Emmett Till & Mamie Till Mobley: Let the World See

CRITIC’S PICK: This touring exhibition tells the story of Emmett Till and his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, and “challenges visitors to make a ripple for justice in their own communities,” the AHC says. “Let the world see what they did to my boy” are reportedly the words uttered by Emmett’s mother as she attended her son’s funeral following his 1955 lynching in Mississippi. Two white men were tried and acquitted for the slaying, but confessed to the crime after the statute of limitations expired. That year, a reporter for Time wrote: “For almost a century, African Americans were lynched with regularity and impunity. Now, thanks to a mother’s determination to expose the barbarousness of the crime, the public could no longer pretend to ignore what they couldn’t see.” Mamie Till-Mobley’s persistence led eventually to passage of the Emmett Till Antilynching Act in March 2022. But why did it take so long? - Kevin C. Madigan