SUMNER — The Emmett Till Interpretive Center (ETIC) invites the public to join them for a virtual panel discussion on Thursday, July 29, about what should have been Emmett Till's 80th birthday and their work with the Till family to create an Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Historic Park (tillnationalpark.org) in Chicago and the Mississippi Delta.
The virtual event will take place at 12 p.m. Central Standard Time via Zoom webinar. To attend for free, register at tinyurl.com/till80th.
Sunday, July 25, would have been Emmett Till’s 80th birthday, had he not been murdered in 1955 at the age of 14 in Money.
The brutal murder of Till shocked the nation, and his mother's brave choice to hold an open casket service, to “let the world see what I've seen,” helped spark the American civil rights movement.
Today, the Till family in Chicago, the ETIC Center in Sumner, and the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund are working together to preserve, restore and interpret important sites associated with the life and murder of Emmett Till and the miscarriage of justice that followed.
The virtual panel is cosponsored with the National Trust for Historic Preservation and will feature the following:
» Dr. Marvel Parker, project director for the Roberts Temple Restoration Initiative and wife of Emmett Till’s cousin Rev. Wheeler Parker Jr.
» Christopher D’Angelo Benson, co-author with Mamie Till-Mobley of "Death of Innocence: The Story of a Hate Crime that Changed America"
» Dr. Dave Tell, author of "Remembering Emmett Till"
» Benjamin Saulsberry, public engagement and museum education director of the ETIC.
The panel will be moderated by Tiffany Tolbert, associate director of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
“The Emmett Till Interpretive Center believes that being a better society requires us to learn and acknowledge how we arrived at our current station,” said Saulsberry. “Such a thing calls for us to take time and collectively pause, reflect, discuss, and honor the lives of those that have impacted us as individuals and as a nation. The life of Emmett Till is one such life and accordingly, we believe that the creation of a National Park serves as an ongoing effort in remembering, honoring, and sharing this narrative with the world as we work towards creating a more equitous society.”
