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Remembering Emmett Till 65 Years After His Death

CHICAGO (CBS) -- It was 65 years ago today that a Black Chicago teen was brutally murdered in Mississippi.

Emmett Till
Emmett Till (CBS archives)

In 1955, 14-year-old Emmett Till was accused of whistling at a white woman at a grocery store while visiting family.

Bryant's Grocery Store
The ruins of Bryant's Grocery Store in Money, Mississippi. It's where Chicago teen Emmett Till was accused of whistling at a white woman in 1955. His mutilated body was found days later in the Tallahatchie River (Credit: Yolanda Perdomo)

Days later, a group of white men tortured him repeatedly and murdered him. Six decades later, the woman who made the claims admitted they were false.

Emmett Till's murder is considered a major catalyst of the modern civil rights movement.

Mamie Till With Emmett Till's Casket
(Credit: CBS)

On Friday, activists will stand on a Dan Ryan overpass in honor of Emmett Till.

The organization Purpose Over Pain and members of Saint Sabina Church said 65 years after Till's death, Black men are still killed because of the color of their skin.

At 4:00 Friday afternoon, they'll hold signs reading 'Stop Killing Us' on the Dan Ryan overpass at 76th Street.

 

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