Mississippi Sickle Cell Foundation | 5th Annual Walk It Out 5K Walk/Run & Health Fair | April 25, 2026 | West Tallahatchie High School 2104 High School Road Webb, MS 38966 | $35 Vendor Fee | $25 Over Age 12 | $15 Teams of 10 or More | $10 Children Under Age 12 | Dedicated to the Memory of the Late DaMarius Washington | www.mssicklecellfoundation.org

A reminder that the MS Sickle Cell Foundation’s annual 5K Walk/Run and Health Fair starts at 9 AM this Saturday (Apr. 25) at West Tallahatchie High School. This event brings folks together to raise awareness, provide health resources, and offer hope. Come support the community!

Photo of bulletproof sign at Graball Landing, photo credit: Johnathon Kelso "What are the ways that we remember? What are the ways that we tell our stories in public? What are the ways that we say, in forms, kind of eternal and fleeting, 'This is who we are'?" - Dr. Elizabeth Alexander, "Moving Forward in the Face of Adversity," Time Sensitive

Dr. Elizabeth Alexander discusses the Mellon Foundation’s multimillion-dollar Monuments Project and the complex weave of memorials, memory, history, and records of racial violence such as the magazine photos of Emmett Till. Listen to the Time Sensitive podcast episode at: shorturl.at/ZHgNa

For National Poetry Month, revisit Patricia Smith’s virtual reading from Incendiary Art and her discussion of the Till story’s continued resonance. Watch the full presentation at vimeo.com/458644881. Join us in congratulating @poetpatriciasmith.bsky.social on her 2025 National Book Award in Poetry!

Photo of excerpted timeline from SNCC Digital Gateway site Visit the SNCC Digital Gateway to learn about SNCC and the youth galvanized by Emmett Till's murder to fight for civil rights. snccdigital.org

The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee was the only youth-led civil rights organization in the US. Members were part of the Emmett Till Generation, those motivated by Emmett’s murder to work toward change. Visit the SNCC Digital Gateway (snccdigital.org) to learn more!

In the News Emmett Till Interpretive Center: Where History Sparks a Fire in Your Belly to Make the World a Better Place National Park Friends Alliance Read the full story bit.ly/ETICatNPFA

The National Park Friends Alliance recently featured us in a member spotlight. Read the full article covering our organization and our accomplishments at: bit.ly/ETICatNPFA

The Emmett Till Historic Intrepid Center in Glendora will be hosting a youth summit in Greenwood, MS, on April 16-18 to examine the many challenges facing today’s youth and develop strategies to meet their needs.

Find more info and registration at: emmett-till-ethic.org/upcoming-eve...

Emmett Till & Mamie Till-Mobley: Let the World See closes on April 12 at Minnetrista Museum & Gardens. Visit before it heads to its next stop! Plan your visit at minnetrista.net

Less than a week left to visit our traveling exhibit, ‘Emmett Till & Mamie Till-Mobley: Let the World See’, at Muncie’s Minnetrista Museum & Gardens. The exhibit closes Apr. 12 and then heads to SPLC’s Civil Rights Memorial Center in Montgomery for a run of late April through August.

The Emmett Till Interpretive Center will be closed April 3 and 4. Staff will be unavailable to provide tours of the Tallahatchie County Courthouse. The Till National Monument will be open as normal.

Excerpts of Till poems on a paper-like background. Read Emmett Till poetry in Saying His Name at the Poetry Society of America. bit.ly/4tWA7Di

Emmett Till has been an important figure in American poetry for decades. Terrance Hayes curated a selection of poems on Emmett Till. You can read Hayes’s introduction and the Till poetry on the Poetry Society of America’s website at: poetrysociety.org/poems-essays...

Mississippi Sickle Cell Foundation | 5th Annual Walk It Out 5K Walk/Run & Health Fair | April 25, 2026 | West Tallahatchie High School 2104 High School Road Webb, MS 38966 | $35 Vendor Fee | $25 Over Age 12 | $15 Teams of 10 or More | $10 Children Under Age 12 | Dedicated to the Memory of the Late DaMarius Washington | www.mssicklecellfoundation.org

The MS Sickle Cell Foundation’s annual 5K Walk/Run and Health Fair starts at 9 AM on Apr. 25 at West Tallahatchie High School. Dedicated to the late DeMarius Washington, this event brings folks together to raise awareness, provide health resources, and offer hope. Come support the community!

