Join Us at the Barn on August 29th to Remember Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley

We'll be hosting the 71st anniversary memorial and wreath-laying service remembering the murder of Emmett Till and the courage of Mamie Till-Mobley on August 29 at the barn near Drew, MS. The event is organized in partnership with We2Gether Creating Change and the Mound Bayou Museum of African American Culture & History. The ceremony is the first since ETIC's 2025 purchase of the barn, the site of Emmett's lynching, thanks to a generous donation from Shonda Rhimes.

This year will be the fifth such service ETIC has held in remembrance of Emmett and Mamie, featuring sermons, choral performances, and a laying of flowers. We believe the event is an opportunity to bring the community together in the spirit of reflection and healing.

An optional open house will be held at 9:00 AM at the Mound Bayou Museum. Visitors will be able to tour the museum before a caravan leaves for the barn at 9:40 AM.

Attendees will have the opportunity to lay a rose in remembrance of Emmett before the program begins at 10:30 AM with a performance by the award-winning Mississippi Mass Choir. Ten-year-old musician Abee Hudson will also perform. Speakers include Gloria Dickerson (Founder and CEO of We2Gether Creating Change), Rev. Darryl Johnson (Co-Founder of the Mound Bayou Museum of African American Culture & History), and Rev. Willie Williams (Board Chair of the Emmett Till Interpretive Center). 

A reception from 1 PM to 2:30 PM at the Senator Robert L. Crook Armory in Drew will follow the ceremony where attendees will have the opportunity to engage in community dialogue.

ETIC Executive Director Patrick Weems said, “This is an unfinished memorial, and that is the point: We now steward the barn where Emmett Till’s life was taken, but we need the community beside us to reimagine this ground—trusting that the places where the greatest harm was done can become the places where the deepest healing takes root, and that, as Mamie Till-Mobley did, we can still let the world see.”

We are grateful to the National Park Service, We2Gether Creating Change, and the Mound Bayou Museum of African American Culture & History for their work in making this event possible.

For more information about the ceremony and to RSVP, visit emmett-till.org/71st.

We hope you'll be part of this communal act of remembrance.