Mamie Till depiction seen as tribute to Black female leaders
A new biopic about the mother of Emmett Till, the 14-year old Black boy whose lynching in Mississippi in 1955 catalyzed the U.S. civil rights movement, is being promoted as a tribute to Black women and Black mothers who are continuing her legacy and fight for justice, equality and equity.
In South, most Black Senate candidates since Reconstruction
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Jaime Harrison speaks at a campaign rally on Saturday, Oct. 17, 2020, in North Charleston, S.C. (AP Photo/Meg Kinnard)COLUMBIA, S.C. – In the battle for control of the U.S. Senate this year, the Deep South is fielding more Black candidates than it has since Reconstruction. Mike Espy and Adrian Perkins, meanwhile, are launching spirited bids for the Senate in Mississippi and Louisiana, respectively. The Senate currently has three Black members: Republican Tim Scott of South Carolina and Democrats Cory Booker of New Jersey and Kamala Harris of California. “The more competitive races are, and Black candidates win those competitive races, it diminishes this worry that Black candidates can’t win,” Abrams recently told The Associated Press. In Mississippi, Espy is trying for a second time to become the state’s first Black senator since Reconstruction with his challenge to Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith.
Senators seek highest civilian honor for Till and his mother
WASHINGTON – Congress should give the nation’s highest civilian honor posthumously to Emmett Till and his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, a Republican and a Democratic senator said Wednesday. She remained a Civil Rights activist in honor of her slain son for the rest of her life. Till-Mobley created the Emmett Till Players, where teenagers traveled throughout the country presenting the speeches of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. She also was one of the founders of the Emmett Till Justice Campaign, which pushed for the re-investigation of Till's murder. President George W. Bush signed the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crimes Act, which allows cold civil rights cases to be reopened, into law in 2008.
Mississippi Emmett Till memorial sign protected by bulletproof glass
Allan Hammons via CNNSUMNER, Mississippi (CNN) - A memorial sign marking Emmett Till's death that was riddled with bullet holes earlier this year was rededicated Saturday -- this time with bulletproof glass. Patrick Weems, executive director of the Emmett Till Memorial Commission, said more than 100 people, including members of Till's family from Chicago, attended a ceremony near Sumner, Mississippi, rededicating the new and improved sign. Weems said the sign, which cost more than $10,000, weighs more than 500 pounds and is surrounded by security cameras. The sign appeared to be riddled with bullet holes in the photo, which was first published by the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting and ProPublica. When the marker was replaced, it was riddled with bullet holes.
New Emmett Till memorial will be bulletproof
Three University of Mississippi students were suspended from their fraternity after a photo showing them posing with guns in front of a sign memorializing Emmett Till surfaced. (CNN) - A bullet-riddled memorial sign for Emmett Till at the center of a photo showing three white University of Mississippi students posing with guns is now gone. Patrick Weems, the executive director of the Emmett Till Memorial Commission, said the group began to mark every site that was part of Emmett's story after community leaders offered his family an apology for the first time about 10 years ago. "For 50 years our community didn't want to talk about Emmett Till, they just wanted to forget it," Weems said. "That Emmett Till did not die in vain.