SUMNER — The Emmett Till Interpretive Center (ETIC) is partnering with We2Gether Creating Change, the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument, and the Racial Reconciliation Task Force of the Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi to conduct a third annual memorial service Aug. 31.
The event will help to mark the 69th anniversary of the kidnapping and murder of Till on the night of Aug. 28, 1955, from his great-uncle Mose Wright’s home near Money in Leflore County.
As part of next weekend’s event, the public is invited to a 10 a.m. ceremony at Graball Landing near Glendora, where the 14-year-old Till’s body is believed to have been pulled from the Tallahatchie River. Graball Landing is one of three sites comprising the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument.
At the conclusion of the Graball Landing ceremony, a car procession will venture to the barn near Drew, in Sunflower County, where the beating and murder of Till took place, for a commemoration service.
The event is scheduled to end with a community luncheon in downtown Drew, starting around noon.
In an e-newsletter, ETIC noted, “Plans are underway to hold a much larger event in the Mississippi Delta next year to acknowledge the 70th anniversary of the murder of Emmett Till and the impact it had on the civil rights movement.”
For more information, contact ETIC at 662-849-8142, drop an email to info@emmett-till.org, visit the organization’s website at www.emmett-till.org, or view their Facebook page at facebook.com/TillCenter.
Editor's note: This online version of the story differs from the Aug. 22, 2024, print edition version, which incorrectly stated that Emmett Till was 15 when he was killed.
