The Emmett Till Interpretive Center has acquired the Drew, Mississippi barn where the civil rights icon was tortured and killed in 1955.
Officials with the organization dedicated to is committed to accurately portraying the history and legacy of Till’s death announced that the acquisition was made possible through the “generosity of The Rhimes Foundation,” ensuring that a significant historic site in American history will be permanently protected. The Rhimes Foundation was started by popular television producer and screenwriter Shonda Rhimes.
The announcement was made on Sunday, which would have been the 104th birthday of Mamie Till-Mobley, Emmett’s mother, whose decision to let the world see 14-year-old her son’s brutalized body via an open casket transformed a Mississippi lynching into a catalyst for the civil rights movement.
“This is a monumental achievement in our mission to preserve the complete truth of Emmett Till’s story,” Emmett Till Interpretive Center Executive Director Patrick Weems said. “Without this purchase, this sacred ground could have been destroyed or lost forever. We saved it so that truth could keep shaping us, and future generations can stand where history happened.”
The Emmett Till Interpretive Center touts the latest update as its most significant preservation achievement, building on nearly two decades of work in the Mississippi Delta. The organization previously led efforts to restore the Tallahatchie County Courthouse, commemorated the riverbank where Till’s body was found, and replaced memorial signs that have been repeatedly vandalized and defaced.
“For too long, people in the Delta — especially in places like Drew — have carried the weight of this story without the world truly seeing us,” Gloria Dickerson, founder of Drew nonprofit We2Gether Creating Change, said. “This is where Willie Reed found the courage to speak the truth, and that courage still echoes through our fields. The barn’s preservation means our voices, our land, and our legacy will finally be part of how the world remembers Emmett Till—and how it learns from him.”
By the 75th anniversary of Emmett Till’s lynching in 2030, officials plan for the barn to be open to the public as a permanent memorial.
Emmett Till’s Story
Over six decades ago, Till was staying with relatives in the small town of Money when he was accused of whistling at Carolyn Bryant Donham, a white woman. When told of Till’s purported actions, Donham’s husband, Roy Bryant, and his half-brother, J.W. Milam, beat and tortured the teen. He died from a gunshot to the head.
After Till’s death, his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, insisted on an open-casket funeral to expose the brutality of her son’s lynching. Hundreds of thousands of people were, then, able to see the violence that had been inflicted on Till, given the images of him in his casket were circulated across multiple outlets.
The young man’s death has fueled a civil rights movement that has lasted for decades, with his renewed case being closed once again in December 2021, leaving Donham free of any charges. Donham went on to pass away from a battle with cancer in April 2023.