MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Lawmakers and the surviving family of Emmett Till are working to protect the historic sites at the center of the tragic murder that lit a fire of the Civil Rights Movement, helped by the tireless efforts of his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley.
A petition has been created to establish a series of historical sites under the U.S. National Park Service associated with the Till legacy in both Illinois and Mississippi.
“Having a National Park I think helps share this story," Benjamin Saulsberry, Emmett Till Interpretive Center Director, said.
In addition to the petition, bipartisan legislation has been introduced to take steps to protecting at least one location.
Mississippi senators Roger Wicker and Cindy Hyde-Smith joined Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth on a bill that calls for landmark status to be given to Chicago's Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ.
That's where Mamie Till-Mobley held the open casket funeral to show the brutality of her son's murder. The site would be preserved and managed by the U.S. National Park Service.
It's one step in a goal to create a greater National Park that would spread between both states at the center of the Till legacy.
"It’s one thing for me or any individual to share a story and share my thoughts, but it’s a whole another thing when people have the opportunity to actually be in the physical spaces of those stories," Saulsberry said.
The goal is to do the same with several locations in Mississippi such as the Tallahatchie County Courthouse, where the "trial of the century" took place. It also calls for preservation of the Garball Landing where Till's body was dumped and the site of Bryant's Grocery & Meat Market where Till crossed paths with Carolyn Bryant - the woman whose lies led to his murder.
“It’s important to be able to affirm and give light to very specific locations," Saulsberry said. “It speaks to the affirming of voices being heard, respected and cherished and how sharing these stories makes all of us better and informs all of us.
Rev. Wheeler Parker, Till's cousin, was in the grocery store with him that day. He's largely led the efforts to protect the associated sites with the help of several organizations.
The U.S. National Park Service is currently conducting a special resource study of the potential Mississippi sites that will be completed later this year.
Check out the petition here.
