Family of Emmett Till recall his legacy on 50th anniversary of his death

The 14-year-old Chicago teen whose 1955 murder forced the nation to look at the horror of racism and ignited the Civil Rights Movement was recently remembered by family in Chicago on the 50th anniversary of his death.

Calling it A Token of Reflections and Remembrance, family members gathered at the final resting place of Till to lay wreaths at his grave site at the Chicago Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, IL.

"Thank you for having the bravery. Thank you for bearing the prejudices of our world. Thank you for your courage all these 50 years," said Deborah Watts, Till's cousin and founder-president of the Emmett Till Legacy Foundation, as she led the tribute. "We will move forward with hope and we will move forward in your spirit."

Till was visiting relatives in Mississippi when he was kidnapped from his uncle's house in Money, MS. The teen was savagely beaten beyond recognition and murdered for allegedly whistling at a White woman.

His bloated, disfigured body was found in the Tallahatchie River several days later. His mother, Mamie Till Mobley, insisted on a public viewing of the body.

Funeral photographs of Till were shown nationally in JET Magazine. Black America was so devastated and angered by what they saw that Till's death is credited with galvanizing the Civil Rights Movement.

Till Mobley, who died in 2003, and her husband, Gennie Mobley, Jr., who died in 2000, are also buried at Burr Oak Cemetery.

The ceremonial placing of the wreaths began at the private mausoleum of Till Mobley. There, Watts led a tribute and read a proclamation by Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, naming August 28 Mamie Till Mobley and Emmett Till Day.

Family members sang Thank You Lord and O Freedom as the foot procession moved to Till's grave site.

During the tribute, Alvin Sykes, president of the Emmett Till Justice Campaign, read a letter from Missouri Sen. James M. Talent, who, along with Connecticut Sen. Christopher Dodd, are introducing a bill to establish a special section within the Department of Justice to investigate and prosecute Civil Rights-era murders like Till's case. The idea for the task force came from Sykes.

The day culminated with the renaming of the 71st Street Dan Ryan Bridge to the Emmett Till Memorial Bridge after Gov. Blagojevich handed down an executive order. A human chain of 150 people stretched across the bridge to represent a stand of unity. That event was organized by the Emmett Till Commemoration Initiative.

In June Till's body was exhumed from Burr Oak as part of an ongoing federal investigation of his death. DNA testing recently confirmed the identity of the body is that of Till.

The family never thought otherwise.

"A mother knows her child," said Ollie Gordon, cousin and Till Mobley's goddaughter who is a founding member of the Emmett Till Legacy Foundation. "We needed to exhume Emmett to say to the state of Mississippi that this is him. Now we can get on with the business of getting justice."

The Sept. 19 issue of JET will include an overview of the Till case's impact on the nation.