Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley honored with new national monument
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Tuesday marked what would have been Emmett Till's 82nd birthday. The 14-year-old Chicago boy's murder in 1955 played a central role in sparking the civil rights movement.
The White House on Tuesday honored the 14-year-old's memory, and his mother's, by establishing three new national monuments to cement their place in history. That includes Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ in Bronzeville, where Till's mother arranged an open-casket funeral for her son.
"Thousands, millions will come to the place where Emmett Till was funeralized. When they walk in the church, they'll see the old stairway, they'll see the old pews, they'll see the whole balcony – and they actually will almost relive what happened," said Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ Pastor Cleven Wardlow.
An Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument was also designated in Mississippi, where the tragedy took place. The monument is located across three sites altogether.
Graball Landing in Mississippi, the Tallahatchie River location where the Till's brutally beaten body was dumped and discovered in 1955, will be one of three sites designated as a national monument in his honor, CBS News has learned.
The White House has designated the river site, the Tallahatchie County Second District Courthouse and Chicago's Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ as part of a national monument, recognizing both the history of racial violence and the need for legal justice. Till's mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, is also being honored with the monument.
"It isn't for our nation to remain stuck in a painful past. It really is to challenge our nation to say, 'we can do better,'" said Brent Leggs, who serves as the executive director of the African American Cultural Heritage Action fund, a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Leggs' team helped secure the designation and hopes it will draw attention to approximately 5,000 additional Black historic sites across the United States that require approximately half a billion dollars for preservation.
Till was just 14 years old when he left Chicago to visit family in Mississippi in 1955. The Black teenager was kidnapped, tortured, and lynched after being accused of whistling at a white woman.
Historians say his brutal murder helped galvanize the civil rights movement.
"It's hard to understand how the murder of a young man could not only spark an entire movement - we say a murder, a movement, a museum," said Naomi Davis, Founder and CEO of Blacks in Green, the nonprofit taking the lead to make the site a historical destination. "Bringing the young and the old on the campus, that's the way we're going to be able to continue to tell the story moving forward."
A free community celebration was held at the Emmett & Mamie Till-Mobley House Museum, Garden, and Theatre Sunday night.
The event included an ice cream social, pony rides, and music. And they broke ground earlier Sunday for what will be a project to expand and renovate the home Emmett and his mother once lived in along St. Lawrence Avenue.
The renovations are just one of many things happening at the site, which was designated a landmark by the City of Chicago about two years ago. It includes a museum, a garden, and a cultural center that will soon be under construction.
Sunday's event in Chicago kicked off this week of reflection and commemoration for Till and his mother.
For Till's childhood friend Courtney Goosby, who came to visit the Bronzeville home Emmett grew up in, it's a tragic tale, part of what he said is God's plan.
"I do believe that things happen for a reason, and He always gives good out of things, and a lot of good is coming out of this," Goosby said.
One will be located in the Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ in the Bronzeville neighborhood, where Till's funeral was held in September 1955.
Decades later, visitors like Vivian and Robert Washington continue to come and mourn.
"It feels a little eerie, but we are blessed to be able to be here," Vivian said. "It's just so important for us to come here, just to see."
The two other sites are in Mississippi. One is where Till's body was discovered, and the other is at the courthouse where Till's killers were acquitted by an all-white jury
Advocates say these landmarks are being built at a time when they are needed the most -- as legislation across the country is gaining ground to suppress Black history.
"Whether it was tragic or triumphant, this is historical evidence in the City of Chicago have a big landmark that's not only Black issues but an American issue, and this correlates to a lot of other sites around the United States and Chicago area," said Carlson Ayanlaja, with Blacks in Green, "and it's also just prevalent and needs to be discussed, and it needs to be admired."
The projects on the South Side are set for 2025.
