With the 82nd anniversary of Emmett Till’s birthday landing this week, President Biden has decided to commemorate the event. Biden will designate a national monument across three sites in honor of Emmett Till and his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley.
On Tuesday, the same day as Till’s birthday, President Biden is expected to sign a proclamation to establish a national monument honoring the mother-son pair. The new monument will live across three locations in Illinois and Mississippi. Each spot represents and protects places that tell Till’s story and his mother’s role in telling his story. Till-Mobley was an instrumental factor in keeping Till’s story alive. After her son’s death, she became a leader in the civil rights movement for decades. She fought tirelessly for the equality of Black Americans.
The Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument
The three sites of the monument include Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ in Chicago, Graball Landing in Mississippi and Tallahatchie County Second District Courthouse, also in Mississippi. Each site tells a bit of Till’s story which is fundamental in keeping his legacy alive.
His funeral was held at the Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ. Just about 1,700 people attended the service, filling the church to capacity. About 10,000 more stood outside and listened to the service over loudspeakers. The funeral was also monumental due to Till-Mobley’s brave decision to keep the casket open so that the public could see how her son’s body was mutilated.
Graball Landing is the spot where locals believe Till’s body was recovered from the Tallahatchie River. A memorial sign was installed at the site in 2008, however, the sign has been vandalized on several occasions. Now, on its fourth rendition, the sign is bulletproof and details the history of vandalisms.
Tallahatchie County Second District Courthouse is where Till’s killers were acquitted by an all-white jury. In 2007, Till’s family was invited to the courthouse to receive an apology from the town’s leaders, decades after the incident.
“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.