The monument also honors Till’s mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, who insisted upon an open-casket funeral for her son so others could see the brutality of the killing.
Till was lynched in 1955 after allegedly making comments toward a white woman in Mississippi. The incident became emblematic of the brutality of the Jim Crow South.
“I can’t fathom what it must have been like,” Biden said Tuesday — on what would have bill Emmett Till’s 82nd birthday. “It’s hard to believe I was 12 years old. I know no matter how much time has passed, how many birthdays, how many events, how many anniversaries, it’s hard to relive this.”
The monument will be made up of three sites: where Till’s body was discovered in Graball Landing, Miss.; Chicago, where Till’s funeral was held; and the courthouse in Sumner, Miss., where Till’s killers were acquitted.
In addition, Biden is directing the National Park Service to make a plan to support the preservation of other key sites in Illinois and Mississippi to tell the story.
Read more from our colleague Cheyanne M. Daniels at TheHill.com.
