‘Till’ breathes life into American history | movie review

Bringing a piece of American history to life, Till is the story of a mother’s love as a woman fights for justice after her young son is murdered in the 1950s

The name “Emmett Till” is one that is often thrown around. He is one of a handful of Civil Rights figures (along with Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., and Malcolm X) that have permeated the culture to the extent that they are mentioned on the half page allocated to the “Civil Rights Movement” in American History textbooks. (He even made his way briefly into my conservative Christian education in rural Michigan). Perhaps you know that he was a 14-year-old Black boy who was lynched in Mississippi. Perhaps you have seen the photos of his body that were used to showcase the horror of racism. But for many, Emmett Till remains a distant historical figure rather than a real human, even though his murder only took place 67 years ago (for context, he’d be the same age as Bernie Sanders and Martha Stewart if he was still alive). Till, Ch…