Till, with Chinonye Chukwu & Robin D. G. Kelley
Director Chinonye Chukwu joins UCLA professor Robin D. G. Kelley in conversation following a screening of Till, which depicts the true story behind the 1955 lynching of 14-year-old Emmett Till through the eyes of his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley.
A widowed single mother, head of her household, and the only Black woman working for the Air Force in Chicago, Till-Mobley becomes a revolutionary by insisting that the world witness the horror of her brutally maimed son’s body in an open casket viewing as an act of defiance against oppression and hate. “I wanted the world to see what they did to my boy," she said at the time. Till-Mobley also gave the exclusive rights to Jet Magazine to publish the images of her son’s maimed body, which caused the lynching to gain worldwide noteriety. A mother’s audacity became a lightning rod in the Civil Rights Movement and propelled her to reluctantly become an outspoken activist for the NAACP advocating for social justice and education.
(2022, dir. Chinonye Chukwu, English, color, 130 min.)
Hammer Channel includes 1,000+ talks, performances, artist profiles, and more. Search, clip, and share topics ranging from politics and activism to art, film, and literature.