Graball Landing designated as part of national monument honoring Emmett Till

“In the years ahead, thousands of people will come to this place,” Shannon Estenoz, national assistant secretary of the interior for fish and wildlife and parks, said. “Some of them will be mothers, some of them will be 14-year-olds, some will be moved to tears, some will indeed think deeply. And a few are going to walk away from this place changed forever.”

Estenoz was one of many national, state and local leaders who gathered at Graball Landing on Monday to commemorate the site's national monument designation. 

In 1955, Till, a Black teenager from Chicago visiting family in the Mississippi Delta, was abducted after being accused of making advances toward a white woman. The woman’s husband and brother kidnapped Till and killed him. He was found later on the banks of the Tallahatchie River.

“Those murderers, they tried to use this beautiful river to hide their crimes,” Estenoz said. “... But the river was no accomplice. She would have none of it. … She gave it back to his mother on this spot.” 

Till’s body was swollen and unrecognizable. His mother’s decision to hold an open-casket funeral is credited as a spark for the modern civil rights movement, inspiring many others to take action. Mike Small was a personal friend of Mamie’s.

“Mamie and Rosa Parks became friends later, and when they became friends, Rosa Parks told Mamie, ‘When they told me to get out of the seat, I thought of the courage that you displayed by putting your son's body on display before the entire world and I think I should have that same kind of courage,’’’ Small said. 

The site hasn't always been treated with reverence. Memorial signs have been thrown into the river and two replacements were riddled with bullet holes. A bulletproof sign with motion sensor cameras was installed in 2019.

Congressman Bennie Thompson represents the Mississippi Delta. He says it is important for stories like Till's to be told honestly.

“We're here so that we can bring people to this area and talk about the dastardly deed that young Emmett had to endure at the hands of his killers,” Thompson said. “...This happened. This is history. And our commitment should be that it never happened again.”

Graball Landing is one of two sites in Mississippi plus a third in Chicago that make up the  Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument. 

Reena Evers, the daughter of Mississippi civil rights icons Medgar Evers and Myrlie Evers-Williams, was also at the event. Evers said families like hers and the Till's, ones forever changed because of racist violence, is not a club you want to join. But that the nation being forced to reckon with these horrific acts and confront their continued relevance all these years is justice in a sense.

“It is imperative to understand how to connect the dots,” Evers said. “The dots are not just one in Mississippi and one in Chicago, it connected all the way through. It connects in Florida, as much as they don't want to hear that.”