The War On News

A record of government actions against journalism and fact-based reporting, from the first press laws to today

Claim

Claim 861

Photographer Ernest Withers recalled Sheriff Strider describing the seating as "22 seats over here for you white boys" and "four seats over here for you colored boys," saying "we don't mix 'em down here," according to PBS's American Experience.

Published 2026-09-26. Last reviewed 2026-09-26. 1 source.

Statement
Photographer Ernest Withers recalled Sheriff Strider describing the seating as "22 seats over here for you white boys" and "four seats over here for you colored boys," saying "we don't mix 'em down here," according to PBS's American Experience.
Field
stated_justification
Value
Strider's description of the segregated seating
About
incident 1955-us-mississippi-till-trial-press-segregation
Source
American Experience: The Murder of Emmett Till (film transcript)
Publisher
American Experience: The Murder of Emmett Till (film transcript)
Method
outlet report
Checked
2026-09-26
Confidence
medium
Status
current

Quotation from the source

We got 22 seats over here for you white boys. And we've got four seats over here for you colored boys. We don't mix 'em down here.