Last updated: January 8, 2025
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Reckoning with Remembrance: History, Injustice, and the Murder of Emmett Till
African American Civil Rights Network
Reckoning with Remembrance: History, Injustice, and the Murder of Emmett Till was a one-object exhibition of a defaced historic marker that stood at the site where Emmett Till’s body was recovered from the Tallahatchie River in Mississippi. The exhibit shared Till’s legacy with a focus on the local Mississippi story. It was on display at the Smithsonian Institute’s National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. from April to September 2024.
On August 28, 1955, during a visit to stay with his great-uncle in Mississippi, 14-year-old Emmett Till, of Chicago, Illinois was brutally lynched. When his mutilated body was recovered from the Tallahatchie River, his mother insisted on an open-casket funeral in Chicago. Till’s death and the acquittal of his murders galvanized African American communities around the country to recommit themselves to civil rights advocacy. Beginning in 2008, the Emmett Till Memorial Commission erected nine historical markers across Tallahatchie County to remember Till, but the signs have been stolen, vandalized, or thrown in the river. The 317 bullet punctures in the marker are a reminder that the racism that caused Till’s death persists today.
In July 2023, the decades-long activism of Mamie Till-Mobley, members of the Till family, and Tallahatchie County citizens resulted in the establishment of the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument which includes the site along the Tallahatchie River where the defaced marker once stood.
The Reckoning with Remembrance exhibit was co-curated by the National Museum of American History and the Emmett Till Interpretive Center in Sumner, Mississippi.
Reckoning with Remembrance: History, Injustice, and the Murder of Emmett Till became a part of the African American Civil Rights Network in 2024.
The African American Civil Rights Network recognizes the African American Civil Rights Movement in the United States and the sacrifices made by those who fought against discrimination and segregation. Created by the African American Civil Rights Act of 2017, and coordinated by the National Park Service, the Network tells the stories of the people, places, and events of the U.S. African American Civil Rights Movement through a collection of public and private resources to include properties, facilities, and programs.
Reckoning with Remembrance: History, Injustice, and the Murder of Emmett Till was a one-object exhibition of a defaced historic marker that stood at the site where Emmett Till’s body was recovered from the Tallahatchie River in Mississippi. The exhibit shared Till’s legacy with a focus on the local Mississippi story. It was on display at the Smithsonian Institute’s National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. from April to September 2024.
On August 28, 1955, during a visit to stay with his great-uncle in Mississippi, 14-year-old Emmett Till, of Chicago, Illinois was brutally lynched. When his mutilated body was recovered from the Tallahatchie River, his mother insisted on an open-casket funeral in Chicago. Till’s death and the acquittal of his murders galvanized African American communities around the country to recommit themselves to civil rights advocacy. Beginning in 2008, the Emmett Till Memorial Commission erected nine historical markers across Tallahatchie County to remember Till, but the signs have been stolen, vandalized, or thrown in the river. The 317 bullet punctures in the marker are a reminder that the racism that caused Till’s death persists today.
In July 2023, the decades-long activism of Mamie Till-Mobley, members of the Till family, and Tallahatchie County citizens resulted in the establishment of the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument which includes the site along the Tallahatchie River where the defaced marker once stood.
The Reckoning with Remembrance exhibit was co-curated by the National Museum of American History and the Emmett Till Interpretive Center in Sumner, Mississippi.
Reckoning with Remembrance: History, Injustice, and the Murder of Emmett Till became a part of the African American Civil Rights Network in 2024.
The African American Civil Rights Network recognizes the African American Civil Rights Movement in the United States and the sacrifices made by those who fought against discrimination and segregation. Created by the African American Civil Rights Act of 2017, and coordinated by the National Park Service, the Network tells the stories of the people, places, and events of the U.S. African American Civil Rights Movement through a collection of public and private resources to include properties, facilities, and programs.