President Joe Biden Honors Emmett Till and His Mother with National Monument Spanning Two States

President Joe Biden on Tuesday honored Emmett Till, the Black teenager whose 1955 killing helped galvanize the Civil Rights movement, and his mother with a national monument spanning two states and a call for Americans to learn the country’s full history.

The new monument will consist of three protected sites: one in Illinois, where Till was from, and two in Mississippi, where white men kidnapped, tortured, mutilated and lynched 14-year-old Till for allegedly flirting with one of their wives while he was visiting family in the state in 1955. The national monument designation across 5.7 acres and three sites marks a forceful new effort by the president to recognize the legacy of Till and his mother.

The violent killing put a spotlight on the U.S. civil rights cause after his mother, Mamie Till-Bradley, held an open-casket funeral and a photo of her son’s badly disfigured body appeared in Black media.

“When I was preparing these remarks, I, quite frankly ― and my colleagues understand this ― I found myself trying to temper my anger as I was writing,” Biden said in his remarks. He also called out Republican efforts to stymie civil rights education in classrooms.

The monument designation fell on what would have been Till’s 82nd birthday. It is a powerful reminder of the legacy of Till and his mother, and a call to action for Americans to learn the country’s full history.