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On today’s edition of Bring It On!, hosts Clarence Boone and Liz Mitchell spend the evening with award-winning filmmaker Keith A. Beauchamp. Mr. Beauchamp attended Southern University in Baton Rouge and studied Criminal Justice, intending to become a civil rights attorney. Although from an early-age he had faced racism, it was not until he was assaulted by an undercover police officer, after dancing with a white classmate, that he felt compelled to fight racism. He then moved to New York in the fall of 1997 to become a filmmaker and a voice for his community. He quickly found work at Big Baby Films, a company founded by childhood friends that focused on music video production. Beauchamp honed his behind-the-camera skills during the day and spent his evenings doing research and reaching out to anyone who might have information on the Emmett Till case, a story told to Beauchamp when he was just 10 years old.
In 1999, Beauchamp founded Till Freedom Come Productions, a company devoted to socially significant projects that can both teach and entertain. He has devoted the past twenty-two years of his life telling the story of Emmett Till. He has traveled extensively between New York, Chicago, and Mississippi to investigate the historic murder. Through his journey he tracked and spoke with witnesses who had never before spoken about the case, befriended Mamie Till Mobley who took Beauchamp under her wing, and worked with such influential figures as Muhammad Ali and Reverend Al Sharpton. All Beauchamp persistently lobbied both the State of Mississippi and the Federal Government to reopen the Emmett Till murder investigation.
On May 10th, 2004, the United States Department of Justice re-opened this 50-year-old murder case citing Beauchamp’s documentary “The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till” as both a major factor in their decision and the starting point for their investigation. In May of 2005, Emmett’s body was exhumed and in 2006, the FBI turned over their evidence to the appropriate District Attorney in Mississippi. In February 2007, a Mississippi Grand Jury decided not to indict the remaining suspects.
That same year, Beauchamp began his collaboration with the FBI’s New Civil Rights “Cold Case” Initiative, producing documentaries on other unsolved civil rights murders in hopes of helping Federal agents with their investigations that could lead to bringing remaining perpetrators to justice.
Keith Beauchamp has been featured on ’60 Minutes’, ABC World News Tonight ‘Person of the Week,’ Court TV, MSNBC, ‘Good Morning America,’ CNN, BBC as well as in hundreds of publications around the world including The New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, Associated Press and the Chicago Sun-Times. Beauchamp’s past works included TV One’s “Murder in Black and White” hosted by Rev. Al Sharpton and “Wanted Justice: Johnnie Mae Chappell” for the History Channel and “BET’s Exceptional Black Women”.
Beauchamp is the former Executive Producer and Host of Investigation Discovery’s Award-winning crime reality series, ‘The Injustice Files”. He is a producer of the feature film “Till,” which is co-produced by Fred Zollo, Whoopi Goldberg, and Barbara Broccoli. He is also a frequent lecturer at colleges and universities around the country.*
CREDITS:
Today’s hosts are Clarence Boone and Liz Mitchell.
Bring It On!’s executive producer is Clarence Boone.
Our assistant producer is Liz Mitchell.
The show consultant and WFHB News Department Director is Kade Young.
The program engineer is Chantalle LaFontant.
The original theme music was created by Jamyl Efiom with additional background tracks by David B.
*large portions of text taken from the filmmaker’s website.
