GLENDORA – The small town of Glendora, in Tallahatchie County, is hosting the grand re-opening of the newly designed Emmett Till Historic Intrepid Center (ETHIC) on Saturday, Sept. 24, at 10 a.m. Glendora’s mayor Johnny B. Thomas, said the opening of the center coincides with the day, 56 years ago, that an all-white jury found J.W. Milam and Roy Bryant not guilty of killing the 14-year teen from Chicago who allegedly whistled at Bryant’s wife while visiting Mississippi.
The theme of the museum’s re-opening is “The Healing Begins,” and Thomas said that it’s highly appropriate.
“This promotes the spirit of reconciliation between all communities and residents regardless of race, gender, age or geographic [location],” he said.
The center is located on Emmett Till Memorial Highway (U.S. Highway 49) just 25 miles north of Greenwood. The building was originally the Glendora Cotton Gil where the gin fan used to lynch Till was taken from by his murderers. Thomas said other locations key to Till’s murder – which launched the civil rights movement – will also be open to the public.
“Attendees at the grand re-opening will have an opportunity to tour the museum, the Black Bayou Bridge where Emmett’s body was discarded by his murderers, the Sonny Boy Williamson Bed and Breakfast, and the Emmett Till Memorial Park and Interpretive Nature Trail,” said Thomas.
The Emmett Till Historic Intrepid Center is a memorial museum and technology center that serves as the cornerstone of Glendora’s cultural tourism industry. Organizers said it exemplifies a unique blend of cultural heritage preservation, a commitment to life-long and continuing education, as well as the effective deployment of advanced technology in a small rural community.
The memorial museum will be housed on the lower level of the old cotton gin that has been converted to serve as a new souvenir and gift shop as well as a repository for artifacts, photos, oral histories and audio-visual archives reflecting the Town of Glendora’s association with the history of the Till kidnapping, brutal murder and infamous trial.
Thomas said the new arrangements at the historical center will also focus on the struggle for civil rights, the war against human wrongs in Glendora, the Mississippi Delta and the South.
The historical center and museum will also feature other exhibits including those of Glendora’s native son, bluesman and “King of the Harmonica” Sonny Boy Williamson.
The upper level of the museum will serve as the new home of Glendora‘s Adult and Continuing Education Training and Technology Center, as well as the central location of the new Glendora Broadband Communication Systems network.
Thomas said the historical center and other preservation efforts by the Glendora Economic and Community Development Corporation and their supporters remains a work in progress.
“This symbolizes the town’s aggressive campaign to preserve its historic legacies through active community involvement and through the promotion of cultural heritage tourism,” he said.
For more information or directions to the museum, please call (662) 375-9304 or e-mail glendora1900@yahoo.com.
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