Emmett Till: Statue of lynched black teen to be unveiled in Mississippi town decades after his death | US News

A statue of Emmett Till, a black teenager that sparked civil rights protests in the United States in 1955, is being unveiled in a Mississippi town that houses a Confederate monument.

The 14-year-old boy was kidnapped from his uncle’s house in Monitown. Mississippiafter allegedly whistling at a white woman at a country store.

He was then beaten and shot.

His body was dumped in the Tallahachie River, pinned to the ground with a heavy fan, and found three days later.

Emmett’s mutilated body returned chicago There, his mother Mamie Till-Mobley insisted on a public funeral with an open coffin so the world could see the horrors suffered by her son.

After years of work by community officials, the 9-foot-tall bronze statue of the teenager will be unveiled Friday in Greenwood, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from the remains of the Village Store.

Located in the community’s Rail Spike Park, a short drive from an elaborate Confederate monument outside the Le Flor County Courthouse, the statue depicts a portrait of the living Emmett. He was wearing slacks, a dress shirt and a tie, with one hand on the brim of his hat.

“We just thank God that someone left his name there,” said Pastor Wheeler Parker Jr., the last living witness to the kidnapping of his cousin.

Democratic State Senator David Jordan of Greenwood received $150,000 in state funding for the project, and the Greenwood community, which is more than 70 percent populated, commissioned Utah Created by artist Matt Glenn.

Confederate monument outside Greenwood Courthouse.Image: Associated Press
picture:
Confederate monument outside Greenwood Courthouse.Image: Associated Press

Despite numerous federal investigations, no one has been convicted of Emmett’s lynching. reopen the case Just in 2018. The investigation concluded in 2021 without charges.

Mr Jordan said he hoped the statue would encourage tourists to visit Greenwood and learn more about its history: “Hopefully it brings us all together”.

This Emmett Till Anti-Lying Law Passed by Congress in 2020 – making lynching a federal hate crime.

A lynching is defined as the killing of a person by a group of people without trial for a crime, usually but not always by hanging.

A film called Teal, which depicts the brutal murder of the boy and his family’s quest for justice, is expected to hit theaters in January 2023.

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