Emmett Till, whose death triggered a civil rights movement 60 years ago, is being honored today.

EMMETT TILL HONORED TODAY

Till was brutally murdered in Mississippi in 1955 for allegedly whistling at a white woman, an incident which ignited a civil rights movement. Church services and movie screenings are being held to commemorate Till. Till’s mother, Mamie Till Mobley, who worked with youths in combating injustice in everyday life, is also being honored.

Deborah Watts recalls speaking to Mobley about Till as a young girl. “It was her motivation to turn his death into something positive,” Watts stated.

Till, only 14 years old at the time, was visiting relatives in Mississippi on Aug. 24, 1955, when he allegedly whistled at a white woman, which was a violation of the Jim Crow laws at the time. Four days later, he was kidnapped from his uncle’s house, and on Aug. 31 his body was found in the Tallahatchie River. His body showed signs of physical torture and a gunshot to the head.

Till’s mother, Mobley, had an open-casket, and allowed Jet magazine to photograph his corpse in order to show the world the injustice that had been done to her son. These graphic photographs sparked outrage which helped inspire the civil rights movement.

A trial was held for Till’s murder in Sumner, Miss. shortly after his death, but the all-male, all-white jury acquitted the men responsible.

The church where Till’s funeral was held in 1955, Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ, will host a gathering on Friday. Afterwards, there will be a motorcade to Burr Oak Cemetery, where Till and Mobley were buried.

There will also be a Till memorial dinner on Friday, where Sybrina Fulton and Michael Brown Sr. are schedule to appear. Fulton and Brown lost their children, Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown Jr. last year in shootings deemed connected to racial profiling.

An Emmett Till Interpretive Center was opened across the street from the courthouse where Till’s murder trial took place, and has aroused the attention of many schools and church groups.

“We get to understand that race and racism are not something unique to the Mississippi Delta,” Patrick Weems, the center’s director, stated. “It’s an issue that faces the entire nation.”

The courthouse itself has been restored to look the way it did in 1955, during the time of the trial, and has now been re-opened.

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