WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Tuesday established a new national monument honoring Emmett Till and his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley.
“At a time where there are those who seek to ban books, bury history, we’re making it clear, crystal, crystal clear,” the president said. “We should know about our country. We should know everything: the good, the bad, the truth, who we are as a nation.”
The murder of Till, who was killed by white men while visiting relatives in the Mississippi Delta in August 1955, became a key moment in the Civil Rights Movement, especially after an all-white jury acquitted the men. (They eventually admitted their guilt after they were no longer in legal jeopardy.)
The monument will be located at three sites, including the Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ in Till’s hometown of Chicago. That was venue for the widely-attended open-casket funeral for Till following the lynching, over objections of authorities in Mississippi.
“The reason the world saw what Mrs. Till-Mobley saw was because another hero in this story, the Black press,” Biden said. “Jet magazine, the Chicago Defender and other newspapers and radio announcers who told the story were unflinching.”
The other two sites, both in Mississippi, include the location where Till’s body was discovered and the courthouse in Sumner, Miss., where the trial took place.
The White House has sought to contrast the president’s treatment of key moments in the history of the Civil Rights Movement with those of Republicans, including officials in Florida where GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis is running for president.