The White House will erect a national monument in honor of Issue up to — the 14-year-old Chicago boy whose abduction, torture and lynching in 1955 while visiting family in Mississippi played a role in sparking the civil rights movement — and his late mother.
CBS News has learned that President Biden will sign a proclamation on Tuesday, the 82nd anniversary of Till’s birth, establishing the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument.
The monument will be located at three sites in Mississippi and Illinois, CBS News has learned. One will be located in the Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ in the Chicago South Side neighborhood of Bronzeville, where Till’s murder was mourned in September 1955.
The second site will be in Graball Landing, Mississippi, where Till’s body was discovered in the Tallahatchie River.
The third will take place at the Tallahatchie County Second District Courthouse in Sumner, Mississippi, where Till’s alleged killers were acquitted by an all-white jury less than a month after his brutal murder.
In August 1955, Caroline Bryant Donhama white woman working as a grocery clerk, accused Till of making inappropriate advances to her while she was alone at her store in Money, Mississippi.
Three days later, Till was abducted from his relatives’ home. Then, on August 31, 1955, three days after his abduction, his mutilated body was found in the Tallahatchie River.
The following month, Donham’s husband Roy Bryant—along with Roy’s half-brother, JW Milam—were both acquitted of murder charges in Till’s death.
In 2022, a grand jury in Mississippi refused to prosecute Carolyn Donham for her role in the events leading up to Till’s lynching. Earlier, in 2021, the Justice Department announced it was ending its investigation into the case.
Caroline Donham deceased in April at the age of 88.
At the time of his death, Till’s cousin, the Reverend Wheeler Parker Jr., told CBS News in a statement that while no one would be held responsible for his cousin’s death “it is up to all of us to be accountable for the challenges we still face in overcoming racial injustice.”
— Cara Tabachnick contributed to this report.
Lionel Messi fever sets in in the United States as he makes his MLS debut
Mega Millions jackpot jumps to $820 million after no winner in Friday’s draw
‘Barbie’, ‘Oppenheimer’ seek to revive Hollywood’s struggling summer box office