Remembering Emmett Till and the Forgiveness of Mamie Till-Mobley
Last month, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker officially designated July 25, Emmett Till’s birthday, as a day of remembrance for him and his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley. The statewide observance on this day will continually honor Till’s life and the civil rights activism of Till-Mobley, who worked tirelessly to bring awareness to racial injustice after her son was viciously killed near Glendora, Mississippi, in 1955 at the age of 14. Till’s story is well documented in the darkest annals of American history and is credited with catapulting the modern civil rights movement. Till wasn’t just murdered. He was tortured, mutilated and lynched before his killers, Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam, threw his disfigured body into the Tallahatchie River. Bryant and Milam, who were half brothers, unleashed a fury of hatred and depraved torment on Till because Bryant’s wife, Carolyn, accused Till of whistling at her while he was in the grocery store she owned with her husband. When Till-Mobley held an open-casket funeral at Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ in Chicago, she wanted the nation to witness the horrific brutalization inflicted on her son, and the ghastly images were grueling to put into words.
In the decades that have passed since Till’s death, discussing his murder is still very difficult. Several years ago, when I was a professional tutor with Ohio State’s Student Athlete Support Services Office, I remember one African American football player assigned to me was doing research for a history paper on the Jim Crow era in the South. As we were discussing lynchings, I did a Google search on Till, and when this athlete saw the open-casket photo published by Jet magazine, he paused in shock and disbelief. He had not been taught about Till in high school, and after a few moments of contemplating the gruesomeness of Till’s suffering, he simply said, “That’s crazy.”
I’m sure that many young people who begin to learn the history of Till’s tragic passing will react in a similar manner to the student-athlete I was working with. However, the Illinois annual tribute will also be an opportunity for many to learn more about the incredible spiritual journey of forgiveness Till-Mobley shared in compelling testimonials before her death in 2003. It is absolutely heartrending to think about the enormous pain and grief that she endured in losing her only child. She had warned Till about the extreme dangers and racial customs of the Deep South before sending him off to visit relatives in Money, Mississippi. She never dreamed that shortly after his safe arrival, she would soon be looking at her son’s battered body, the injuries to which included a gunshot wound to his head. The fact that Till-Mobley found a powerful refuge in forgiveness speaks to her reliance on Christ to heal her soul. Her journey was not easy by any means, but through the passing years, God miraculously restored her with a divine peace that surpasses the fleshly urge for vengeance. Before Till-Mobley died, she spoke at a 2002 program for Murder Victims’ Families for Reconciliation in Chicago. At the time, she was 81 and a retired schoolteacher. She stood with dignified grace, humility and encouraging assurance. Her countenance was jubilant as she began her remarks with, “I too give honor to God, who is the source of my strength and the reason for my being.” That statement alone is a mic drop for me because it attests to the maturity of her faith, strengthened through unspeakable tragedy. She confessed that after her son’s murder, she thought that she did not have anything to live for, but God reassured her, instructing her “not to spend time hating the perpetrators of the crime because they would not even know that (she) was hating them.” Till-Mobley expressed how the Lord revealed that if she harbored hatred in her heart, it would physically destroy her, and that He is an all-seeing God who will judge every act of evil. The most significant statement of her testimony was when she said that for 47 years she had not wasted “any time hating Milam and Bryant” and that she did not want “anyone dead.” Only God can bless with such a cleansing deliverance from the heavy burden of sorrow Till-Mobley was carrying. This is the most substantial and beautiful part of her legacy that needs to be shared with younger generations as the state of Illinois keeps her memory, along with her son’s, alive.
Dr. Jessica A. Johnson is a lecturer in the English department at Ohio State University’s Lima campus. Email her at smojc.jj@gmail.com. Follow her on X: @JjSmojc. To find out more about Jessica Johnson and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
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