairs in ways that made it virtually impossible for others to lay claim to the same conclusions without having to acknowledge that her tireless research and synthesis had already thoroughly covered the territory. . . . Whoever buys or sells in the marketplace should know sources or, at the very least, the provenance of the commodity.
Dr. Fredrick Woodard, Prof. of English & African American World Studies, former V. Pres. & Dir. of African Am. World Studies, U. of Iowa who hooded me in 1988
From Epilogue
For the record, Hudson-Weems was the individual who personally put her academic reputation on the line to pursue her analysis of what most folks had actually underestimated, the historical significance of the murder of Emmett Till. Indeed, disregarding average conventional wisdom, she initiated her theses that the role of Till’s lynching had prepared the historic stage for the Montgomery Bus Boycott. . . .
Despite all, Dr. Hudson-Weems has continued to show her honesty and consistency in relating the story of Emmett Till by continuing a series of historical events with varying themes, but always being linked to the tragedy of the young man-child from Chicago. Moreover, she is the only one of those to really appreciate and discuss the importance of Mr. Mooty to the Till story. Today, because of her commitment to promoting the story of the Till legacy, it has endured for over 50 years and continues to be remembered.
Elombe Brath, WBIA-FM Executive Producer and Host for “Afrikaleidoscope,” New York City.
From Afterword
Sister Dr. Clenora Hudson-Weemsis a Champion of humanity. Her unprecedented and copy-written intellectualproperty/research and writingson Emmett Till and the civil rights movement aretantamount hallmarks and milestones in Modern World History.For nearly twodecades,Dr. Hudson-Weems made personal and professional sacrifices to documentthe true monstrosity of racism, concentrating on the Till murder case, buttoday, several Till “experts” talk about Till and portray him in the media as ifher writings don’t exist. Unlike thesefigures, who have obviously “borrowed” from her work while refusing to give herrecognition, credible and reliablesources on Till openly cite her contributionsand draw upon her research.
Today, many disciplines, including history, lack integrity as reflected in the writings of the authorities. However, Dr. Hudson-Weems exemplifies truth, as she is a committed, courageous and heroic scholar of the highest merit, fighting crimes against humanity, untruths in history, and infringements and misappropriations of intellectual property, including her Till work.
In the throws of her own adversity, addressing the theft of her intellectual property, she is also championing the fight against injustice on several fronts for others, including her current passion in supporting the plight of Black farmers and land owners as a Till continuum. She organized the grass roots conference for Black farmers, “The First National Conference for African American Farmers and Our Land Legacy,” with the theme From Theft of Black Farmers’ Land to Lynching for Land, held January 26-28, 2006 in Memphis, Tennessee.
Sister Jacqui (Jacquelyn Frazier-Lyde, Esq.), 5 time World Champion Boxer, Real
Estate, Labor Lawyer & daughter of “Smokin’” Joe Frazier
The Academy Speaks Out
Dr. Delores P. Aldridge, Grace T. Hamilton Distinguished Prof. of Sociology &African American Studies & founding Dir. of African American/African Studies, Emory U.--
As stated in the Foreword I prepared for [Hudson’Weems’] Africana Womanist Literary Theory, “scholars such as Hudson-Weems will be listed among those who have made a difference in the conceptualization, development, and promotion of the discipline of Africana Studies.” She has also added to the discipline her pioneering interpretation of the August 28, 1955 brutal lynching of fourteen-year-old Emmett Louis Till as the true catalyst of the Civil Rights Movement. . . . Despite her commitment to keeping them [Black men and women] together, Black men have dared to step forth and usurp her pioneering Till work and claim it as their own. Dismissing her pathbreaking work sets back the move toward celebrating works of Black women in conceptualizing and providing explanations and solutions for the plight of Black life. This relegation of invisibility to Hudson-Weems’ work compels the voices both inside and outside the academy to say “No More!” Black men and women must move forward together or the race will self-destruct.
Dr. Mark Christian, Assoc, Prof of Black World Studies & Sociology, Miami U. (Ohio)--
As a Black British scholar who has benefited greatly from Dr. Hudson-Weems' intellectual insights beyond her works on Emmett Till, I am fully aware that her original contributions to African American and African Diaspora scholarship are not yet, in my opinion, fully recognized. It is only a matter of time before this is put right. Dr. Hudson-Weems will have her day of justice, I have no doubt about that. Plagiarism has no place in the university and/or broader community. To not acknowledge in a scholarly manner another person's research and endeavors is tantamount to stealing another person's identity and livelihood. It is plain wrong.
Dr. Douglas V. Davidson, Assoc. Professor of Sociology, Western Michigan U.--
In this current text, she continues to speak the truth to power as she dares to expose those who “piggy-back” on her ground breaking research on the Emmett Till murder without giving her proper acknowledgment and respect. Her courage and commitment to truth and honesty in the pursuit of knowledge is a model for all to emulate. Keep on keeping on!!! We need you and many more made in your image.
