AP Breakthrough Entertainer: Danielle Deadwyler goes all in
December 16, 2022 GMTNEW YORK (AP) — Just the idea of playing Mamie Till-Mobley, the mother of Emmett Till, was enough to make Danielle Deadwyler pause to consider the toll such a role might take.
“You go: What’s going to happen to me?” Deadwyler says.
Emmett Till movie shown in Black town pivotal to the story
October 28, 2022 GMTMOUND BAYOU, Miss. (AP) — The tiny, all-Black town of Mound Bayou became a safe haven for Emmett Till's mother as she traveled to Mississippi to testify in the murder trial of two white men who lynched her son in 1955.
Author of Emmett Till book gave FBI interview recordings
July 13, 2018 GMTBIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Weeks after he published a book about the brutal slaying of Emmett Till, a North Carolina author received a call from FBI agents asking about his interview with a key witness who acknowledged lying about her interactions with the black teen...
Emmett Till images have multigenerational impact on artists
October 28, 2022 GMTDevin Allen admits that he occasionally behaved like a knucklehead, growing up in Baltimore. But he was not so irreverent as a tenth grader that he could see an image of Emmett Till’s open casket and not find it arresting.
‘Change has come’: Mississippi unveils Emmett Till statue
October 22, 2022 GMTGREENWOOD, Miss. (AP) — Hundreds of people applauded — and some wiped away tears — as a Mississippi community unveiled a larger-than-life statue of Emmett Till on Friday, not far from where white men kidnapped and killed the Black teenager over accusations he had flirted with a white woman in a country store.
Mamie Till depiction seen as tribute to Black female leaders
October 15, 2022 GMTNEW YORK (AP) — Gwen Carr sat up straight in her seat as she heard lines of dialogue delivered by the actor portraying Mamie Till-Mobley, the mother of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Black boy whose lynching in Mississippi in 1955 catalyzed the U.S.
Whoopi Goldberg esperó mucho por “Till”
October 13, 2022 GMTLOS ANGELES (AP) — Cuando Whoopi Goldberg fue invitada a ayudar a producir un proyecto sobre Emmett Till, la actriz pensaba que sabía todo sobre el secuestro y linchamiento de este adolescente negro en 1955, hasta que conoció las historias no reveladas sobre cómo su madre manejó las horribles consecuencias.
For Whoopi Goldberg, ‘Till’ release comes after long wait
October 12, 2022 GMTLOS ANGELES (AP) — When Whoopi Goldberg was invited to help produce an Emmett Till project, the actor thought she knew everything about the Black teenager’s 1955 kidnapping and lynching — until she learned the untold stories about how his mother handled the horrific aftermath.
Review: ‘Till’ grippingly reorients an American tragedy
October 10, 2022 GMTAlmost by default, filmmakers typically take a wide lens to historical moments like the 1955 lynching of 14-year-old Emmett Till.
Prosecutor who worked on 1 renewal of Emmett Till case dies
September 26, 2022 GMTGREENWOOD, Miss. (AP) — Funeral services were held Monday for the Mississippi prosecutor who worked on one of the renewed investigations into the 1955 lynching of Black teenager Emmett Till, a killing that galvanized the civil rights movement after his mother insisted on an open-casket funeral so people could see her son's mutilated body.
Today in History: September 23, Nixon’s “Checkers” speech
September 23, 2022 GMTToday in History
Today is Friday, Sept. 23, the 266th day of 2022. There are 99 days left in the year.
Today in History: August 28, King’s “I Have a Dream” speech
August 28, 2022 GMTToday in History
Today is Sunday, Aug. 28, the 240th day of 2022. There are 125 days left in the year.
Troubling questions unresolved in latest end to Till case
August 13, 2022 GMTBy her own telling, Mississippi authorities provided Carolyn Bryant Donham with preferential treatment rather than prosecution after her encounter with Emmett Till led to the lynching of the Black teenager in the summer of 1955.
Grand jury declines to indict woman in Emmett Till killing
August 10, 2022 GMTJACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A Mississippi grand jury has declined to indict the white woman whose accusation set off the lynching of Black teenager Emmett Till nearly 70 years ago, most likely closing the case that shocked a nation and galvanized the modern civil rights movement.
Emmett Till’s house, Black sites to get landmarks funds
July 19, 2022 GMTCHICAGO (AP) — Emmett Till left his mother's house on Chicago's South Side in 1955 to visit relatives in Mississippi, where the Black teenager was abducted and brutally slain for reportedly whistling at a white woman.
Mississippi AG: No prosecution plan in Emmett Till lynching
July 15, 2022 GMTJACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi's top legal official has no plan to prosecute the white woman whose accusation set off the lynching of Black teenager Emmett Till nearly 70 years ago, an aide said Friday following revelations about an unserved arrest warrant and a newly revealed memoir by the woman.
