Introduction

In August and September of 1955, a series of tragic events in rural Mississippi and Chicago’s South Side brought a 14-year-old, African American boy’s lynching to national attention. Emmett Till’s kidnapping, murder, and funeral marked a turning point in America’s understanding of racist violence. Mamie Till-Mobley’s courage in showing the brutality done to her son highlighted racial injustice and helped inspire the modern civil rights movement.

Mississippi Beginnings

Mamie Till-Mobley (née Carthan) was born in Webb, Tallahatchie County, Mississippi. At the age of two, her family relocated to the Chicago Area, eventually settling in Argo-Summit. Their move was part of the Great Migration, an exodus ignited by violence and widespread economic, social, and political disparities that African Americans were experiencing in the South. After graduating from high school, she married Louis Till. Their only child, Emmett, was born in 1941. Known as a fun-loving jokester, Emmett spent his childhood in Argo-Summit, then Chicago’s South Side. Though polio left him with a stutter, his illness did not diminish his enthusiasm for life.

Everything changed in 1955, the summer before Emmett was to enter 8th grade. That year, Emmett begged to go south to spend part of his vacation with family in Mississippi.

"I emphasized over and over again to him that it was not the same as Argo or Chicago and he had to be extra careful to avoid getting in trouble with white people."

—Mamie Till-Mobley, Chicago Defender, 1956

A Visit to the Delta

Emmett arrived by train to Mississippi on Sunday, August 21, and went to stay at the home of his great uncle Moses (Mose) Wright outside of Money.

A few days into his visit, Emmett and his cousins drove to Bryant’s Grocery and Meat Market to buy snacks after a day spent picking cotton. Emmett bought candy from Carolyn Bryant, the young White woman working behind the counter, who owned the local store with her husband.

Eyewitnesses with Emmett said he whistled at Mrs. Bryant, and the boys quickly left. The subsequent, vicious response to this perceived breach of racial customs shook the country and sparked a movement for social justice.

Deadly Night

When Carolyn’s husband Roy Bryant heard of Emmett’s apparent interaction with his wife, he and his half-brother J.W. Milam sought to punish him. In the dark of night on August 28, the two men drove to Wright’s home. They demanded Emmett at gunpoint and he was reluctantly turned over to the men. After taking Emmett, the two men beat and shot him, before throwing his body in the Tallahatchie River. Three days later, Emmett’s mutilated body was found floating in the river and retrieved near Graball Landing in Glendora, a cotton gin fan tied around his neck with barbed wire.

Earlier, Wright reported Emmett’s abduction to authorities, so Bryant and Milam had already been arrested for the kidnapping (to which they admitted). The discovery of the body meant the two men would now be charged with murder.

"Let the people see what I’ve seen."

—Mamie Till-Mobley, PBS American Experience

All Eyes on Chicago

After learning of the horrific murder of her only child, Mrs. Till-Mobley demanded Emmett’s body be returned to Chicago. Her next request turned private grief into the grief of the nation. Knowing the powerful effect it would have, his mother insisted on an open-casket funeral for Emmett. All eyes turned to Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ for the viewing and funeral in September.Confronted with the image of Emmett’s battered body, the nation could no longer ignore the deadly impacts of hatred and racism.

Thousands of mourners visited the church, flooding the surrounding Chicago streets. Local and national news outlets covered the event, including television, enabling the tragedy to reach a worldwide audience. Jet, a popular Chicago-based African American magazine, published graphic images of Emmett’s brutalized body. Heartbreak, disbelief, and rage galvanized observers to demand change. However, justice was still far from reach.

Seeking Justice

Two weeks after the funeral events, eyes were back on Mississippi. The murder trial for Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam took place at the Tallahatchie County Courthouse in Sumner. Journalists, photographers, civil rights organizers, politicians, and curious spectators from all over the country descended on the segregated courtroom, where Southern race relations were on full display.

An all-White, all-male jury was selected. Two local Black men, Moses Wright and Willie Reed, offered groundbreaking testimony by taking the stand against White defendants. Mrs. Till-Mobley also testified. Despite what appeared to be overwhelming evidence of the defendants’ guilt, the jury returned a not guilty decision after one hour of deliberation. The verdict caused international outrage. Bryant and Milam later openly confessed their guilt for a magazine story, but double jeopardy prevented them from being retried.

However, from tragic loss came resistance. Mrs. Till-Mobley and other family members continued to seek justice and fight for equality. Many activists, including Rosa Parks, later identified the Emmett Till injustice as a catalyst for their involvement in the civil rights movement.

Though justice for Emmett’s murder has never been realized, the legacies of Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley remain a source of inspiration. Congress passed a bill in 2022 making lynching a federal hate crime. The landmark legislation bears his name: The Emmett Till Antilynching Act.

Source: NPS Website (2023)

Establishment Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument — July 25, 2023

For More Information Please Visit The OFFICIAL NPS WEBSITE

The contents of brochures, site bulletins and trading cards (denoted with a colored caption) can be viewed by clicking on the cover. Most modern-day brochures, however, are cover only (denoted by a white caption) due to photograph copyrights. These items are historical in scope and are intended for educational purposes only; they are not meant as an aid for travel planning. The dates under each brochure do not reflect the complete range of years that a particular brochure was issued.

General Information 2024

Visiting the Park 2024

Emmett Till Memory Project

Mississippi Civil Rights Special Resource Study (December 2022)

Presidential Proclamation 10602 — Establishment of the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument (Joseph R. Biden, Jr., July 25, 2023)

The following visual bibliography is just a sampling of the handbooks and books which have been published for this park. NPSHistory.com does not endorse these, but are merely presenting them for informational purposes only. As most are copyrighted, we are only able to provide the covers, and not contents, of these publications.

cover only Death of Innocence: The Story of the Hate Crime That Changed America Mamie Till-Mobley and Christopher Benson 2004	cover only Simeon's Story: An Eyewitness Account of the Kidnapping of Emmett Till Simeon Wright and Herb Boynd 2011	cover only The Blood of Emmett Till Timothy B. Tyson 2017	cover only Emmett Till: The Murder That Shocked the World and Propelled the Civil Rights Movement Devery S. Anderson 2017
cover only Getting Away with Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case Chris Crowe 2018