September 23, Mississippi jury acquits men of Emmett Till killing

Today is Wednesday, Sept. 23, the 266th day of 2026. There are 99 days left in the year.

On Sept. 23, 1955, a jury in Sumner, Mississippi, acquitted two white men, Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam, of killing Black teenager Emmett Till. (The two later admitted to the crime in an interview with Look magazine.)

In 1780, British spy John Andre was captured along with papers revealing Benedict Arnold’s plot to surrender West Point to the British.

In 1806, the Lewis and Clark expedition returned to St. Louis, more than two years after setting out for the Pacific Northwest.

In 1952, Republican Sen. Richard M. Nixon of California salvaged his vice presidential nomination by appearing on TV from Los Angeles to refute allegations of improper campaign fundraising in what became known as the “Checkers” speech for its reference to his family’s cocker spaniel.