FLORENCE– Florence-Lauderdale Public Library will be hosting an exhibit and series exploring the significance and impact of the Emmett Till case on the Civil Rights Movement. The exhibit will be on display August 17-September 17, and there will be a variety of lectures and discussions related to the exhibit. This project is supported by the University of North Alabama Department of History and the Muscle Shoals National Heritage Area.
The 1955 murder of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old African-American teenager, was one of the most significant events of the Civil Rights Movement. The media coverage of the murder brought national attention to race-based violence in the United States.
The Emmett Till Traveling Exhibit was developed by the Delta State University Archives & Museum and funded through the Mississippi Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Composed of newspaper headlines, articles, personal correspondences, family photographs, oral histories and other primary source materials, the exhibit takes visitors back to the Mississippi of 1955 during the trial. This exhibit would not have been possible without the work of Dr. Henry Outlaw to collect oral history recordings and the donation of materials from Gerald Chatham, Robert Smith, Frank R. Chamblin and Wheeler Parker. Exhibition and content design developed by Emily Erwin Jones and Laura Fleeman Walker.
In addition to displaying the exhibit, Florence-Lauderdale Public Library will also host a series of five discussions related to Emmett Till and the Civil Rights Movement. All events are free and open to the public.
‘So All the World Can See’: Emmett Till and the Long Black Freedom Struggle
Monday, August 24, 6:00
Dr. Ansley Quiros, UNA Assistant Professor of History
The Music of a Movement
Sunday, August 30, 2:00
Kevin Hall, UNA Adjunct Instructor of History
Suffering That Speaks: Emmett Till and the Moral Significance of Public Memory
Thursday, September 10, 6:00
Dr. Matthew Fitzsimmons, UNA Associate Professor of Philosophy
The Effects of Media Exposure on the Emmett Till Murder Case
Sunday, September 13, 2:00
Dr. Jim Martin, UNA Professor of Communications; Scott Morris, Director of UNA Student Publications and former TimesDaily editor; Dr. Beth Garfrerick, UNA Assistant Professor of Communications; Cathy Wood, Media Coordinator for the Muscle Shoals National Heritage Area; and Rebecca Walker, News Manager at AL.com
Foot Soldiers for the Movement
Tuesday, September 15, 1:00 pm
Gloria Washington Lewis Randall, Carolyn Walker Williams, and Charles Avery, Jr.
all of whom are featured in the book Birmingham Foot Soldiers: Voices from the Civil Rights Movement.
For more information about this series, call 256-764-6564, ext. 28 or email events@flpl.org.