Emmett Till accuser, in memoir, denies wanting teen killed
July 15, 2022 GMTDURHAM, N.C. (AP) — The white woman who accused Black teenager Emmett Till of making improper advances before he was lynched in Mississippi in 1955 says she neither identified him to the killers nor wanted him murdered.
1955 warrant in Emmett Till case found, family seeks arrest
June 29, 2022 GMTJACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A team searching a Mississippi courthouse basement for evidence about the lynching of Black teenager Emmett Till has found the unserved warrant charging a white woman in his 1955 kidnapping, and relatives of the victim want authorities to finally arrest her nearly 70 years later.
Kentucky Democrat wears noose in new ad attacking Rand Paul
June 2, 2022 GMTLOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky Democrat Charles Booker appears on camera with a noose around his neck to condemn Republican U.S. Sen. Rand Paul for blocking anti-lynching legislation two years ago — a personally searing ad for a trailblazing Black candidate who says some of his own ancestors were lynched.
Till relatives seek accuser’s prosecution in 1955 kidnapping
April 22, 2022 GMTStymied in their calls for a renewed investigation into the killing of Emmett Till, relatives and activists are advocating another possible path toward accountability in Mississippi: They want authorities to launch a kidnapping prosecution against the woman who set off the lynching by accusing the Black Chicago teen of improper advances in 1955.
Biden signs bill making lynching a federal hate crime
March 29, 2022 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — Presidents typically say a few words before they turn legislation into law. But Joe Biden flipped the script Tuesday when it came time to put his signature on the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act.
EXPLAINER: What’s behind the new federal anti-lynching law?
March 29, 2022 GMTPresident Joe Biden on Tuesday signed into law the first bill that specifies lynching as a federal hate crime.
EXPLAINER: What’s behind federal anti-lynching legislation?
March 15, 2022 GMTPresident Joe Biden is expected to sign into law the first bill that specifies lynching as a federal hate crime. The Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act, which Congress passed on March 7, enables the prosecution of crimes as lynchings if they are done during a hate crime in which the victim is injured or slain.
WVa lawmakers OK bill barring ‘brainwashing’ race teaching
March 12, 2022 GMTCHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — West Virginia lawmakers advanced legislation on Friday that would restrict the way public school teachers can talk about race, a bill one Republican delegate said is meant to protect kids from “brainwashing.”
Emmett Till relatives seek renewed probe of ’55 lynching
March 12, 2022 GMTJACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Relatives of Emmett Till joined with supporters Friday in asking authorities to reverse their decision to close an investigation of the Black teenager's 1955 lynching and instead prosecute a white woman at the center of the case from the very beginning.
Congress passes Emmett Till bill to make lynching hate crime
March 8, 2022 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — Congress gave final approval Monday to legislation that for the first time would make lynching a federal hate crime in the U.S., sending the bill to President Joe Biden to sign into law.
Mississippi county OKs contracts for Emmett Till statue
March 1, 2022 GMTGREENWOOD, Miss. (AP) — A Mississippi county has approved contracts for a sculptor to make and install a bronze statue of Emmett Till, the Black teenager whose 1955 lynching became a catalyst for the civil rights movement.
Trayvon Martin 10th anniversary: A look at the players
February 24, 2022 GMTORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Trayvon Martin was visiting his father in Sanford, Florida, when the 17-year-old Black teen was fatally shot Feb. 26, 2012, during a confrontation with George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer.
Interior secretary tours civil rights sites in Mississippi
February 16, 2022 GMTJACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Interior Secretary Deb Haaland toured Mississippi civil rights sites Tuesday, seeing the crumbling rural store that's part of the history of the 1955 lynching of Black teenager Emmett Till and touring the home where state NAACP leader Medgar Evers was assassinated in 1963.
Senate passes bill to honor Emmett Till and his mother
January 12, 2022 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has passed a bill to award the Congressional Gold Medal posthumously to Emmett Till, the Chicago teenager murdered by white supremacists in the 1950s, and his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, who insisted on an open casket funeral to demonstrate the brutality of his killing.
Details of Emmett Till killing still a mystery as probe ends
December 12, 2021 GMTBIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — The investigation into the lynching of Black teenager Emmett Till nearly 70 years ago ended as it began, with a mystery that might never be solved. All these decades later, it's still not even clear whether the gruesome homicide was the work of a pair of racist brutes or a larger group of conspirators.
Justice Dept. still probing civil rights era police killings
December 8, 2021 GMTBIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — The Justice Department’s decision to close its investigation of Emmett Till’s slaying all but ended the possibility of new charges in the teen’s death 66 years ago, yet agents are still probing as many as 20 other civil rights cold cases, including the police killings of 13 Black men in three Southern states decades ago.