“Understanding the reality of Emmett Till's story isn’t just learning that violence could and did occur. The most important part to me was learning about what came after. Seeing the full extent to which the system failed the Till family every step of the way, understanding the bravery of their actions in the face of such injustice, and seeing the way that they would shape the Civil Rights Movement is key to moving forward with social justice of any kind today.” - Urbana High School Student Book your tour to visit. Stand where history happened. emmett-till.org/book-online

An Urbana High student wrote the following after a recent ETIC tour: “Seeing the full extent to which the system failed the Till family every step of the way, understanding the bravery of their actions in the face of such injustice…is key to moving forward with social justice of any kind today.”

“I was already mother to a school-aged boy before learning of the horror done to Emmett Till, a happy, beautiful youth whose photos gleam with bright promise, and of his mother’s staggeringly heroic actions in the days and lifetime that followed. Step aside, Hercules—superhuman strength resides in Mamie Till-Mobley. I contribute to ETIC because my heart shares their vision of ‘promoting racial healing and reconciliation,’ deeply honoring the spirits of Emmett and Mamie while giving ongoing meaning to their pain as well as their courage, assuring that they lived, loved, and suffered for an entire world more than nothing.” - Gisela Chodos, ETIC Donor

Our donor Gisela Chodos supports us because of a shared vision of “‘promoting racial healing and reconciliation,’ deeply honoring the spirits of Emmett and Mamie while giving ongoing meaning to their pain as well as their courage.” Contact us if you’d like to be featured in a “My Why” post!

Watch Mississippi Public Broadcasting's original documentary on Medgar Evers, a major activist who helped conduct the informal investigation into Emmett Till's murder. He served as a mentor to many in the civil rights movement before his assassination at 37 outside his home. mpbonline.org/television/everlasting

You can watch MS Public Broadcasting’s documentary on Medgar Evers online (shorturl.at/MurVB) or catch it at the various screenings across the state brought to you by the MS Humanities Council, the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Institute, and MPB. See the event schedule: shorturl.at/Xemsj

Photo of courthouse interior - rows of unoccupied chairs

On this March 21 in 2015, the Tallahatchie County Courthouse opened the restored courtroom to the public, returning the interior to its appearance during the Emmett Till trial. The courthouse was restored through the support of NPS, MDAH, and other generous donors.

March 20 is World Storytelling Day. Through our tours of the Tallahatchie County Courthouse, our public programs, our traveling exhibit, and our historic preservation work, we continue to tell the stories of Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley so that we can learn from the past to build a better future together. Thank you for helping us preserve these sacred stories.

In honor of World Storytelling Day (Mar. 20), we lift up the sacred stories of Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley. All of us must reckon with the past so that we can build a better future together. We are grateful to everyone who helps us preserve their stories.

Did you miss Dr. Brandon Erby's piece on the Till story's ties to Kentucky? Sign up for our newsletter so you're always in the loop! emmett-till.org/newsletter Photos of Dr. Brandon Erby, Dr. T.R.M. Howard, newspapers, and a historical protest

In our newsletter, Dr. Brandon Erby from the University of Kentucky explores the connections between the Till story and Kentucky, focusing on Dr. T.R.M. Howard, the Louisville Defender, and the Emmett Till generation. Sign up so you don’t miss our latest news! www.emmett-till.org/newsletter

Exterior photo of the Emmett Till Interpretive Center.

The Emmett Till Interpretive Center opened on Mar. 15, 2015. The museum space displayed an exhibit on the Till trial, and staff continued to offer tours of the Tallahatchie County Courthouse. The building became the Till Monument’s Visitor Center in 2025, and ETIC moved elsewhere on Sumner Square.

Teacher Supply Drive Now through August Donations welcome! - Printer paper - Expo markers - Crayons - Markers - Binders - Dividers - Notebooks - Pocket folders - Bookmarks - Notebook paper - #2 pencils - Pens Deliver donations to Tallahatchie Rising, 1112 Garrett Road, Tutwiler, MS, 38963

Organized by ETIC and Tallahatchie Rising, the annual teacher supply drive is accepting donations of school supplies for local students. The drive runs now through August. See the flyer for more info. Thank you for your support!

“I’ve come to Mississippi specifically to visit and pay honor to the Medgar Evers and Emmett Till NPS sites. The atrocious obfuscation of history and erasure of the truths of especially the Civil Rights movement in America is an effort to literally destroy our democracy. I thank and celebrate the subjects of the sites and the caretakers of them.” ETIC Visitor, Schedule your visit: emmett-till.org/book-online

A recent visitor to the Till National Monument wrote this note: “I’ve come to Mississippi specifically to visit and pay honor to the Medgar Evers and Emmett Till NPS sites. [...] I thank and celebrate the subjects of the sites and the caretakers of them.” Thank you for facing history’s truth.

