President Joe Biden and first lady Dr. Jill Biden will host a screening of the acclaimed film “Till” Thursday evening at the White House inside the East Room.
The film focuses on the real-life story of Mamie Till-Mobley and her fight for justice after the murder of her 14-year old-son Emmett Till in Money, Mississippi, in 1955.
There is a connection between the film and the White House as President Biden last year signed the nation’s first-ever anti-lynching law in Emmett Till’s name. The historic signing, which was done during a White House ceremony on the South Lawn, happened 67 years after Till was murdered by a white mob for allegedly whistling at a white woman.
Though “Till” did not receive any Oscar nominations, to the chagrin of many, it is being celebrated by the Biden administration.
Whoopi Goldberg, who starred in and produced the film, told theGrio in a statement that it “seems fitting that the President, who made sure the Emmett Till Anti-lynching Act finally got signed into Law, [would] have the film screened at the White House.”
The EGOT star of “The View” continued: “Especially after being snubbed this award’s season and in light of places like Florida and Texas, among others, trying to pretend this history did not happen, or that Black people were fine being treated as less than.”
The 2022 film was decades in the making, and in previous interviews, Goldberg said the makers of “Till” hoped that it would be completed and released while Mamie Till-Mobley was still alive. The mother of Emmett Till, who infamously held an open casket so the world could see the brutality of her teen son’s murder, died in 2003.
The film humanized Emmett Till, who the public has only known through pictures and accounts from the Black press. “Till” recreates historical moments printed in JET magazine, including graphic photos of Till’s mangled body in the casket. The imagery was pivotal in propelling the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.
The casket that Emmett was photographed in for Jet magazine is currently on display at the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Lonnie Bunch, the secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, told theGrio, “Till” is one of the “most powerful films” he’s ever seen.
“It brings to the screen a youthful and passionate Mamie Till that reminds us of her sacrifice but more importantly, her strength to use the worst moment of her life as a clarion call for the nation to address America’s racism,” said Bunch. “Her actions sparked the civil rights movement, a movement that changed America.”
Last year, a grand jury declined to indict Carolyn Bryant, who now goes by Carolyn Donham, after an unserved warrant for her arrest in 1955 was unearthed. Bryant, who is now an elderly woman, is reportedly in hospice care. Last week, a family member of Till filed a lawsuit demanding the Leflore County, Mississippi sheriff serve the arrest warrant for her role in his death.
Civil rights attorney Lee Merritt, who previously represented the family of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia, told theGrio that the latest legal actions “just shows that their (Till) family has literally been fighting for generations. They’ve never stopped fighting.”
Those expected to attend Thursday’s White House screening are high school students from Chicago and the state of Mississippi. Till relatives will be in attendance as well as Goldberg, who played Till’s grandmother, actress Danielle Deadwyler, who played Till’s mother, and the young actor who portrayed Emmett, Jalyn Hall.
In addition to signing the Emmett Till Antilynching Act into law, Biden has used the power of the presidency to bring attention to the rise of hate in America. In September 2022, President Biden hosted the United We Stand summit, which sought to address increased hate-based crimes.
The summit was organized in response to the deadly mass shooting of nine African-American shoppers and workers inside a Tops grocery store in Buffalo, New York in May 2022, as well as other hate incidents carried out by white extremist gunmen.
“There are core values that should bring us together as Americans. And one of them is standing together against hate, racism, bigotry, and violence that have long haunted and plagued our nation,” Biden said at the time.
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