Prof. Kathy Gibson, Founder/Executive Director, Grandparents Advocacy Project, Assist. Prof,, Seek and Speech, City U. of New York
While the body of Emmett Till was molding in the memory of many, Dr. Clenora Hudson-Weems took on the arduous task of resurrecting him via her seminal dissertation, “Emmett Till: The Impetus for the Modern Civil Rights Movement” (1988) and again directed our attention in a way that would not soon be forgotten. I witnessed her going through her labor pains in giving birth to what should be permanent in our minds and hearts when we think of the atrocities that we have been made to believe to be our lot. . . The lynching of Emmett Till was the path or gateway to what we have deemed the human/civil rights movement, and Dr. Hudson-Weems rekindled the consciousness of those who would claim leadership for the masses.
Dr. LaVerne Gyant, Director of Center for Black Studies,
Northern Illinois U.
The Center for Black Studies and Northern Illinois U. was pleased to host the Emmett Till symposium. Having scholar activists coming together to discuss the issues around scholarship and how we can come together and support each other was important. It enabled the community to come together to see and understand how our experiences continue to be the "lost, stolen, and strayed." The information shared was timely, important and useful. The symposium reminded us that it is okay for us to share and present information from different perspectives as long as we acknowledge all works used in arriving at those conclusions.
Dr. William Nelson, Jr., Research Prof. of African American & African Studies, Prof. of Political Science, The Ohio State U.
Across the centuries, the quest for freedom, justice and equality by African Americans in America has centered on the illumination of the limits and possibilities of human triumph over the structures and processes of racial oppression. The campaignfor Black civil and human rights in "America is deeply indebted to the willingness on the part of Prof. Hudson-Weems to move beyond the traditional restricted walls of scholarly discourse to probe deeply into pivotal dimensions of racial oppression in America. Her earlier research on the Emmett Till case authoritatively expanded the depth and breadth of our knowledge about the multiplicity of social, psychological and political factor undergirding the catalytic eruption of the Civil Rights Movement as a revolutionary force in the transformation of the United States in the 20th. Century.... This seminal study demonstrates once again the awesome power of the pen, and the critical nature of the imperative demand that meticulous scholarship be used as an effective weapon to roll back the mountains of myth, rumor and wild conjecture that have pervaded the inauthentic portrayal of the Emmett Till story emanating from the minds and political machinations of Prof. Hudson-Weens' imitators and unenlightened critics.
Dr. Daphne W. Ntir, Assoc. Prof. & Chair, Nonprofit Sector Studies, Wayne State U--
Hudson-Weems has sustained the momentum in the search for social justice in the senseless murder of Till for almost two decades. Besides being a fierce and unrelenting crusader, she has come to serve as the centrifugal force on the Till struggle in the academy. Her significant contribution to unraveling the truth at a time when few others cared, is instructive of her degree of commitment to bring the culprits for this tragedy to justice. Many of us have come to appreciate the role of this fighter who is unafraid to destabilize the status quo and push for answers. . . .
Suffice it to say that with this degree of commitment and activity, it is objectionable that the Johnny Just Come (the JJCs) will enter the picture by trying to take credit and run off with the “glory” of the Till case. We must stand up in the academy and fight this trend of unlawful conquest and glorification.
Dr. Lewis Randolph, Professor of Political Science, Ohio University—
First, from a professional perspective, she established the nexus connection of the murder of Till as the catalyst for the modern day civil rights movement, and the social movements that would erupt during the 1950s and late 1960s, one of the most important intellectual explanations as to how and why the civil rights movement would erupt in the deep South during the height of “Cold War” era. Moreover, whenever I reflect back on Hudson-Weems’ identifying Till’s death as the catalyst for the civil rights movement, I constantly ask myself why didn’t the historians see this? How did they miss this important linkage? It is inconceivable that anyone teaching or researching social movements or the civil rights movement could ever again overlook the significance of the brutal murder of this fourteen-year-old child.
Since the publication of her groundbreaking research, individuals in and out of the academy have consistently borrowed from her brilliant research and her hard work, without citing her and giving her the credit that is due. These individuals are nothing more than plagiarists, and intellectual frauds. Dr. Hudson-Weems alone established the linkage between the vicious murder of Till and the civil rights movement; however, others are unjustifiably getting credit and money for supposedly bringing this interpretation to the forefront.
Dr. Wilfred Samuels, Assoc. Prof. of English, Dir. of African American Studies, U. of Utah—
For more than two decades now, I have known Dr. Clenora Hudson-Weems as a scholar per excellance. During a summer NEH Seminar, where we met, and again later as Ford Foundation Fellows, I grew to admire her originality, critical and analytical mind, tenacity, commitment and dedication to pursuing the often neglected or misrepresented dimensions of African American culture and history. Together, Dr. Hudson-Weems and I co-authored the first full length study of Nobel Prize-winning author, Toni Morrison. Dr. Hudson-Weems’ pioneering study on Emmett Till, which led her to the heretofore unclaimed premise that his brutal murder and the Black community’s response to the violence and hatred signified by his disfigured body in his open coffin, marked the genesis of what would become the civil rights movement of the fifties and sixties. This study is not only exemplary of the originality and solid quality of her work, but also to her determination to “speak the truth to the people,” as Mari Evans demands that we—particularly Black scholars and leaders--do. Speaking the truth, certainly as far as recent Till scholarship that often disingenuously take credit for Dr. Hudson-Weems’ premise is concerned, is not deemed necessary or a priority. Despite this, recognition is due her which, in the end, is the ultimate goal of this book project.
