Mamie Till

Mamie Elizabeth Carthan Till Bradley Mobley (November 23, 1921 - January 6, 2003) was the mother of Emmett Till, whose murder mobilized the civil rights movement.

Her son Emmett Till was murdered on August 28, 1955, at the age of 14, after being accused of interacting in some way with a white woman (the exact nature of the interaction is under debate). For her son's funeral, Till-Mobley insisted that the casket containing his body be left open, because, in her words, "I wanted the world to see what they did to my baby."[1]

Till graduated from Chicago Teacher's College in 1956, and obtained a master's degree in administration at Loyola University Chicago in 1976.[2]

She died of heart failure in 2003, aged 81; the same year, her autobiography (written with Christoper Benson), Death of Innocence: The Story of the Hate Crime that Changed America, was published.

References

  1. ^ Recollection by Joyce Ladner of conversation with Till's mother, in the context of a Brookings Institution panel discussion on the Civil Rights Movement.
  2. ^ "Mamie Till-Mobley; Civil Rights Figure (obituary)". Washington Post. January 8, 2003. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A25041-2003Jan7?language=printer. Retrieved 2009-05-25. 

External links