Katharina Buczek
Summit, Illinois. Argo Community High School in Illinois and the Argo Higher Education Foundation have organized a GoFundMe in honor of Mamie Till- the mother of Emmet Till.
With a goal of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, the raised funds will be used to “erect a bronze sculpture honoring her life/work and to establish a scholarship in her honor.”
Mamie Till was a “tireless advocate for social justice and is arguably Argo High School’s most influential graduate.”
Mrs. Till was the fourth Black student to graduate from Argo High and the first Black student to receive placement on the honor roll.
In 1955 her son, Emmett Till, traveled to Money, Mississippi, to visit family. While shopping at a store owned by Roy and Carolyn Bryant, he was accused of whistling at Mrs. Bryant.
She was a white woman. In late August, at only fourteen years old, he was “kidnapped, beaten, shot in the head, had a large metal fan tied to his neck with barbed wire, and was thrown into the Tallahatchie River.”
Mamie Till; pictured above is a Christmas photo of Emmett that Mamie took
After his body was recovered and an investigation was opened, Roy Bryant and his half-brother were eventually accused of murder.
An all-white and all-male jury ended up acquitting both of them, and “no one else was ever indicted or prosecuted for involvement in the kidnapping or murder.”
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