President Biden Designates Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument

Today, on what would have been Emmett Till’s 82^nd birthday, President Biden will sign a proclamation establishing the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument in Mississippi and Illinois. The new national monument will tell the story of the events surrounding Emmett Till’s murder, their significance in the civil rights movement and American history, and the broader story of Black oppression, survival, and bravery in America.  

The new national monument will be anchored at three historic sites in Chicago, Illinois; Sumner, Mississippi; and just outside of Glendora, Mississippi. These sites are central to Emmett Till’s racially motivated murder in 1955 and the defining events that followed – including the courageous activism and leadership of his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley. The new national monument will also encourage and enable partnerships between the Department of the Interior, the National Park Service, and local communities and organizations to help conserve and interpret a broader network of historic sites that help tell the story of Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley.

The nationwide coverage of the horrific lynching of Emmett Till, as well as Mamie Till-Mobley’s courageous efforts to honor her son’s story through education and activism, elevated the broader reality of the injustices and inequality that Black people experienced during the Jim Crow era and helped catalyze the civil rights movement. Mere months following Emmett Till’s murder, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on a Montgomery city bus. She later cited Emmett Till as the reason she would not acquiesce. 

Today’s designation builds on the Biden-Harris Administration’s work to advance civil rights and racial justice, including through the President’s signing of the Emmett Till Antilynching Act that codified lynching as a federal hate crime. The Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument is President Biden’s fourth new national monument, and reflects the Administration’s commitment to protecting places that help tell a more complete story of our nation’s history.

Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument

The Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument will be managed by the National Park Service, and comprises 5.70 acres across three separate historic sites in Illinois and Mississippi. Through the historical objects protected at these sites, the monument tells the story of Emmett Till’s too-short life and 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.

While on a trip from his home in Chicago to visit family in the Mississippi Delta in 1955, 14-year-old Emmett Till was accused of making inappropriate advances toward a white female grocery clerk. Emmett Till’s cousins and friends, who were present at the scene, disputed the claim. Four days after the alleged incident, he was pulled from his bed, kidnapped, and brutally murdered by at least two white men. Three days following this abduction, on August 31, 1955, Emmett Till’s mutilated body was pulled from the Tallahatchie River.

Graball Landing, located just outside of Glendora, Mississippi, is one of the three sites preserved by the new national monument. Graball Landing is believed to be the site where Emmett Till’s body was discovered in the Tallahatchie River. In 2008, the community installed a memorial sign that has been removed or vandalized multiple times since it was first erected. The most recent version of the sign – dedicated in October 2019 – is over an inch thick and bulletproof.

Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ in Bronzeville, a historically Black neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side, is the second monument site. The church is where on September 3, 1955, Mamie Till-Mobley held an open-casket funeral service for her son in defiance of directives from Mississippi authorities that Emmett Till be buried quickly in Mississippi. Over the course of several days, as many as 125,000 people attended the visitation and funeral services to mourn Emmett Till and bear witness.

The third monument site is the Tallahatchie County Second District Courthouse in Sumner, Mississippi where the trial of Emmett Till’s murderers began on September 19, 1955 in a segregated courtroom. An all-white jury wrongfully acquitted Emmett Till’s two killers after just over an hour of deliberation. Both killers later admitted their crimes to a leading magazine in an interview for which they were paid. No one was ever held legally accountable for Emmett Till’s death.

In addition to designating the three sites as a new national monument, today’s proclamation directs the National Park Service to develop a plan in consultation with local communities, organizations, and the public to support the interpretation and preservation of other key sites in Mississippi and Illinois that help tell the story of Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley. This may include the Glendora Cotton Gin (currently known as the Emmett Till Historic Intrepid Center), Mound Bayou, the Tutwiler Funeral Home, and the Emmett Till Boyhood Home.

Today’s designation honors the tireless efforts of Emmett Till’s family, community and civil rights leaders, and local, state, and federal elected officials to ensure that these sites are protected and that Emmett Till’s story continues to be told. In the lead up to the designation, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair Brenda Mallory visited the sites and met with community members to learn about their vision on how to best educate the public about not only the brutal lynching of Emmett Till, but how the events surrounding his death helped to dismantle Jim Crow and served as a turning point in the struggle for civil rights in the United States.

Background on Antiquities Act Designations

President Theodore Roosevelt first used the Antiquities Act in 1906 to designate Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming. Since then, 18 presidents of both parties have used this authority to protect unique natural and historic features in America, including the Grand Canyon, the Statue of Liberty, the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument, Stonewall National Monument, and the César E. Chávez National Monument.

The Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument is President Biden’s fourth new monument designation, following the creation of the Castner Range National Monument in Texas and Avi Kwa Ame National Monument in Nevada this spring, and Camp Hale-Continental Divide National Monument in Colorado last fall.

Emmett Till and his mother Mamie Till-Mobley honored with Congressional Gold Medal

The House unanimously passed a bill Wednesday to posthumously award the Congressional Gold Medal to Emmett Till, the Chicago teenager murdered by white supremacists in the 1950s, and his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley.

