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Biden will Create a National Monument Honoring Emmett Till

President Biden will establish the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument, honoring the Black teenager whose murder sparked the civil rights movement, with sites in Chicago and Mississippi. We discuss it here!

 
Emmett Till

Emmett Till

By: Joshua Martin

On what would have been Emmett Till’s 82nd birthday, President Biden will honor the late teenager who’s murder was a catalyst for the civil-rights movement. President Biden will sign a proclamation Tuesday forming the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument which embodies the decades of civil rights work of Till’s mother, who continuously fought for equality for Black Americans following her son’s murder. 

Two white men, Roy Bryant and his half-brother J.W. Milam was tried on murder charges about a month after Till was killed, but an all-white Mississippi jury acquitted them. Months later, they confessed to killing Till in an interview with Look magazine. 

The monument locations will consist of a site in Chicago, where Till was born and two sites in rural Mississippi, where he traveled to spend time with his family. The Illinois site is Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ in Bronzeville, where thousands of people gathered at the church to mourn Emmett Till in September of 1955.

The Mississippi sites are Graball Landing, where Till’s mutilated body was pulled from the Tallahatchie River, and the Tallahatchie County Second District Courthouse in Sumner, Mississippi, where Till’s killers were acquitted by an all white jury. 

Till was visiting relatives in Mississippi when Carolyn Bryant Donham accused the 14-year-old Till made sexual advances at her while she worked in a store in the small community of Money, Ms. Till would be later abducted by Roy Bryant and his half-brother J.W. Milam 

The two men were tried on murder charges about a month after Till was killed, but an all-white Mississippi jury acquitted them. Months later, they confessed to killing Till in an interview with Look magazine. Carolyn Bryant died earlier this year.

The new monument will protect places that tell the story of Emmett Till's too-short life and racially-motivated murder, the unjust acquittal of his murderers, and the activism of his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, who courageously brought the world's attention to the brutal injustices and racism of the time, catalyzing the civil-rights movement',” a White House official said in a statement.

Last December, Congress voted to award the Congressional Gold Medal posthumously to Till and his mother. For Black History Month this year, Biden hosted a screening of the movie “Till,” a drama about his lynching. In March the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act was signed into law, which made lynching a federal hate crime for the first time in US history. 

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Statue Honoring Emmett Till's Mother Unveiled at Illinois Alma Mater

Mamie Till-Mobley Statue Unveiled at Argo Community High School in Honor of Emmett Till's Mother. We discuss it here!

 
247 Live Culture

Mamie Till-Mobley (Credit: Getty Images)

By: Adonis Armstrong

On April 29th, 2023, a statue honoring Mamie Till-Mobley, the mother of Emmett Till, was unveiled at her alma mater, the Argo Community High School in Chicago, Illinois. The statue, which depicts Till-Mobley holding a photo of her son, serves as a powerful reminder of her unwavering strength and courage in the face of immense tragedy.

Mamie Till-Mobley was the mother of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old African American boy who was brutally lynched in 1955 after allegedly whistling at a white woman while visiting family in Mississippi. Till-Mobley's decision to hold an open casket funeral for her son, which allowed the world to see the horrific brutality of his murder, helped galvanize the Civil Rights Movement and brought national attention to the issue of racial violence and discrimination.

Argo Community High School unveiled an 850-pound sculpture by Sonja Henderson, who began working on it in 2021. The sculpture depicts Till-Mobley giving a speech at a Civil Rights event, standing at a podium and reading from a piece of paper with a picture of her son in front. The front of the podium features wise words inscribed by Mamie Till-Moble, 'We are only given a certain amount of time to do what we were sent here to do. You don’t have to be around a long time to share the wisdom of a lifetime. There is no time to waste.”

The unveiling ceremony was attended by a diverse group of people, including members of Till-Mobley's family, Civil Rights activists, and community leaders. The statue is expected to become a symbol of hope and resilience for generations to come, inspiring people to remember the sacrifices of those who came before them and to continue fighting for justice and equality for all.

The unveiling of the statue comes at a time of heightened racial tensions in the United States, with incidents of police brutality and hate crimes against minorities continuing to make headlines. The statue serves as a reminder that while progress has been made, there is still much work to be done to achieve true equality and justice for all.

The statue of Mamie Till-Mobley is a powerful tribute to a remarkable woman who turned her grief into action and inspired a movement. It serves as a reminder of the work that still needs to be done to achieve true equality and justice, and as an inspiration to future generations to continue fighting for a better world.

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