Remembering Emmett Till

[00:00:09.240] – Shanna

As part of the Civil Rghts Movement. Rosa Parks said that she was thinking about Emmett when she sat at the back of the bus, at the front of the bus and refused to get up, which I think is a part of history that we missed. We learned a lot about Rosa Parks, but it wasn’t even until I started really researching Emmett Till that I realized that she made the connection with Emma, that she was just tired. She was tired of how Blacks were being treated and that there was no justice and she was not going to move.

[00:00:38.010] – Tonya

Welcome. You’re listening to World Footprints. I’m Tonya Fitzpatrick.

[00:00:43.310] – Ian

And I’m Ian Fitzpatrick. You’ve just heard a clip from our interview with Shanna Martin, Director of Training and Professional Development at the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, who walked us through an exhibit about the brutal murder of Emmett Till and the courage of his mother, Mamie Till Mobley to let the world see his face.

[00:01:05.660] – Tonya

Emmett Till was just a 14 year old child when, in 1955, white supremacists in the Jim Crow South kidnapped, tortured, and murdered him. They tried to COVID it up. Emmett’s mother, Mamie, insisted that the world know what they did to her son. She bravely shared her child’s disfigured face and the story of his brutal murder with all who would listen. Her act fueled a movement that changed the nation.

[00:01:35.140] – Ian

Emmett Till and Mamie Till Mobley: Let the World See is a touring exhibit created in collaboration with the Emmett Till and Mamie Till Mobley Institute, the Emmett Till Interpretive Center, the Till family and the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. While the Black community is heralding the movie that has brought the story of Emmett Till to life, many still remember the picture of his disfigured face in his open coffin that Jet Magazine published.

[00:02:03.210] – Tonya

So how is it that an exhibit about this haunting and unspeakable event finds its way into a children’s museum?

[00:02:11.740] – Shanna

So this came about. Our current CEO and president actually became aware of the historical markers that were being placed in Mississippi that helped show where parts of Emmett story happened. Those historical signs are being vandalized. They were being shot up. They were being thrown in the river. She found out about those historical markers and wanted to know what was happening with them, what was being done with them, because we are an object based learning institution. So, long story short, it led to a conversation with the Emmett Till Interpretive Center in Mississippi, us obtaining one of the historical markers for our permanent collection, and then the other one will travel with the exhibit. And the conversation started and we ended with what I consider a very beautiful exhibit and an opportunity to really raise awareness to tell the story about Emmett Till and his mother.

[00:03:06.490] – Tonya

Can we go through?

[00:03:07.570] – Shanna

Sure.

[00:03:09.190] – Ian

The exhibit tells five key stories. Emmett’s personal story. How the brave actions of Emmett’s mom, Mamie Till Mobley, fueled the Civil Rights Movement. How a community and family have worked to keep Emmett’s memory alive. How the vandalized historical marker connects us to today. How we can commit to social justice in our own communities.

[00:03:32.810] – Tonya

Conversations about Emmett Till’s murder seemed to peak in 2022. The movie Till was released, a documentary about Emmett Till was produced, and now this traveling exhibit that launched in the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. So I asked Shanna if there was any significance to 2022 in the Till story.

[00:03:57.640] – Shanna

I don’t think on our end there was a specific time frame in mind. Again, all of this, I think, kind of came about organically and the timing just happened, that there were all of these other things happening as well. And so it is perfect timing that we’re able to bring this exhibit at the same time. But there’s also lots of other ways that Emmett story is being told so that more people have an opportunity, both from our youngest visitors all the way up to older people who don’t know and aren’t aware of Emmett’s story.

[00:04:28.270] – Tonya

Wow, I can’t imagine anyone who doesn’t know the story.

[00:04:32.040] – Shanna

You would be surprised. There are a lot of people who don’t know the story or didn’t know the story until we started talking about it or until we opened this exhibit. So the name of the exhibit is Emmett Till and Mamie Till Mobley: Let the World See. And this is the entry panel that just tells a little bit about what the exhibit is about and also has a warning so that families are aware that the exhibit contains some graphic information. It contains information about racially motivated violence. So they are aware and have an opportunity to choose whether or not they want to bring their children into the exhibit. And it is recommended for children that are aged ten and older. And then the rest of the exhibit really is a progression of Emmett’s story and so kind of walks families through how Emmett’s story came to be. So we start with his life in Chicago, normalizing him as a kid, he was 14 years old. He loved to ride his bike. He loved spending time with family. He was an only child, kind of the, you know, the apple of his mother’s eye and his grandmother’s.

[00:05:41.740] – Ian

Mamie warned Emmett that life in Mississippi’s Jim Crow South was very different from life in Chicago.

[00:05:48.460] – Shanna

And his mother was very much a, you know, she was worried and scared to send him to Mississippi. But in those times, we probably both have family that may have lived in the South at one time. And during the Great Migration, families moved from Mississippi up North. So there were a lot of Emmett’s family that was still in Mississippi. And so it was pretty common for family members living in the north to send their kids down or to go visit Mississippi in the summertime to spend time. So kind of like part of their summer vacation would be spent in Mississippi. And so that’s how Emmett was able to go visit his cousin, who was also his best friend. Wheeler Parker was going to visit for some time during the summer, and so Emmett convinced his mom to let him go.

[00:06:33.190] – Tonya

At the beginning of the exhibit, there’s a suitcase with a video depicting life in Mississippi and a reflection of train tracks on the floor representing Emmett’s train journey.

[00:06:44.940] – Shanna

This just talks a little bit about what life was like in Mississippi then. So a little bit of what life was like for Emmett in Chicago, but the transition to what life was like in Mississippi in the 1950s. So about the Jim Crow laws and about Emmett’s mother having conversations with him so that he would know what to expect to the extent that you can know what to expect, and sort of some guidance on how he should and should not behav