MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Editor's note: The video above is from December 2021.
It’s a must-see event Thursday night on ABC 24. The historical drama series, Women of the Movement, begins.
The first two episodes, filmed in Memphis and Ripley, Tennessee, focus on Mamie Till-Mobley, the mother of Emmett Till. The 14-year old boy was kidnapped and lynched in Mississippi after reportedly whistling at a white woman.
Once her son's body was returned to his native Chicago, Till-Mobley held an open casket funeral to show the world her son's brutalized body.
"She was a little bitty woman that was a powerhouse," said Faith Morris, chief marketing and external affairs officer for the National Civil Rights Museum, which held an early screening for the series. "Mamie Till-Mobley is a mother of Emmett Till and very few people know a lot about her, but they will through this series."
Till-Mobley's actions helped jumpstart the Civil Rights Movements. Her actions inspired other Civil Rights icons to begin their work including Rosa Parks.
Morris said that black women have always been a major part of the groundwork that moved the Civil Rights Movement forward. From the Montgomery Bus Boycott to the Greensboro Sit-ins, black women played a part in changing the nation.
"If you know anything about the Civil Rights Movement, women were always a part of it. Maybe not always in the forefront, but absolutely a very important part of what was going on, a lot of good work was done by women in the movement," Morris said.
Women of the Movement airs Thursday at 7 p.m. on ABC 24.