Exhibit on Emmett Till will come to The Children's Museum

Domenica Bongiovanni, Indianapolis Star
·2 min read
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

An exhibition on Emmett Till, the 14-year-old boy whose brutal 1955 murder helped catalyze the Civil Rights Movement, will come to The Children's Museum. "Emmett Till & Mamie Till-Mobley: Let the World See" will open Sept. 17 in Indianapolis.

The museum had a hand in creating it along with the Emmett Till & Mamie Till-Mobley Institute, the Emmett Till Interpretive Center and the Till family, according to a release from the museum Tuesday. While Emmett, who was Black, was visiting family in Money, Mississippi, he was kidnapped, beaten and killed by white men who accused the young boy of whistling at a white woman. They threw his body, weighted by a cotton gin fan, into the Tallahatchie River.

The boy's funeral in Chicago drew more than 100,000 people, and his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, had her son's casket remain open so that everyone could see what had been done to him.

“We are honored to work with this incredible team including Emmett’s family to elevate this important story and bring attention to widespread racism that continues today,” said Jennifer Pace Robinson, president and CEO of The Children’s Museum, in the release.

“Using important stories of real people from the past, we want to provide a safe space for families to have critical conversations so they can better understand the key conditions that create change today and give them a starting point in determining positive ways in which they can personally make a difference through collaborative learning and discussing problem solving together."

A faded photograph is attached to the headstone that marks the gravesite of Emmett Till in Burr Oak Cemetery on March 22, 2021 in Chicago, Illinois. Till's brutal murder in Money, Mississippi in the summer of 1955 and his mother's decision to hold an open-casket funeral to expose the brutality of the murder is credited with igniting the modern civil rights movement. The home in Chicago where Till lived with his mother recently gained Chicago landmark status and there are plans to turn the home into a museum and the church where his funeral was held is being considered for designation as a National Monument.

Among the artifacts will be a vandalized roadside plaque that marked where the boy's body might have been found and removed from the Tallahatchie River. It's the same sign that a group of University of Mississippi students posed in front of with rifles in 2019 for an Instagram photo, according to the museum. The Emmett Till Memorial Commission has installed signs throughout Tallahatchie County that marked sites where Emmett's murder took place, and they have been vandalized time and again over the years. The community has replaced them.

The exhibit is recommended for children ages 10 and older, and an adult should accompany those under 18, according to the museum. The exhibit will also travel to the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute in Alabama, Two Mississippi Museums in Mississippi, DuSable Museum of African American History in Illinois and the Atlanta History Center in Georgia. Learn more at childrensmuseum.org.

Looking for things to do? Our newsletter has the best concerts, art, shows and more — and the stories behind them

Contact IndyStar reporter Domenica Bongiovanni at 317-444-7339 or d.bongiovanni@indystar.com. Follow her on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter: @domenicareports.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Emmett Till exhibit coming to Children's Museum in Indianapolis