Mississippi has tried to make symbolic amends for racist past by eliminating the old state flag, which paid homage to the Confederacy.
The Emmett Till Interpretive Center (EITC) is determined that the young 14-year-old who got lynched by White men based on the false allegation that he whistled at a White woman in Money, Miss. will not be rewritten from the ugly racial history of the United States of America.
The EITC recently purchased the barn where Emmett Till was killed to preserve an important moment in the Civil Rights Movement, that motivated people of all colors to stand up to racial injustice and savage violence.
Jaylin R. Smith of the Mississippi Free Press reported, “It was only 70 years ago. The barn floor held the body of the 14-year-old Black child as he cried out for his mother under the weight of J.W. Milam and Roy Bryant’s hateful hands. A bullet blasted of a pistol into the young Black body that already endured a brutal beating. After two hours of torture for the sin of allegedly whistling at Bryant’s White wife at a grocery store in Money, Miss., Emmett Louis Till died in the barn. His death, and Bryant and Milam’s acquittal by an all-White jury, would galvanize the Civil Rights Movement.
“Now, an organization devoted to preserving the legacy and memory of Till has taken ownership of the barn and plans to open it as a public memorial by 2030. The Emmett Till Interpretive Center announced in an open letter that the organization had purchased the building from Jeff Andrews, a White dentist who purchased in the 1990s.”
Critically-acclaimed television show producer Shonda Rhimes donated $1.5 million to the ETIC for the purchase of the barn.
Back in 1955, the South was at a crossroad as the Civil Rights Movement, led by Martin Luther King, Jr. formed that year.
The movement really took shape in December of that year when a seamstress named Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a White passenger on a segregated city bus.
That refusal sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which led to the integration of city buses in Montgomery, Ala.
King became the face of the boycott, which catapulted him to become the face of the entire struggle for integration and equal rights.
But earlier that summer, Till’s brutal murdered changed Black America forever.
Till came from Chicago to visit his relatives in Money, Miss.
He and his mother knew that things were volatile down South for Black Americans.
But his mother Mamie Till-Mobley did not necessarily see the south’s racism as her problem.
That all changed when Till was drug out of his relatives’ home and beaten so bad that his face was disfigured.
It did not even look like a human’s face.
But Till’s mother changed history when she insisted on an open casket funeral in Chicago so that the world could see what those racists had done to her little boy.
Johnson Publishing Co., home of Ebony and Jet magazines, was headquartered in Chicago.
The images from Jet shook up the world because many racists at the time wanted to believe that racism was a figment of the imagination of the Black race.
Suddenly, many Black people had had enough and were willing to put their lives on the line for equality.
Unfortunately, stories like the killing of Till have slowly crept out of the consciousness of the nation in an effort to stop the so-called woke movement, although woke only means to be aware and conscious of the inequalities in America and throughout the world.
Throughout the United States, state and local governing boards have gone into high gear, restricting what parts of American history students can learn.
At many school board meetings and amongst university boards, Black history is being whitewashed as to not offend some White people who feel guilty when topics like systemic racism, slavery and White supremacy are discussed, regardless of if it is true or not.
As a result, many African-Americans have begun making it their mission to teach and preserve factual American history, and the trials, tribulations and triumphs of their ancestors.
And Rhimes is not the only Hollywood heavyweight who has done their part to keep Till’s story alive.
In 2022, the movie “Till” from MGM debuted, chronicling the story of Till and the impact that his death had on his family.
In his review for RegalMag.com, movie critic Todd A. Smith wrote, “Films about the plight of African-Americans, from slavery to Jim Crow, do not always sit well with African-American audiences.
“After a hard day or week at work, when African-Americans might deal with racism in the workforce, watching a movie about more racism becomes a hard sell for many.
“But with book bans and the termination of many educators in the name of critical race theory, movies like ‘Till’ become more necessary so that the true history of this country will remain in the consciousness and in the public discourse.
“With that said, ‘Till’ is a powerful and much-needed film.
“However, ‘Till’ will still be difficult to take even for those who label themselves experts on the heartbreaking story of Emmett Till and African-American history in general.”
Now, it will be difficult to forget what Till sacrificed for the rights of African-Americans and all people thanks to the purchase of the barn where he lost his life.
Patrick Weems, the executive director and co-founder of the ETIC, said, “This is the site where the worst of humanity showed up and lynched a 14-year-old child. The aftermath of that terrible night led to the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement. This is ground zero of the modern Civil Rights Movement at this site.”
