A little more than a month after being replaced, Till sign vandalized by shots
For more than 50 years after the murder of Emmett Till, no historical markers in the Mississippi Delta told the story of the 14-yearold African-American boy who was dragged from his bed in the night, lynched and then dumped in the Tallahatchie River.
That changed in 2007. Eight signs were erected in northwest Mississippi, including at the spot on the river where fishermen in 1955 discovered Emmett’s mutilated corpse tethered to a cotton-gin fan.
But a year later, vandals tore down the sign on the riverbed. It was replaced. But then bullets were fired into that marker — more than 100 rounds over several years. A new sign was installed in June. Thirty-five days later, on July 26, it was shot up again.
The purple marker titled “River Site” outside Glendora, Miss., was pierced by four bullets. One punctured the word “mother” in a sentence about how Emmett’s mother, Mamie Till Mobley, wanted his body returned to his hometown, Chicago.
His mother’s decision not to hide Emmett’s disfigured body in a closed coffin helped make the crime a symbol of the brutality of the Jim Crow era. Emmett was abducted and killed after a white woman complained that he had grabbed her and wolf-whistled at her, an account that she later changed and then retracted.
The Justice Department reopened its investigation into Emmett’s death this year, saying it was “based upon the discovery of new information.” The federal government has not elaborated on what changed, but the decision appears to be linked to the woman, Carolyn Bryant Donham, recanting her allegations.
The current sign, which is identical to the one that came before it, was unveiled at a ceremony June 21. Several dozen people attended the ceremony, including Wheeler Parker, 79, a cousin of Emmett’s who was 16 when he saw him get abducted on Aug. 28, 1955.
“I’m not surprised,” Parker said. “People fear change, and when they see change coming, they will try to destroy things. You have a few people out there like that.”
Parker said the sign should be replaced.
Two companies in New York had agreed to design and create a new sign made out of steel, much stronger than the current one, which is made of a thinner metal. The companies will supply it for free, officials at the Emmett Till Interpretive Center in Sumner, Miss., said.