The Mississippi Mass Choir will be performing as part of the memorial service at the barn on Aug. 29th. Founded in 1988 by Frank Williams, the Gospel Hall of Fame inductees have recorded 11 albums and won numerous awards in their mission to “glorify God and uplift souls.” RSVP: emmett-till.org/71st

Time's running out to see our traveling exhibit, ‘Emmett Till & Mamie Till-Mobley: Let the World See’, at the Civil Rights Memorial Center in Montgomery, AL. If you’re in the area, don’t miss your chance to see this powerful exhibit!

Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling believed in writing for social criticism. He practiced that in scripts throughout his career by addressing various issues of the day. He drew on the Till story several times to illustrate the scourge of prejudice, what he called “the singular evil of our time.”

Emmett would have been 85 today. We need your support to continue telling his story and his mother’s story, so we are launching our inaugural annual fund campaign. Please check out the letter from author Wright Thompson, our chair. Help us preserve this vital history. Thank you for your generosity.

Join us tomorrow in Sumner from 4-7:30 PM to celebrate Emmett Till’s 85th birthday. Tour the Till Monument. Enjoy live music, art-making activities, and a commemorative youth bike ride. Thanks to all of our partners who helped make this event happen. We hope to see you! bit.ly/Till85bikeride

Emmett’s early years in Summit-Argo were, according to his mother, happy years. By foot and bicycle, Emmett explored his community with his cousin and best friend, Wheeler Parker, who moved next door in 1947. His mother said Emmett “lived for the fellowship. He lived for the fun. That most of all.”

Join us at the barn near Drew, MS, on August 29 for the annual commemoration of Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley. The award-winning Mississippi Mass Choir will perform as part of the program. Visit emmett-till.org/71st for full details and to RSVP.

Willie Reed was at the barn on the morning of Aug. 28. The murderers eliminated the barn where Reed witnessed Emmett’s screams and placed the murder site elsewhere in the published “confession” to protect other accomplices. We’re grateful to Willie Reed for his courageous testimony.

ETIC and partners are hosting a bike ride on July 25 commemorating Emmett’s 85th birthday. The event will be from 4-7:30 PM on the square in Sumner, MS. Guided tours of the Till Monument will be available, and refreshments will follow the bike ride. Visit bit.ly/Till85bikeride for details.

Executive Director Patrick Weems wrote in response to the jury verdict last month regarding Cyrus Carmack-Belton’s killing. We must grieve Cyrus and Emmett “as one societal wound,” recognizing our country’s successes and where it has fallen short. See emmett-till.org/blog for the full piece.

NFL wide receiver DK Metcalf has used his celebrity to educate others about Emmett Till. Watch him explain Till’s importance for history and for us today in this video from the Saying Their Stories series: tinyurl.com/532amnzu

In connection with its exhibit featuring one of ETIC’s vandalized signs, the Smithsonian held a panel discussing how we as a society remember Emmett Till. ETIC Board Chair Rev. Willie Williams said, “When we learn history, that means we don’t repeat history.” Watch the full talk at the link.

Emmett’s cousin Simeon Wright, son of Moses Wright, was with Emmett throughout that fateful Mississippi trip. In 2010 he published ‘Simeon’s Story: An Eyewitness Account of the Kidnapping of Emmett Till’ as a corrective to the lies and misinformation around the case.

Bob Dylan’s “The Death of Emmett Till” was recorded in 1962 but didn’t see official release until 2010. The lyrics describe the murderers’ actions as “too evil to repeat” and the trial as “a mockery.” Listen to the song on YouTube at the graphic’s link.

ETIC staff co-edited Monument Lab’s second 'Bulletin,' occasioned by the 70th anniversary of Emmett Till’s murder and Mamie Till-Mobley’s courage to pursue justice for her son. Watch the virtual launch event featuring issue contributors at the link in the graphic.

It was not inevitable that John H. Johnson would print the images of Emmett’s brutalized body in ‘Jet’. “Emmett’s Photo” by Nikki Carpenter dramatizes the challenge Johnson faced before publishing the photos, ultimately affecting the course of history. Watch the play’s live reading at the link.

Do you work at or know of a venue that would be interested in hosting our award-winning traveling exhibit? We’d love to hear from you. We have space in the calendar for late Aug. 2026 through mid-Feb. 2027 / mid-June 2027 through late Dec. 2027. Please reach out to exhibit AT emmett-till.org!

James Scott worked as an intern on the Smithsonian exhibit featuring one of our vandalized signs, giving him new insights on the Till story. In a recent article from ‘Scalawag’ magazine, Scott discusses how toxic masculinity played a role in Emmett Till’s murder. Read it at the graphic’s link.

On June 19, 1865, over 2 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, Union troops arrived in Texas where slavery had persisted. All enslaved people in the state were declared free, and thus was born Juneteenth (combining “June” and “nineteenth”). The holiday looks back and ahead, as do we at ETIC.

Emmett’s body was nearly buried at the church where his great-uncle Moses Wright served as pastor if not for the swift intervention of another great-uncle Crosby Smith and the insistence of his mother to bring her son home. If the covert burial had happened, history would look very different.

‘If Emmett Till Lived’ imagines the life Emmett did not experience by bringing together photographs from over 70 artists. An accompanying book will be released on the show’s opening date, featuring select photos from the exhibit and original essays. Read more at the link in the graphic.

On this day in 1963, Medgar Evers was assassinated at 37 outside his home in Jackson. As the NAACP’s first field secretary in MS, he helped conduct investigations into the murders of several Black people, including Emmett Till. Today we remember him and his work in the name of civil rights.

Last June, independent researchers Kevin Murphy and Colleen FitzPatrick found several materials from the Till murder trial in the basement of the Tallahatchie County Courthouse. They donated the photos to FSU’s Emmett Till Archives, which you can see at the link in the graphic.

David Jackson, a photographer for ‘Jet’ and ‘Ebony’ magazines, took photos of Emmett’s brutalized body at the Chicago funeral home. His photos appeared in a number of Black publications afterward, inspiring many to join the fight for civil rights as part of the Emmett Till Generation.

The year after Medgar Evers was assassinated and the Birmingham 16th Street Baptist Church was bombed, James Baldwin released ‘Blues for Mister Charlie,’ dedicating the play to Evers and family as well as those killed in the bombing. The play is loosely based on Emmett Till’s murder.

Devery Anderson’s ‘Emmett Till: The Murder That Shocked the World and Propelled the Civil Rights Movement’ took over 20 years to compile, resulting in a comprehensive account of the case. Anderson talked about the book at a public event recorded by C-SPAN. Watch it at the link in the graphic.

Our website has a new look! We’ve streamlined the design with the intent of making it both easier to read and easier to find information. Browse around and please let us know what you think!

John Edgar Wideman’s “Looking at Emmett Till” recollects the author’s experience seeing the ‘Jet’ magazine photos of Emmett’s brutalized body as well as the welter of emotions and reflections thereafter. Read the full essay at: creativenonfiction.org/writing/look...

The signs erected at Graball Landing mark the fact that Emmett’s body was recovered from the Tallahatchie River, even if we don’t know for certain the exact location. Each had been vandalized until the bullet-proof marker was installed in 2019. We refuse to let this history be erased.

We are grateful to those who gave their lives in service of our country. This Memorial Day, we remember their sacrifices.