In 1955, the murder of Emmett Till, a Black teenager from Chicago, and the subsequent criminal trial in Tallahatchie County, Mississippi, attracted international attention and sparked the Civil Rights Movement. The Guild of the Chicago History Museum invites you to a talk featuring Margot McMahon, daughter of Franklin McMahon, the artist-reporter who sketched the trial of Till’s murderers for Life magazine, and Northwestern University professor Christopher Benson, an esteemed writer and scholar on Till who contributed to our exhibition Injustice: The Trial for the Murder of Emmett Till.

Injustice begins with photographs of a joyful Emmett in life and of his funeral attended by thousands. The trial proceedings are then shared through courtroom sketches by Franklin McMahon. These drawings give a visual account of a trial that amplified the inequities Black Americans face within the US court system, including a lack of equal protection under the law. Learn how Emmett’s mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, boldly stood in the face of racial injustice, and consider how Emmett’s legacy continues in those seeking justice for Black lives today.

$50; includes coffee and pastries.

Schedule

10:00 a.m. – Coffee and pastries served
10:30 a.m. – Speaker presentation begins
11:30 a.m. – Walkthrough of Injustice: The Trial for the Murder of Emmett Till exhibition

Questions? Contact Nell McKeown, development events manager, at (312) 799-2112.