President Biden to Create National Monument in Honor of Emmett Till and his Mother
On Tuesday, President Joe Biden will make a significant announcement in honor of Emmett Till, a Black teenager whose murder in Mississippi in 1955 was a pivotal moment in the civil rights movement.
Biden will create a national monument to Till and his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, which will consist of three sites: a location in Chicago, where Till was born, and two sites in Mississippi where he spent his final summer.
The Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument will protect and preserve the places that tell the story of Till's life, his unjust murder, and the activism of his mother.
The Illinois site will be the Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ in the Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago, where Till's funeral was held in 1955.
The Mississippi sites include Graball Landing, where Till's body was recovered from the Tallahatchie River, and the Tallahatchie County Second District Courthouse in Sumner, where his killers were acquitted by an all-white jury.
Emmett Till was just 14 years old when he was kidnapped and murdered in Mississippi.
His death sparked widespread outrage and protests, leading to a landmark Supreme Court decision that outlawed segregation in public schools.
Till's mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, became a prominent civil rights activist, fighting for justice for her son and against racism and discrimination.
The creation of the national monument is a significant development in the ongoing efforts to recognize and honor the contributions of Black Americans to American history.
It comes at a time when the Trump administration has sought to limit the teaching of race and ethnicity in schools and has targeted diversity and inclusion programs.
Biden's decision to create the monument also reflects his commitment to addressing systemic racial injustices and promoting equity and inclusion.
In March 2022, he signed into law the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act, which made lynching a federal hate crime for the first time in US history.
The Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument is a testament to the legacy of a young boy whose life was tragically cut short and to the end