Daytime image of the Tallahatchie County Courthouse in Sumner, MS.

On this day in 2007, the Tallahatchie County Courthouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places for architectural significance, later amended for its role in the trial for Emmett Till’s murder. Read more at MDAH: www.apps.mdah.ms.gov/Public/prop....

For Women's History Month, we honor Mamie Till-Mobley. She shared her grief with the world and helped inspire a movement that changed the course of history. (Image of Mamie Till-Mobley statue overlaid with silhouettes of women. Photo credit: Connor Steinkamp Photography)

We honor Mamie Till-Mobley this Women’s History Month. ETIC collected 300 wishes last year for her 104th birthday. One student wrote, “Your work as an educator and activist continues to inspire those of us who seek to learn, to lead, and to lift others through compassion and courage."

We lift up Jermarlius "Jay" Rushing, our Youth Engagement Coordinator. Jay has played a key role in developing the Till curriculum, the Youth Advisory Council, and various workshops. Jay, we see you and want the world to see you and the work you’ve done!

"There are some stories that a journalist can never forget no matter how hard one tries. [...] For me, the Emmett Till murder case was that kind of assignment." - Clotye Murdock Larsson

Clotye Murdock Larsson was the only woman covering the Till trial for Ebony, working alongside fellow reporters Simeon Booker and Moses Newson and photographer David Jackson. She would revisit the Till story in writing several times over the course of her life.

History is one of the most important tools we have to teach us where we come from and where we want to go as citizens. It informs us how we can make a more just and equitable world. When I first learned that the murder of Emmett Till took place less than 60 miles from my family farm and only 90 miles from where I grew up in Memphis, I was shocked. I had to go see the places and learn about this terrifying history. It was barely mentioned when I was growing up in Memphis. Once I stepped into the courthouse where the murder trial took place in 1955, visited the river site where Till’s body was recovered, and traveled to the barn where the brutal murder took place, I was never the same. Learning from leaders such as Patrick Weems and Reverend Williams has been life changing. The book, The Barn, by Wright Thompson should be required reading for all Americans. What has been most inspiring is seeing how my children have benefitted from visiting these places. I have seen firsthand how learning in situ about this history has shaped their outlook. It is vital for our children and future generations to learn about the history of Emmett Till. It is imperative that we support the work of preserving history and creating safe spaces to learn from our past. It is for these reasons and so many more that I support this valuable mission. - Mary Lapides, ETIC donor

Mary Lapides on supporting ETIC: “When I first learned that the murder of Emmett Till took place…only 90 miles from where I grew up in Memphis, I was shocked. [...] It is imperative that we support the work of preserving history and creating safe spaces to learn from our past.”

Last call to purchase 70th anniversary commemoration merchandise! ETIC's online shop closes on February 28th, so place your orders before then. All proceeds support our work.

Visit emmett-till.myshopify.com and see what’s in stock.

This Black History Month we lift up Benjamin Saulsberry, our Director of Public Engagement & Museum Education. He has captivated audiences across MS and the US through panels, media features, and trainings. Benjamin, we see you and want the world to see you and the work you’ve done!

Among seated court attendees, Moses Wright stands and points off camera at the men he saw in his home who kidnapped Emmett Till.

Emmett’s great uncle Moses Wright pointed out Emmett’s killers under testimony, risking his life by violating the norms of the Jim Crow South. The moment was captured by Ernest Withers in what Mamie Till-Mobley called “the single most significant photograph of the entire trial.”

In 2025,
- We purchased the barn where Emmett was lynched.
- We held a commemoration event to honor the 70th anniversary of Emmett's murder.
- We hosted the "Remembering Emmett" panel series.
- We led tours of the courthouse.

Thank you for your support. See our 2025 report at bit.ly/3ZGjq1g.

This Black History Month we lift up Venita Halbert, our Community Engagement Coordinator. She has been instrumental in planning and coordinating the annual memorial service at the seed barn, plus other community events. We see you, Venita, and want the world to see you and the work you’ve done!

Photo of student group and chaperones standing outside the Tallahatchie County Courthouse in Sumner, MS

We’re grateful the Leflore Academy Public Charter School from Greenwood was able to take their tour of ETIC and the historic courthouse after the winter storm forced us to reschedule. Many said they didn’t know about the Emmett Till story until then, let alone that it had happened in their backyard.