An exhibit dedicated to Emmett Till, a child from Chicago lynched in Mississippi in 1955, seen on display Monday at the Southern Poverty Law Center Civil Rights Memorial Center in Montgomery, Alabama. The exhibit provides details on Till's life in Chicagoin Chicago and his trip to Mississippi where he was murdered after purchasing refreshments at a convenience store. (Ralph Chapoco/Alabama Reflector)
The Southern Poverty Law Center will host an exhibit on Emmett Till, whose murder in 1955 helped spur the modern Civil Rights Movement.
The exhibit, designed and created by the Emmett Till Interpretive Center and the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, features five components and provides details about life for Blacks living in the Jim Crow era in the South, Till’s life in Chicago and his trip to Mississippi where he was murdered days after he bought refreshments at a convenience store.
“I know from growing up for most, as we still talk about it in our schools, in our communities and in our homes, there is a small segment that we discuss, but we want you to know way more about Emmett and his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, what they did in their communities and in their homes to fight for the justice that we need for today,” said Lauren Blanding, manager of the Civil Rights Memorial for SPLC, the venue that will host the exhibit.
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The individuals responsible for Till’s death, Roy Bryant and his half-brother J.W. Milam, kidnapped Till from his great uncle’s home, murdered Till and mutilated his body after Till allegedly made some sort of gesture toward Carolyn Bryant, Roy Bryant’s spouse, while visiting a store.
The publicity that followed Till’s lynching, and the subsequent acquittal of the Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam, by an all-male and all-white jury, drew the public’s attention to southern racism and became a major spur to the Civil Rights Movement.
The exhibit features panels with information about Till’s life in Chicago, anecdotes that describe his kidnapping and murder, the legal proceedings and how the incident relates to the ongoing need for racial justice in the country.
“There are interactive pieces that you can use, such as touch screen tables,” Blanding said. “We also have film involved with the exhibit, but also the words that take in and read about to know about the history.”
Among them is a mock rotary telephone that a visitor can hold up to their ears and listen to Rev. Wheeler Parker, Till’s cousin, who was one of the last people to see him alive.
“They roused him up out of bed, and they left with Emmett, and that was the last time we saw him alive,” he said in the recording.
The exhibit also has a display of a sign that was used as a marker to designate the location where Till’s body was found. It features bullet holes after people fired shots into the marker.
“We want you to just come in, learn about the history, but continue to have the conversations,” Blanding said. “As we say here at the Civil Rights Memorial Center, ‘The march continues.’”
The U.S. Department of Justice announced last week that it has filed criminal charges against the SPLC that include money laundering and wire fraud because of a program in which the organization paid informants who infiltrated extremist groups to gather information about plans to perpetrate violence in communities.
Those present declined comment Monday, referring to an article that the organization hired an attorney in the matter that was previously reported.
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Author: Ralph Chapoco