Like many Black people in America, director Chinonye Chukwu grew up learning about the story of Emmett Till, the 14-year-old Black boy who was brutally murdered in Mississippi in 1955 for allegedly flirting with a white woman. But far fewer people know the story of Till's mother, Mamie Till-Mobley.
Chukwu says Mamie and other Black women are often overlooked or erased from history. But Mamie's decision to hold an open-casket funeral for her son, and to publish photos of his mutilated face, served as a catalyst for the civil rights movement.
