71st Till observance to be held at location where youth was slain
JANS – On August 29, the 71st anniversary memorial and wreath-laying service remembering the lynching of Emmett Till and the courage of Mamie Till-Mobley will be held at the barn near Drew, MS, where Emmett was tortured in 1955.
Since 2022, the Emmett Till Interpretive Center (ETIC) and partners have held a memorial ceremony on or near the anniversary of Emmett’s murder, August 28, featuring sermons, choral performances, and a laying of flowers in remembrance of Emmett and Mamie. The event is an opportunity to bring the community together in the spirit of reflection and healing.
An optional reception will be held at 9:00 a.m. at the Mound Bayou Museum of African American Culture and History. Visitors will be able to tour the museum before a caravan leaves for the barn at 9:40 a.m.
This year’s memorial program at the barn begins at 10:30 a.m. with a performance by the award-winning Mississippi Mass Choir. Ten-year-old musician Abee Hudson will also perform. Speakers include Gloria Dickerson (Founder and CEO of We2Gether Creating Change), Rev. Darryl Johnson (Co-Founder of the Mound Bayou Museum of African American Culture and History), and Rev. Willie Williams (Board Chair of the Emmett Till Interpretive Center). The memorial ceremony is the first since ETIC purchased the barn in November 2025, thanks to a generous donation from producer Shonda Rhimes.
A reception from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Senator Robert L. Crook Armory in Drew will follow the ceremony where attendees will have the opportunity to engage in community dialogue.
ETIC Executive Director Patrick Weems said, “This is an unfinished memorial, and that is the point: We now steward the barn where Emmett Till’s life was taken, but we need the community beside us to reimagine this ground – trusting that the places where the greatest harm was done can become the places where the deepest healing takes root, and that, as Mamie Till-Mobley did, we can still let the world see.”
The 71st anniversary memorial service is organized by the Emmett Till Interpretive Center, the National Park Service, We2Gether Creating Change, and the Mound Bayou Museum of African American Culture and History.
For more information about the ceremony and to RSVP, visit emmett-till.org/71st.
