Kansas City Public Library
Alvin Sykes: July 16, 2009
Alvin Sykes describes his past, dropping out of ninth grade, but using the library. "Librarians became my educators," he said. Sykes used his skills to persuade former United States Senator Jim Talent to introduce the bill that would set up a permanent cold case unit in the Justice Department to probe old crimes. The Till Bill was named for the black Chicago teenager tragically beaten and killed in August 1955 in Mississippi for allegedly whistling at a white woman. His killers were acquitted.
Alvin Sykes: July 16, 2009
Alvin Sykes describes his past, dropping out of ninth grade, but using the library. "Librarians became my educators," he said. Sykes used his skills to persuade former United States Senator Jim Talent to introduce the bill that would set up a permanent cold case unit in the Justice Department to probe old crimes. The Till Bill was named for the black Chicago teenager tragically beaten and killed in August 1955 in Mississippi for allegedly whistling at a white woman. His killers were acquitted.