In the wake of the 64th anniversary of Emmett Till’s death and in light of continued desecration of signs memorializing him, advocates are hoping Till’s legacy can better be remembered through a mobile app.
In August, the Emmett Till Memory Project went live. The app is available for free to download on Apple’s App Store or Google Play.
Dr. Dave Tell, a professor in the communications department at the University of Kansas, collaborated on the content of the app with Patrick Weems, executive director of the Emmett Till Interpretive Center in Sumner; Davis Houck, a professor at Florida State University; and Pablo Correa, a visiting assistant professor at Willamette University.
During his research for the app, Tell wrote a book, “Remembering Emmett Till,” which was released earlier this summer.
On Aug. 28, 1955, Till, a 14-year-old African American boy from Chicago, was killed after he whistled at a white woman at Bryant’s Grocery and Meat Market in Money.
Roy Bryant, the woman’s husband, and his half-brother, J.W. Milam, abducted Till from his uncle’s home late at night, tortured and shot him and then dumped his body into the Tallahatchie River.
Till’s murderers confessed in a magazine interview after they were found not guilty by an all-white jury. Till’s mother held an open-casket funeral for her son in Chicago. The image of his disfigured, bludgeoned face helped spur the civil rights movement.
The app currently has 17 sites across the Delta that pertain to Till’s legacy. They include the Tallahatchie County Courthouse in Sumner, the location of Bryant’s Grocery and Black Bayou Bridge.
Each location includes a detailed description of how the site pertains to Till, images of the location and GPS directions to other locations.
With some sites, such as the Sumner courthouse, archival documents are included.
The app was developed by CurateScape, a mobile app framework system, and funded by a $16,000 grant from the University of Kansas.
Tell said there are three ways for the app to expand its content. The first is to add more sites, particularly in the Chicago area, where Till was from. Tell said that he and Weems will go to Chicago in September to visit Till’s family to get input on additional sites.
Secondly, Tell said archival documents will be added to more sites.
The third area of growth will be to incorporate historical photographs with each site. Very few historical photographs have been used in the app, Tell said, explaining that they need to be purchased.
Growth will be funded by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. IMLS will match up to $240,000 in funds that the Emmett Till Memory Project is able to raise, Tell said. The IMLS grant will allow the team to buy more historical photographs.
Tell said the story of Emmett Till is still worth remembering.
“Racial violence is on the forefront of the American imagination right now,” he said. He cited incidents such as the August 2014 shooting of Michael Brown by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, and the June 2015 Charleston church shooting in South Carolina.
The Till story has the power to remind people how violent stories can be “if we don’t actively pursue reconciliation,” Tell said.
In addition, signs for Till have been repeatedly vandalized, so a mobile app is another way to remember Till that’s less prone to tampering, Tell said.
In July, an image emerged of three University of Mississippi students toting guns in front of a bullet-ridden Emmett Till memorial sign in Tallahatchie County, prompting outcry.
One suggestion to avoid continued vandalism of Till memorabilia was to create the app, Tell said.
“I’m proud that it’s out and available. I’m proud that it’s free. I’m proud that people will be able to use it,” he said.
IN THE PHOTO: Emmett Till
