Congressional Gold Medal Awarded to Emmett Till and His Mother : NPR
Natasha Mustache/Getty Images
Congress posthumously awards Emmett Till and his mother, Mamie Till Mobley, the Congressional Gold Medal. The medal will be displayed at the National Museum of African American History and Culture near his coffin.
This move bill passed by parliament on WednesdayKnown as the Emmett Till and Mamie Till Mobley Congressional Gold Medal Act of 2021, the bill honors 14-year-old black boys. murdered by two white men in 1955 After a white woman accuses Till of flirting with her.
APs
Till’s death shocked the nation and sparked the civil rights movement.
After his death, Till’s mother famously insisted on an open coffin funeral so that viewers could see what happened to him. jet The magazine also published a photo of Till’s mutilated body, which was pulled from the Tallahatchie River in Mississippi.Mamie Till-Mobley dies 2003.
Passage of the bill comes months after Congress approves the bill make lynching a federal crimemore than a century after similar laws were introduced that sought to outlaw lynching.
But a bill to award Till and his mother a congressional gold medal met much less resistance. Passed the Senate unanimously on January 10 It was passed by voice vote in the House of Representatives on Wednesday.
The award follows other recent actions to keep Till’s memory honored. In June, Till’s family urged authorities to seek the arrest of the woman who accused Till in the first place but the grand jury refused to prosecute her. When Statute of Till It recently went public in Mississippi, not far from where he was murdered.
“The gruesome and unjust murder of Emmett Till is one of the most famous examples of lynching in American history,” said one of the bill’s sponsors, Congressman Bobby Rush (D-Ill. ) teeth, said in a news release.
“Without the courage and determination of his mother, Mamie, without leaving his coffin open during his funeral, the world would never know what happened to him, or the full extent of white supremacy. “We must honor Emmett’s life and his mother Mamie’s contribution to racial justice,” Rush said.
Congress began awarding medals in 1776 Other honorees include Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife, Coretta Scott King and Jackie Robinson.
https://www.npr.org/2022/12/24/1145430635/emmett-till-mother-congressional-gold-medal Congressional Gold Medal Awarded to Emmett Till and His Mother : NPR