On 25th July, President Biden is set to sign a proclamation for establishing a monument to honor Emmett Till. Emmett Till was a black teenager from Chicago who was falsely accused of whistling at a white Mississippi woman in 1955. This led to his abduction, torture, and, ultimately, his death in 1955.
This national monument will also honor his mother, who died fighting for her son’s justice. A White House official said this monument will be named ‘Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument.’ The official added the national monument would be created covering 3 sites in Mississippi and Illinois.
25th July marks the birth anniversary of Till, who was born in 1941. Emmett was 14 years old at the time of his death. This national monument is said to protect locations central to Emmett’s life story and the acquittal of Till’s killers. This monument would also show his mother’s activism when she opened his casket to show the world her son’s brutalized body.
These pictures of Emmett’s body were published in Jet Magazine, which helped motivate the Civil Rights Movement. This decision from the US President comes at an anxious time when the United States is going through matters related to racial discrimination. Conservative leaders are against teachings in schools and colleges about Black history and slavery in the US.
These teachings about black history in public schools and colleges would incorporate diversity, inclusion, and equity among the younger generation. Programs for teaching Black history would also be incorporated into boardrooms to make the workplace inclusive.
On 21st July, Kamala Harris, the Vice President, criticized a curriculum in Florida based on Black History. The Florida Board of Education revised the curriculum to satisfy Gov. Ron DeSantis’s legislation which accused schools of liberal indoctrination.
The teachings in the new curriculum mention how enslaved people benefitted by learning skills from their masters, who denied them freedom.
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