SUMNER — The Emmett Till Memorial Commission (ETMC) of Tallahatchie County invites the public to a free Oct. 7 program featuring a ceremony, documentaries and reception at the restored Sumner courthouse and Emmett Till Interpretive Center (ETIC) to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Tallahatchie County apology to the Till family.
In 2007, members of the ETMC, which the Tallahatchie Board of Supervisors appointed, issued a formal apology to the Till family for the miscarriage of justice that took place here in 1955. Over 400 people came out to hear the biracial board read the apology. The Commission has continued from that day to work toward telling the truth, restoring the courthouse back to the way it looked in 1955 and opening the ETIC.
The ETMC was organized by the late Jerome G. Little, the first African-American president of the Tallahatchie County Board of Supervisors. His vision was to establish the ETIC in Sumner to tell the story of the Till tragedy and paint a way toward racial healing. Today, the center uses arts and storytelling to help process past pain and to imagine new futures for moving forward.
“The idea is to begin to reframe how people think about Emmett Till,” said director Patrick Weems. “When people think of Emmett Till, they just think about the tragedy. While we don’t want to forget Till’s death and the actions of his mother that led to the start of the civil rights movement, we also want to tell the story of our community journey toward racial healing.”
This summer, young people from Tallahatchie County created short photo-documentaries with the help of Barefoot Workshops and Florida State University with support by the Institute for Museum in Library Services. The young people will show their films Oct. 7 at 1:30 p.m. Wheeler Parker, Emmett Till’s cousin and eyewitness to the tragedy, will be on hand to talk about his experience and the importance of forgiveness.
Documentarian Pablo Correa and youth from the community will present a feature documentary telling the story of how the community broke the silence and took steps toward racial reconciliation. Then, a reception will be held at ETIC, where visitors can see a special exhibit of photos by area youth and from the Do Good Fund Collection (www.thedogoodfund.org), a public collection of contemporary photography from the American South.
