Barn Where Emmett Till Was Killed Will Soon Be A Memorial
Barn Where Emmett Till Was Killed To Be Turned Into Memorial
The barn where Emmett Till was tortured and brutally murdered will be turned into a memorial after being purchased by The Emmett Till Interpretive Center.
According to AP, the Emmett Till Interpretive Center announced on Sunday that it purchased the Mississippi barn with the assistance of writer/producer Shonda Rhimes, who donated $1.5 million to the center. In an open letter announcing the purchase, the center said it plans to have the memorial open to the public ahead of the 75th anniversary of Emmett Till’s lynching.
“By the 75th anniversary of Emmett Till’s lynching in 2030, the barn will open as a part of a larger public memorial — a place of truth, creativity, and conscience. Visitors will come not to look at tragedy, but to confront their own role in the ongoing work of democracy,” the open letter reads. “We did not save this place to dwell in grief. We saved it so that truth could keep shaping us.”
Emmett Till was a 14-year-old boy who was visiting family in Mississippi during the summer of 1955 when he was accused of whistling at a white woman outside of a grocery store. On the evening of Aug. 28, 1995, Till was abducted from his great-uncle’s home. He was taken to the barn, where he was beaten, tortured, and shot. After being acquitted by an all-white jury, J.W. Milam and Roy Bryan admitted to killing Till.
Mamie Till-Mobley, Emmett Till’s mother, held an open casket funeral after Emmett’s body was returned to Chicago. That choice wound up being a pivotal moment in the Civil Rights Movement, as the image of the 14-year-old’s mutilated body spread nationwide, forcing the nation to reckon with the brutality of lynching in the South.
“We think that where the worst harms have happened, the most healing is possible,” Patrick Weems, executive director of The Emmett Till Interpretive Center, told AP. Weems added that he hopes opening the barn to the public will encourage reflection from visitors about the progress America has made since Emmett Till’s lynching. “Have we done enough? Is there justice yet? Has our society moved in the direction of human rights so that this sort of thing never happens?” Weems said.
Weems also noted that the Sunday the center purchased the farm marked the 104th birthday of Mamie Till-Mobley. She remained a staunch civil rights activist until she died in 2003.
The barn will be equipped with floodlights and security cameras and will be under 24-hour surveillance. Weems has called the measures precautionary, but recent history shows they are necessary. A historical marker erected where Emmett Till’s body was discovered has been vandalized several times over the last 17 years. In 2008, the marker was toppled and thrown into the river. In 2014, the marker was shot over 100 times and had to be replaced. After the marker was shot 38 times in 2018, a bulletproof replacement was installed. It is the only bulletproof historical marker in America.
But sure, racism is over in America.
SEE ALSO:
Gun Used In Emmett Till’s Lynching On Display In Civil Rights Museum
Emmett Till National Monument Could Lose Designation
Barn Where Emmett Till Was Killed To Be Turned Into Memorial was originally published on newsone.com
