Reintroduced legislation Feb. 25 looking for a congressional gold medal recognizing Emmett Till, murdered in 1955 after being accused of breaking up a white girl in her family’s supermarket, and his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, for trying to justice in a situation which helped trigger the civil rights movement.
“The heroic action of Mamie Till-Mobley in the middle of evil, injustice, and despair became a catalyst for the civil rights movement and continued in the decades ahead as she labored for justice and admired the heritage of Emmett Till,” based on S.450. On Aug. 28, 1955, 14-year-old Emmett Till was kidnapped, beaten, and taken in Money, Mississippi, in which he’d traveled from Chicago to stay with his great uncle, Moses Wright,” the law states.
His accused murderers were acquitted despite Moses Wright supplying an eyewitness testimony which the guys on trial kidnapped Emmett Till.
Mamie Till-Mobley attracted her son’s body back to Chicago for the funeral, for which Mrs. Till-Mobley required a open casket. The first casket of Emmett Till stands on display in the National Museum of African American Culture and History for a reminder of the racial violence That’s a part of the history of the United States that the people of the United States of America must face.
If approved, the gold trophy will be placed on display in the museum.
Mrs. Till-Mobley’s persistent efforts through the Emmett Till Justice Campaign resulted in the passing of the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act of 2007 along with the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crimes Reauthorization Act of 2016.