Emmett Till’s House In Chicago Will Receive Landmark Funds
The childhood home of Emmett Till in Chicago, Illinois, will receive landmark funds.
According to the Chicago Sun Times, the house will receive a share of $3 million in grants from the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund. Additional monies will be distributed to 33 sites and organizations across the country that are part of Black American History. This includes the first Black masonic lodge in North Carolina, a school in rural Oklahoma for the children of Black farm workers, Black cemeteries in Pennsylvania and more.
Till’s home, located in the Woodlawn area, is a 2,400-square-foot structure and was constructed in 1895. Mamie Till-Mobley, his mother, lived in the home until 1962. Blacks in Green, a local nonprofit group, bought the house in 2020 and 2021 it was named a landmark.
In August of 1955, 21-year-old Carolyn Bryant falsely accused the 14-year-old Emmett Till of whistling at her in a store (the child reportedly had a lisp and would have been unable to whistle.) Till, who was visiting from Chicago, was in Mississippi for the summer spending time with family. Bryant’s accusation caused the young boy’s abduction, torture and murder by Donham’s then-husband, Roy Bryant, and his half-brother J.W. Milam. The child’s body was weighted down and thrown into the Tallahatchie River.
Bryant and Milam were tried on murder charges, but were quickly acquitted by an all-white jury. Just months later, when protected against double jeopardy, the pair confessed to the crime in a paid interview with Look magazine.
An investigation into Till’s murder was reopened in 2018, following the publication of Tyson’s book, which alleged Bryant had recanted her testimony that Till had grabbed her and uttered obscenities. However, Bryant denied she recanted her testimony in an interview with the FBI, who concluded that there was insufficient evidence to prove that she lied to them. The FBI closed their investigation.
Last week, an unserved warrant charging Carolyn Bryant for the 1955 kidnapping of Emmett Till was found in the basement of a Mississippi courthouse. Emmett Till’s family called for her arrest. However, Mississippi’s Attorney General says there is no plan to prosecute Bryant. According to the Associated Press, Michelle Williams, chief of staff for Attorney General Lynn Fitch, asserted on July 15, “There’s no new evidence to open the case back up.”
Williams also noted that the Justice Department previously investigated without filing charges and closed the case in December.
Carolyn Bryant, now 87, is reportedly living in North Carolina, according to the Associated Press.