Emmett Till investigation closed by feds; no new charges
December 7, 2021 GMTJACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department said Monday it is ending its investigation into the 1955 lynching of Emmett Till, the Black teenager from Chicago who was abducted, tortured and killed after witnesses said he whistled at a white woman in Mississippi.
Today in History
September 23, 2021 GMTToday in History
Today is Thursday, Sept. 23, the 266th day of 2021. There are 99 days left in the year.
Emmett Till marker in Mississippi toppled but not vandalized
September 3, 2021 GMTJACKSON, Miss. (AP) — An Emmett Till historical marker in the Mississippi Delta will be repaired or replaced after it was knocked off the pole that supports it, says the president of an advertising agency that made the sign.
Today in History
August 28, 2021 GMTToday in History
Today is Saturday, Aug. 28, the 240th day of 2021. There are 125 days left in the year.
What follows Confederate statues? 1 Mississippi city’s fight
August 8, 2021 GMTGREENWOOD, Miss. (AP) — For more than a century, one of Mississippi's largest and most elaborate Confederate monuments has looked out over the lawn at the courthouse in the center of Greenwood, a Black-majority city with a history of civil rights protests and clashes.
Civil rights museums open for free on Emmett Till’s birthday
July 24, 2021 GMTJACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Two Mississippi civil rights museums are marking what would have been the 80th birthday of Emmett Till on Sunday by letting people in for free.
The Mississippi Civil Rights Museum and Museum of Mississippi History in Jackson are also having guided tours from noon to 3 p.m.
$3 million in grants going to Black history sites, groups
July 15, 2021 GMTBIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — A fund formed in response to the deadly racial violence four years ago in Charlottesville, Virginia, said Thursday it will award $3 million in grants to more than three dozen groups and sites nationwide to help preserve landmarks linked to Black history.
Report: Till slaying still being investigated 65 years later
July 9, 2021 GMTThe Justice Department is continuing its investigation into the killing of Emmett Till, the Black teenager whose slaying 65 years ago in Mississippi sparked outrage and illustrated the brutality of racism in the segregated South.
ABC’s new ‘Women of the Movement’ about Emmett Till’s mother
May 18, 2021 GMTNEW YORK (AP) — ABC will air a short-run series “Women of the Movement” next season about Mamie Till-Mobley, whose son Emmett Till became a symbol of the civil rights movement after he was lynched in Mississippi in 1955.
George Floyd and Emmett Till families see parallels in loss
April 21, 2021 GMTCHICAGO (AP) — A Black Chicago teen’s lynching in 1955 galvanized the civil rights movement. A Black Minneapolis man’s killing by police last year propelled a worldwide call for racial justice and ending police brutality...
Chicago grants Emmett Till’s South Side home landmark status
January 28, 2021 GMTCHICAGO (AP) — The Chicago home of Emmett Till, the Black teenager whose 1955 lynching galvanized the civil rights movement when his mother insisted his mutilated body be displayed in an open casket, has been granted landmark status...
Calls for independent investigation of Black teen’s death
November 12, 2020 GMTNEW ORLEANS (AP) — Activists and the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana are calling for an independent investigation into the death of a Black 15-year-old whose body was found several days after he was reported missing...
Isabel Wilkerson’s ‘Caste’ on National Book Awards longlist
September 17, 2020 GMTNEW YORK (AP) — Isabel Wilkerson's “Caste,” her acclaimed study of racism in the United States, is among 10 nominees on the National Book Award longlist for nonfiction...
Senators seek highest civilian honor for Till and his mother
September 16, 2020 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — Congress should give the nation’s highest civilian honor posthumously to Emmett Till and his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, a Republican and a Democratic senator said Wednesday...
At D.C. march, families decry ‘two systems of justice’
August 29, 2020 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — Standing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr...
Events honor Emmett Till, 65 years after his killing
August 28, 2020 GMTJACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Panel discussions, a march for justice and other events are being held in Mississippi to remember Emmett Till...
House makes lynching a federal crime, 65 years after Till
February 26, 2020 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — Sixty-five years after 14-year-old Emmett Till was lynched in Mississippi, the House has approved legislation designating lynching as a hate crime under federal law...
Till memorial, others taking security steps amid vandalism
November 23, 2019 GMTA commission behind a memorial for teenage lynching victim Emmett Till in Mississippi was forced to get a new sign with a glass bulletproof front and add cameras and alarms after previous markers were riddled with bullet holes...
Trump lynching claim renews pain for kin of actual victims
October 23, 2019 GMTMONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Willie Edwards Jr., a black truck driver, was killed by Ku Klux Klansmen who forced him to jump off a bridge in Alabama in 1957...
Emmett Till cousin on inquiry: ‘What is the holdup?’
September 25, 2019 GMTBIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — The government is still investigating the brutal slaying of Emmett Till, a black teenager whose death helped spur the civil rights movement more than 60 years ago...