Who is Emmett Till, and what is his importance in the novel, Ghost Boys?

Emmett Till, a real person, is presented in a fictionalized form in this book. He is one of the ghost boys that Jerome begins seeing after Jerome dies. Emmett was murdered in 1955 in Mississippi by two white men. Emmett shows Jerome the burden of being a ghost and learning about racial justice. He also highlights the pervasive nature of racism to Jerome who previously believed that racism was confined to the South.