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On Tuesday, July 25, 2023, President Joseph Biden created the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument. This action memorializes Chicago’s Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ, the Tallahatchie County Courthouse, and Graball Landing, creating a national monument of conscience, memory, and justice to continue telling a fuller and more accurate American story.

In 1955, 14-year-old Emmett Till left Chicago to visit family in the Mississippi Delta, where he was abducted and lynched on August 28. His body was recovered at Graball Landing on the banks of the Tallahatchie River in Mississippi.

The proceeding trial of J.W. Milam and Roy Bryant for Emmett’s murder, held at the Tallahatchie County Courthouse in Sumner, Mississippi, demonstrated the injustice of the time as both men were acquitted by an all-white jury. Emmett Till’s murder might have gone unnoticed by the general public if not for the courage of his mother, Mamie Till Mobley, who decided to “let the world see what I have seen” by holding an open-casket visitation and funeral for her son at Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ in Chicago, Illinois.

Emmett’s murder shocked the conscience of the nation and illuminated the reality of racial violence in America. Mamie Till Mobley’s profound response, in a time of unimaginable anguish, galvanized the world to understand the plight of Black Americans in the South, catalyzing the Civil Rights Movement.

Understanding Our Present Through the Lens of Our Past

The historic sites connected to Emmett Till and Mamie Till Mobley’s story represent a pivotal moment in the history of the United States, including how local people and communities shaped the fight for equality. The National Trust’s African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund has been proud to join with local and national partners to protect, preserve, and interpret the remaining sites connected to the legacy of Emmett Till and Mamie Till Mobley (see Our Partners below).

In doing so, we hold a crucial opportunity to face a more complete truth, gain knowledge, and reckon with the parts of our past that are painful in order to process and heal.

Preserving the Sites Connected to Emmett Till and Mamie Till Mobley

Since 2017, the Action Fund has invested over $1.75 million in grant funding to:

• Chicago’s Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ to stabilize the church building and conduct real estate due diligence for the national monument designation. Roberts Temple was listed as one of America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places in 2020.
• The Emmett Till Interpretive Center in Sumner, Mississippi, to expand programming and paid staff
• The Emmett Till and Mamie Till Mobley House in Chicago to add staff and expand programming
• The Seed Barn at Milam Plantation where Till was murdered, now owned by the Emmett Till Interpretive Center, to support its stabilization
• The Town of Glendora, Mississippi, located a mile from Graball Landing where Till's body was recovered, to support a town-wide preservation initiative connected to the Till family legacy.

In 2026, the Action Fund team was proud to unveil the completed façade restoration of Roberts Temple, including a newly fabricated replica of the iconic, historic church sign. Through existing and new partnerships, the Action Fund and the Mellon Foundation are positioned to invest additional funding and provide specialized preservation expertise to the next phase of this critical project.