Emmett Till monument sites preserve memory of murder that ignited civil rights movement
President Joe Biden has announced the creation of a national monument that honors Emmett Till, a Black teenager whose murder in Mississippi in 1955 shocked the nation and helped shape the civil rights movement.
The Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument is a collection of three sites in two states that are connected to Till's death. July 25 is the 82nd anniversary of Till’s birth.
The monument also acknowledges Till's mother, who kept the story of his murder in the public eye and insisted on an open-casket funeral that put Till's mutilated body on display.
"I think everybody needed to know what had happened to Emmett Till," she said.
Till, 14, from Chicago, was visiting relatives in Mississippi when he was abducted at gunpoint by two white men, Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam, on Aug. 28, 1955, after Bryant's wife, Carolyn, accused him of whistling at her in the family store, Bryant's Grocery and Meat Market, in Money, Mississippi. The store is close to the monument sites but is not part of the new national monument.
Till's body was discovered in the Tallahatchie River three days later. He had been beaten and disfigured and could be identified only by a ring on his finger.
Bryant and Milam were tried and acquitted by an all-white jury. They confessed to the killing in a magazine story in 1956.
Where are the monument locations and what are their significance?
Graball Landing, Mississippi
Graball Landing near Glendora, Mississippi, is where Till's body was recovered from the Tallahatchie River. Historic markers at the site have been replaced after being shot at. A bulletproof sign was installed in 2019.
Sumner, Mississippi
The Tallahatchie County Second District Courthouse is where Till's killers were tried and acquitted.
Chicago
The Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ is where Till's funeral was held in September 1955. About 1,700 people crowded inside the church, and an estimated 10,000 stood outside and listened to the service, which was broadcast over loudspeakers.
What is a national monument?
National monuments are culturally and historically significant areas of land or water that are set aside for permanent protection.
They're different from national historic sites by how they're established. Presidents create national monuments, and Congress designates national parks or other historic sites.
Separately, a 9-foot-tall bronze statue of Emmett Till was unveiled in Greenwood, Mississippi, in October 2022, to coincide with the release of the documentary film "Till," the story of Till-Mobley's transformation into a civil rights activist.
SOURCE Paste BN Network reporting and research; Associated Press; National Parks Conservation Association; civilrightstrail.com