BEST HISTORY LESSON TILL

In theaters Oct. 14

Fourteen-year-old Emmett Till’s lynching in Mississippi in 1955 was one of the most pivotal —and tragic—chapters in the civil rights movement. This drama focuses on his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley (Danielle Deadwyler), and her fight for justice in the wake of his shocking murder. “To say it was an honor to play her is an understatement,” says Deadwyler (Station Eleven). “Her reckoning continues to be an enduring education on the taut nature of love.”

Behind the Scenes Before stepping into Mamie’s shoes, the actress did a “deep dive” into historical archives. “I read academic papers, saw public footage and documentaries, engaged with scholars of the civil rights movement and read Mamie Till’s memoir [2003’s Death of Innocence],” she says.

Why It’s Golden The story of Mamie and Emmett Till “clarifies how we have gotten to this current America,” Deadwyler says. “There is something to be learned from seeing Mamie’s perspective and resistance.”