Last month, Congress unanimously passed a bill to posthumously award the Congressional Gold Medal to Mamie and Emmett Till. S.450, the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley Congressional Gold Medal Act of 2021, was passed by the Senate unanimously in January 2022. The House version (H.R. 2252) of the bill was introduced by Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL), who also sponsored a bill to honor Mamie Till-Mobley with a commemorative postage stamp. "Emmett's lynching shaped my understanding of racism at an early age and deeply affected Black Americans of my generation and those that followed. Earlier this year, we acknowledged the tragedy of Emmett's lynching by making lynching a specific federal crime under the Anti-lynching Act. We are now honoring his mother for her courage and commitment, which deserves national recognition. Today's victory would not be possible without the Till Family and the Emmett Till Justice Campaign, whose work has led us to this moment," says Rush. The legislation is awaiting for President Joe Biden’s signature.
The bill was co-lead by Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.). Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Richard Burr (R-NC) served as Senate leads. The award comes months after President Joe Biden signed the Emmett Till Anti-lynching Act into law, making lynchings a federal hate crime. The anti-lynching bill failed in Congress over 200 times since 1900.
Recipients who have received the highest civilian honor include Jackie Robinson, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., Coretta Scott King, the Little Rock Nine, mathematicians Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, and the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, known as the "Six Triple Eight."
In 1955, Carolyn Bryant Donham, a white female clerk, accused Emmett Till of whistling and touching her inside Bryant's Grocery store in Greenwood, MS. Bryant's husband Roy and half-brother J.W. Milan kidnapped, murdered, and threw Till's body in the Tallahatchie River. On September 23, 1955, both were acquitted by an all-white male jury of the murder of Till. In a 1956 interview with Look magazine, Bryant and Milan confessed to killing Till.
The lynching of Till sparked the Civil Rights Movement. Mamie Till-Mobley turned the tragedy of her son into power. She insisted on an open casket at Roberts Temple Church of God, in Chicago, IL for the world to see what was done to her son. Till-Mobley spent her life as a social justice advocate working with children and fighting for justice for her son. Till-Mobley passed away on January 6, 2003, at the age of 81.
Relatives and activists have continued the call for justice for Emmett Till's death for decades. In 2022, an unserved 1955 warrant for Donham was found in the basement of a Mississippi courthouse. The Mississippi Attorney General refused to prosecute Donham.
Rev. Wheeler Parker, the last surviving witness that saw Emmett Till being kidnapped from his bedroom, says he is grateful for the recognition. "There was a time that there was no interest or recognition for my cousin. It's hard for me to see the attention it's getting and the turnaround. When Emmett was killed, it was, "He got what he deserved." I thank God things have turned for the better, and it shows how far we've come, but at the same time, how much work we still have to do. Emmett's death was not in vain." says Parker.
Parker will release his memoir "A Few Days Full of Trouble: Revelations on the Journey to Justice for My Cousin and Best Friend, Emmett Till,” on January 10, 2023.
The Congressional Gold Medal will be displayed near Till’s original casket at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.
Tammy Gibson is an author, re-enactor, and black history traveler. Find her on social media @sankofatravelher.