Mamie Till facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Mamie Elizabeth Till-Mobley
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Till-Mobley on September 23, 1955
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Mamie Elizabeth Carthan
November 23, 1921 Webb, Mississippi, U.S.
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| Died | January 6, 2003 (aged 81) Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
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| Other names | Mamie Till-Bradley |
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| Years active | 1955–2003 |
| Known for | Mother of Chicago teenager Emmett Till |
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| Children | Emmett Till |
| Awards | Congressional Gold Medal |
Mamie Elizabeth Till-Mobley (born Mamie Elizabeth Carthan; November 23, 1921 – January 6, 2003) was an American teacher and activist. She is best known as the mother of Emmett Till. Emmett was a 14-year-old boy who was sadly killed in Mississippi on August 28, 1955.
Mamie was born in Mississippi. When she was a child, her family moved to the Chicago area. This move was part of the "Great Migration". After her son's death, Mamie became a strong voice for the Civil Rights Movement.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Mamie Elizabeth Carthan was born on November 23, 1921, in Webb, Mississippi. When she was very young, her family moved from the Southern United States. They moved north during the Great Migration. This was a time when many African-Americans moved to the Northern United States.
In 1922, Mamie's father, Nash Carthan, moved to Argo, Illinois. This town is close to Chicago. He found a job there. Mamie's mother, Alma Carthan, joined him in 1924. She brought two-year-old Mamie and her brother, John. They lived in an African-American neighborhood in Argo.
When Mamie was 13, her parents divorced. She focused on her schoolwork and did very well. Mamie's mother wanted her daughter to succeed in school. Mamie was the first African-American student to make the "A" Honor roll. She was also only the fourth African-American student to graduate from Argo Community High School. This school was mostly white.
At 18, Mamie met Louis Till. He worked at the Argo Corn Company. Mamie's parents did not approve of him at first. But they married on October 14, 1940. They were both 18 years old.
Their only child, Emmett, was born nine months later. Mamie and Louis separated in 1942. Later, Mamie and Emmett moved to Chicago's South Side. Mamie married "Pink" Bradley, but they divorced two years later.
The Murder of Emmett Till
In 1955, Emmett was 14 years old. His mother sent him on a train to visit his cousins in Money, Mississippi for the summer. She never saw him alive again. Emmett was taken and killed on August 28, 1955. This happened after he was accused of acting improperly with a white woman.
The next month, Roy Bryant and his half-brother J.W. Milam were tried for Emmett's murder. But an all-white jury found them not guilty. The trial lasted five days, and the jury decided in just 67 minutes.
For Emmett's funeral, Mamie insisted that his casket be left open. She said, "I wanted the world to see what they did to my baby." Thousands of people saw Emmett's body. Pictures of him were shared across the country. Because of all the attention, Emmett's case showed how unfair justice was for Black people in the South. The NAACP asked Mamie to travel and share her son's story. This was one of the most successful fundraising efforts the NAACP had ever seen.
Activism and Education Work
After her son's death, Mamie Till-Mobley became a powerful public speaker. She worked closely with many African-American news groups. The NAACP hired her to go on a speaking tour. She shared her son's story across the country. This tour raised a lot of money for the NAACP.
Mamie Till-Mobley's work for justice went far beyond what she did after her son's death. However, Emmett's death became a symbol of unfair killings in the 1950s. So, she is most known for her actions during that time. Mamie used her role as a mother to connect with others. She gained support for racial justice.
A big part of her work was about education. She helped children living in poverty for over 40 years. She also taught in the Chicago public school system for 23 years. Ms. Till-Mobley started "The Emmett Till Players." This was a theater group for school children. They learned and performed famous speeches by civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. Their goal was to bring hope, unity, and determination to their audiences.
Later Life and Legacy
Mamie graduated from Chicago Teachers College in 1960. This school is now Chicago State University. She married Gene Mobley on June 24, 1957. She became a teacher and changed her last name to Till-Mobley. She continued to be an activist, teaching people about what happened to her son.
In 1971, she earned a master's degree in educational administration from Loyola University Chicago. Mamie and Gene Mobley were happily married until Gene passed away on March 18, 2000.
On January 6, 2003, Mamie Till-Mobley died from heart failure. She was 81 years old. She was buried near her son in Burr Oak Cemetery. Her monument there says, "Her pain united a nation."
Mamie Till-Mobley wrote a book with Christopher Benson. It is called Death of Innocence: The Story of the Hate Crime that Changed America. It was published by Random House in 2003, almost 50 years after her son's death. She passed away a few months before her book came out.
Mamie Till-Mobley created the Emmett Till Players. This student group traveled and performed works about "hope, determination, and unity." She also started the Emmett Till Justice Campaign and was its leader.
In 2015, Whoopi Goldberg announced plans for a film called Till. This movie is based on Till-Mobley's book and her play, The Face of Emmett Till. Danielle Deadwyler played Mamie Till-Mobley in the film. Jalyn Hall played Emmett, and Whoopi Goldberg played Alma Carthan. The movie was directed by Chinonye Chukwu and came out on October 14, 2022.
Mamie Till-Mobley is also played by Adrienne Warren in the 2022 TV show Women of the Movement.
In 2022, Congress gave Mamie Till-Mobley and Emmett Till a special award called the Congressional Gold Medal. This award will be shown at the National Museum of African American History.
A statue of Till-Mobley is planned to be unveiled in 2023. It will be in a plaza named after her. This plaza is in front of Argo Community High School in Summit, Illinois. This is the school where she graduated as an honor student.
See also
In Spanish: Mamie Till para niños
