A luncheon at the Smith Robertson Museum in Jackson, brought together people from a range of ages to talk about Emmitt Till's death. They discussed it's influence on the civil rights movement. Till's cousin, Tougaloo College Professor Edelia Carthan, says his brutal murder motivated people to act.
"People from all over the world, white people, black people got involved in the Civil Rights Movement. One hundred days later, the Montgomery Bus Boycott started," said Carthan.
Till was killed August 28,1955, for whistling at a white woman while visiting cousins in Money, Mississippi. The black Chicago teen was brutally beaten, shot in the head, his face disfigured and a hole drilled through his head. Barbed wired and a fan were wrapped around his neck before he was thrown into the Tallahatchie River. His mother, Mamie Till Mobley, had an open casket funeral to show what done to her son.
"I can remember that feeling like it was yesterday, wondering was I going to be attacked? Was I going to be murdered,?" said Zambrano.
Till's murder scared Ignacio Zambrano as a child. Now 27, he told the audience he's become fearless and they can be too.
"Not being the person that's afraid to stand up for what you believe in, afraid to show who you are, to show what you can do, what you're supposed to do," said Zambrano.
That's the message Till's relatives want young people to get. Know their history and act. Tougaloo student Barquita Stanton.
"We as a generation need to start a new movement and sticking together more and learning more about the past because it very important, because we can have an impact on those coming up with us," said Stanton.
Relatives say a movie is being made about Emmitt Till's death.
