Sept. 23, 1955 marked the end of a trial where an all-white jury acquitted two white men, J.W. Milam and Roy Bryant, of the murder of then 14-year-old African American Emmett Louis “Bobo” Till (July 25, 1941 – August 28, 1955) for allegedly whistling at Bryant’s wife, a store clerk.
Fifty-six years later, Saturday, Sept. 24, 2011, the town of Glendora, Miss., where Till – a Chicago native, was “brutally” beaten before being found floting in a river, held a grand re-opening of the Emmett Till Historic Intrepid Center (ETHIC). The center originally opened in 2005.
The event, drew a people from around Mississippi and other states including North Carolina, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, New Jersey, and Alabama.
The celebration included a prayer by Dr. G.A. Johnson; a solo by local attorney Renetha Frieson, reflections by The Honorable Judge Margaret Carey-McCray; a resolution from the Glendora Board of Aldermen read by youth LaCristal Powell; a crowd-pleasing performance by The Glendora Praise Team (a youth group), and letters read from U.S. Congressmen John Lewis and Bennie Thompson as well as one from the Mamie Till Mobley Foundation in Illinois. Mamie Till Mobley was Till’s mother.
“Today, on behalf of the citizens of Glendora, we want to welcome you to help us initiate the healing,” said Mayor Johnny B. Thomas. “We think it is rightfully so that the healing should start here because 56 years ago, [the] premeditation started here, and we feel that it is Glendora’s place in history to begin the healing – 56 years late.”
State Senator David Jordan (D-Greenwood), one of several dignitaries addressing the crowd, applauded Glendora’s efforts toward healing. However, he stressed: “Healing does not take place unless all the infection is moved out of the sore.”
He pointed out that in 2011, his house had been shot into, and in 2011, in Jackson, Miss., a man was run over and killed because he was black. “These things did not happened in 1955; they happened in 2011,” Jordan said.
“The Emmett Till trial was as hedious as the murder,” said Jordan, who with three fellow college students attended the trial in Sumner, Miss. “It was the worst in the history of this country, and it is up to us to see that justice is done. It hasn’t been done.”
Judge Carey-McCray told The Mississippi Link that the event was “tremendously significant.” “This community is gifting all of us – the world – with this place of acknowledgement, with this place of healing, with this place that tells all of us that we need to hallow these grounds and move forward,” she said. Carey-McCray is a judge for the Fourth Judicial District of Mississippi. The Fourth District serves Leflore, Sunflower and Washington counties.
The Till center is located on the grounds of the old Glendora cotton gin.
According to a 1956 report in Look magazine, Bryant and Milam later admitted that they used a 70 pound fan from a cotton gin to weight down Till’s body after they shot him and then dumped him in the Tallahatchie River. The gin was located near Milam’s house where it is reported that one of the beatings took place in a shed.
At Saturday’s event a historic marker where Milam’s house once stood could be seen near the center.
“Everybody was touched by the tour of the museum,” Temita S. Davis, the Development Specialist, who was secured to spreadhead the project, which included interior upgrades and “full renovations” to the structure. Davis also served as the program guide for the grand re-opening.
She manages an Atlanta-based company called Black Bayou Cultural Heritage Management Services which helps such communities as Glendora to preserve their heritage through community development.
She pointed out that she, the mayor and the development team were all dressed in black and white as a symbolism of blacks and whites coming together, and the orange ribbon in which they adorned represented the healing process.
Thomas expressed his gratitude to a myriad sponsors and to those who aided them in making Saturday’s event a reality.
A reception was provided by Sonny Boy B&B Catering and live entertainment by local artist Narvel Echols and his band.
ETHIC is a project of The Town of Glendora and the Glendora Economic and Community Development Corporation. It’s recent renovations were funded through a $400,000 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services and a grant for USDA.
Its mission is “to provide a penetrable, thought-provoking and educational experience; to preserve and promote the historical and cultural heritage of the Town of Glendora, Tallahatchie County and the State of Mississippi in the continued struggle for civil and human rights.”
For more information about the Emmett Till Historic Intrepid Center, write to P.O. Box 90, Glendora, MS 38928 or email: glendora1900@yahoo.com; or log on to: www.glendorams.com The telephone number is (662) 375-9304.
(See highlights of the grand re-opening on page 4.)
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