The Hate Crime that Changed America

The Face of Emmett Till is a true-to-life dramatization of the death of 14-year-old Emmett Till, a Chicago teenager who, while visiting relatives in Money, Miss., was kidnapped, tortured and murdered by two white men who claimed they wanted to teach him a lesson for “allegedly” whistling at a local white woman. The horror and the brutality of this crime were magnified even more when his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, made the fateful decision to invite the media to the funeral where she had an open casket. The shocking pictures were published by the American Black press and were later republished around the world. The ramifications of this act are still being felt today. As retold for the first time within a creative, nonfictional genre by Mamie Till-Mobley, the play chronicles this tragedy, its aftermath, and her heroic crusade for justice.