Dr. Anne Steiner, Retired Vice President, Central State University—
The special symposium held at Northern Illinois University by the Center for Black Studies on October 11, 2005, under the directorship of Dr. LaVern Gyant, in support of Dr. Clenora Hudson-Weems’ efforts to expose the theft of her 20-year Till work, was extremely appropriate and moving. Given the controversy surrounding the theft of the intellectual property of one who is herself a member of the Academy, there are great reasons why many supporters, both inside and outside the Academy, from professors, to attorneys, to personalities in entertainment and celebrated authors, came to the university to voice their opinions regarding this crime. In the mid-eighties, Dr. Hudson-Weems’ doctoral dissertation challenged the longstanding interpretation of the civil rights movement as having been ignited by Rosa Parks. After bringing the Till true legacy as catalyst into the halls of academe, she has been, like Till, swept under the rug, with virtually no public reference to her work, which has certainly informed this recent flood of interest in Till. Because of this injustice, I, as many others, here stand in support of calling a halt to such unconscionable acts. Like the resounding theme of the symposium--Plagiarism Must Stop--let us all, whenever we see or hear references to Emmett Till, without referencing the one to brought him back to public light, call it out for what it is. It is out right theft, which must be attacked and stopped NOW!
Dr. Robert E. Weems, Jr., Prof. of History, UMC, author—Desegregating the Dollar--
As someone closely familiar with Emmett Till: The Sacrificial Lamb of the Civil Rights Movement (I wrote the Foreword to the first edition and have regularly used it in the classroom since its 1994 publication), it has saddened me to see how others have plagiarized Professor Hudson-Weems' historiographical achievement. For persons unfamiliar with the term historioraphy, it refers to how interpretations of historical phenomenon have changed over time. Specifically, Hudson-Weems' pioneering assertion that the brutal lynching of Emmett Till represented the catalyst for the celebrated Civil Rights Movement has forever changed our thinking about mid-twentieth-century African American history.
Perhaps, the most disturbing aspect of this case of plagiarism (as well as others) is that it literally represents a violation of the offended party’s self-hood. A published work is much more than mere words on paper. It reflects a significant investment of one’s self into that particular project. Moreover, just as there are laws that protect us from other violations of our self-hood (such as robbery, assault, rape, etc.), there are laws that protect creative persons from the actions of the unscrupulous. In due time, with the assistance of a copyright attorney, Clenora will have her day in court.
Dr. Barbara Wheeler, Prof. of Anthropology; former Dir. of Africana Studies, Kean U.—
In the academy Dr. Clenora Hudson-Weems is the definitive expert on Emmett Till. Her illuminating and trailblazing book continues to be used by many of us in the classroom who often call upon her to speak at our colleges and universities to clarify any misinformation, no matter how minute, surrounding the Till tragedy. After all, she has been working on the subject longer that any of the other “experts” who have come on this scene within the last five years. It was her work, dating back to the mid eighties, that set the ball into motion on the current Till mania. At last, the prominent civil rights leaders and icons are finally evoking the horrific Till story, and, of course, all of this happened only after Dr. Hudson-Weems established his legacy way back in the eighties.
Dr. Robert Williams, Prof. Emeritus, Washington U., Psychologist, coined term ebonics--
Clearly the work of Dr. Clenora Hudson-Weems on the infamous 1955 lynching of the Chicago youth, Emmett Till: The Sacrificial Lamb of the Civil Rights Movement, was plagiarized. There are two levels of plagiarism. First, there is falsely claiming the works of another as one’s own. Secondly, there is the failure to cite the reference of the source for the work used. In Dr. Hudson-Weems’ case, both levels were committed. Plagiarism, like cheating, is intellectual dishonesty. It is a moral outrage and is decadent integrity. Being a plagiarist is proof that the guilty person either lacks the intellectual integrity or that he/she does not possess the necessary skills to achieve originality in his/her goals.
Dr. KoladeWynn, Prof. of Management, Bloomsburg University of PA—
Dr. Clenora Hudson-Weems’ 17 year odyssey chronicling the tragedy of the savage slaughter of Chicago teen, Emmett Till, in Money Mississippi as the catalyst for the civil rights movement is bitter medicine for a nation that refuses to face its contradictions. Through the voice of Dr. Hudson-Weems, Emmett Till speaks his truth, a truth that is a metaphor for the numerous atrocities which have been and continue to be committed against Africans in America. The proliferation of the new Till “experts” is yet another attempt to suborn a version of the Till tragedy that is more compatible with the ideal of democracy and the illusion of justice so that the “American nightmare” embodied in the cases of Till, Diallo, Byrd and countless others can escape accountability. However, through excellence in scholarship, intellectual honesty and integrity, Dr. Hudson-Weems has been established as the indisputable author of the definitive works on the significance of the Till tragedy in the American cultural and historical experience.
