Civil rights trail began in church, historians say

CHICAGO (AP) -- In a small, nondescript church, the mutilated body of 14-year-old Emmett Till was put on display in an open coffin because his mother wanted the nation to see what racism looked like.
Historians and activists call that one of the most significant early statements about civil rights, and now, a half century later, there is a movement to turn that church, the Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ, into a historic city landmark.
"This is part of the civil rights trail," said Jonathan Fine, president of Preservation Chicago. "The civil rights trail begins in Chicago, and it began in this church."
Emmett was tortured and murdered in Mississippi, where he had gone to visit relatives, for whistling at a white woman.
His body was brought back to his hometown, but before he was buried, his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, let the nation see what had been done to him.
Influential image
Tens of thousands of mourners filed by the casket Sept. 3, 1955, and millions more saw the photographs in Jet magazine.
Among those influenced by the images was Rosa Parks. About three months later, in Montgomery, Ala., she was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white man, one of the pivotal acts of defiance in American history.
"I once asked Mrs. Parks, 'Why didn't you go to the back of the bus?'" said the Rev. Jesse Jackson. "She said, 'I thought about Emmett Till, and I couldn't go back.'"
If Parks was the mother of the civil rights movement, Jackson said, "Emmett Till was the martyred son of it."
Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.