The Louis Till File is John Edgar Wideman’s meditation on the life and death of Emmett Till’s father. Here, Emmett and Louis Till, and many more, are enlisted to help us understand a particular dimension of American racism: the persistent theft of black fathers and sons, murders without remedy, and unceasing loss. A fact that few of us know, even those of us who know Emmett’s story intimately, is laid bare; Louis Till, nicknamed Saint, was executed by the U.S.