President Joe Biden on Tuesday established a new national monument honoring Emmett Till and his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley.
“At a time where there are those who seek to ban books, bury history, we’re making it clear, crystal, crystal clear,” the president said. “We should know about our country. We should know everything: the good, the bad, the truth, who we are as a nation.”
The murder of Till, who was killed by white men while visiting relatives in the Mississippi Delta in August 1955, became a key moment in the Civil Rights Movement, especially after an all-white jury acquitted the men. (They eventually admitted their guilt after they were no longer in legal jeopardy.)