The bill, which passed the Senate in January, is meant to honor Till and his mother - who had insisted on an open casket funeral to demonstrate the brutality of his killing - with the highest civilian honor that Congress awards. The medal will be given to the National Museum of African American History where it will be displayed near the casket Till was buried in.

Congressional Gold Medal to be awarded posthumously to Emmett Till and his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley

The Senate has passed a bill to award the Congressional Gold Medal posthumously to Emmett Till, the Chicago teenager murdered by white supremacists in the 1950s, and his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, who insisted on an open casket funeral to demonstrate the brutality of his killing.

Till was abducted, tortured and killed after witnesses said he whistled at a white woman in Mississippi, a scenario contradicted by others who were with Till at the time.

The killing galvanized the civil rights movement after Till’s mother insisted on an open casket and Jet magazine published photos of his brutalized body.

Sens. Cory Booker, D-N.J. and Richard Burr, R-N.C., introduced the bill to honor Till and his mother with the highest civilian honor that Congress awards. They described the legislation as a long overdue recognition of what the Till family endured and what they accomplished in their fight against injustice.

“At the age of 14, Emmett Till was abducted and lynched at the hands of white supremacists. His gruesome murder still serves as a solemn reminder of the terror and violence experienced by Black Americans throughout our nation’s history,” said Sen. Booker. “The courage and activism demonstrated by Emmett’s mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, in displaying to the world the brutality endured by her son helped awaken the nation’s conscience, forcing America to reckon with its failure to address racism and the glaring injustices that stem from such hatred. More than six decades after his murder, I am proud to see the Senate pass long-overdue legislation that would award the Congressional Gold Medal to both Emmett and Mamie Till-Mobley in recognition of their profound contributions to our nation.”

The House version of the legislation is sponsored by Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill.

Emmett Till Docuseries 'Let the World See' to Premiere in January 2022

ABC News announced today the special limited docuseries Let The World See, produced in association with Shawn Carter and Roc Nation, Will Smith and Westbrook Studios, and Aaron Kaplan and Kapital Entertainment. The series will chronicle Ms. Mamie Till-Mobley’s fierce quest for justice that sparked the civil rights movement after her son Emmett Till’s brutal murder, inspiring heroes like Ms. Rosa Parks and others to stand up boldly for their rights. Let The World See premieres Thursday, Jan. 6 (10:01-11:00 p.m. EST), on ABC and will air for three consecutive Thursday nights following each new episode of ABC’s upcoming limited series Women of the Movement, also produced by Roc Nation, Westbrook Studios and Kapital Entertainment.

Let The World See is a fresh and deep examination of Ms. Mamie Till-Mobley’s fight to bring her son’s body home to Chicago and her pivotal yet heartbreaking decision to have an open-casket funeral for the public to see, which ultimately served as a turning point for the civil rights movement. The docuseries also traces Ms. Mamie Till-Mobley’s journey back to the Jim Crow South to face her son’s murderers in court. The program will illustrate how the Till family has continued her legacy since her death in 2003, remaining active in the movement as the deaths of Trayvon Martin, George Floyd, Ms. Breonna Taylor and others sparked protests around the country.

Weaving together first-hand accounts from Emmett Till’s family, Let The World See includes interviews with Emmett Till’s cousins Rev. Wheeler Parker, who was a witness to the abduction, Ms. Ollie Gordon and Amos Smith, and Ms. Thelma Wright, Ms.Mamie Till-Mobley’s cousin. The docuseries also features interviews with Rev. Jesse Jackson, activist and friend of Ms. Mamie Till-Mobley; FBI agent Lent Rice, who was a part of the team that opened a new investigation into Emmett Till’s case more than 50 years after his death; journalist Dan Wakefield, who covered the Emmet Till murder trial; and Ms. Betty Pearson, who watched the Emmett Till murder trial in the courtroom more than 60 years ago. The special programming also highlights deeply personal insights from contemporary authors, including Ms. Angie Thomas (The Hate U Give), Christopher Benson (Death of Innocence), John Edgar Wideman (Writing to Save a Life) and Michael Eric Dyson (Long Time Coming), who visits the scene of the crime for a special reading of his Letter to Emmett Till.

Let The World See is produced by ABC News Studios in association with Roc Nation, Westbrook Studios, Kapital Entertainment and Cobble Hill Films and is directed by Ms. Jeanmarie Condon and Ms. Fatima Curry. Ms. Condon and Ms. Curry are executive producers for Cobble Hill Films and ABC News Studios, respectively; Shawn Carter, Tyran Smith and Jay Brown are executive producers for Roc Nation; Will Smith is executive producing for Westbrook Studios and James Lassiter also serves as executive producer; Aaron Kaplan is executive producer for Kapital Entertainment.

SNEAK PEEK: ‘Let The World See’ docuseries