Emmett Till & Mamie Till-Mobley: Let the World See

“Let the world see what they did to my boy.” The heart-wrenching words spoken by Mamie Till-Mobley as she insisted upon an open casket for her 14-year-old son who was brutally murdered for whistling at a white woman in Money, Mississippi, in 1955, catalyzed the Civil Rights Movement in America.

Emmett Till & Mamie Till-Mobley: Let the World See tells the story of how a mother’s bravery and fight for justice 70 years ago fueled the civil rights movement in America. The exhibition challenges you to make a ripple for justice in your own community.

The exhibition is centered on five stories:

• A fun-loving child from Chicago who was brutally murdered by a nation’s racism.
• A mother’s bravery that helped fuel the Civil Rights Movement.
• A community and family that worked together to heal and keep Emmett’s memory alive.
• A vandalized historical marker that both commemorates a tragedy and illustrates the ongoing scourge of racism.
• A call to action to commit to social justice in our own communities.

Emmett Till & Mamie Till-Mobley: Let the World See was produced by the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, The Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley Institute and the Emmett Till Interpretive Center.

This project was made possible in part by The National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom, the Maddox Foundation in Hernando, MS, The Institute for Museum and Library Services (MH-249226-OMS-21) and The Historic Preservation Fund administered by the National Park Service, Department of the Interior (15.904).