Black History Month Tribute: Emmett Till’s Childhood Home Is Now An Official Chicago Landmark
Nearly 66 years since the brutal lynching of 14-year-old Emmett Till, his childhood home will be an official landmark.
According to a press release from the City of Chicago, Till’s home in the Woodlawn area, which has a 2,400-square-foot structure and was constructed in 1895 is now a landmark. Mamie Till-Mobley, his mother, lived in the home until 1962.
In August of 1955, 21-year-old Carolyn Bryant falsely accused 14-year-old Emmett Till of whistling at her in a store (he reportedly had a lisp and was unable to whistle.) Till, who was visiting from Chicago, was in Mississippi for the summer spending time with family. Within hours, he was kidnapped from his uncle’s home. The child was tortured, mutilated and thrown into the Tallahatchie River. His naked body was weighed down with a fan blade.
Carolyn’s husband, Roy Bryant and her brother-in-law J.W. Milam, the terrorists who lynched Till, were found not guilty by an all-white jury.
In the 2017 book The Blood of Emmett Till by Timothy Tyson, Carolyn Bryant admitted to lying and claimed that she actually didn’t remember what happened that day in the store.
Bryant is still alive today, living in Mississippi at 87 years old. Emmett Till would be 80 years old today if it wasn’t for Carolyn Bryant’s deadly lie.
The 66th anniversary of his death is August 28.
Mamie Till-Mobley became an activist after her son’s death. She passed away at 81 years old in 2003.
