Rain didn’t stop the celebration of Emmett Till Day on Saturday as family members, officials and community leaders gathered to honor the lives of Emmett Till and his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley.
Till, a 14-year-old Black boy from Summit, was abducted and lynched in Mississippi in 1955. His brutal murder became a flashpoint in the civil rights movement, and his mother’s decision to hold an open-casket funeral galvanized a generation.
On July 26, residents and dignitaries began the day with a wreath-laying ceremony at the site of Till’s childhood home at 7526 W. 64th St. The home, now a designated historical landmark, was once a gathering place for the family.
Rev. Wheeler Parker Jr., Till’s cousin and the last living witness to the 1955 kidnapping, led a prayer at the site…