The Mississippi Delta barn where Emmett Till was tortured and killed in 1955 has been acquired by the Emmett Till Interpretive Center (ETIC).
The ETIC bought the barn outside Drew, Mississippi, thanks to a $1.5 million gift from TV producer Shonda Rhimes. She was inspired to donate after reading about the barn, saying, “My hope is that this story never gets lost.”
The ETIC announced the purchase on November 23, 2025, which would have been the 104th birthday of Emmett Till’s mother, Mamie Till-Mobley.
“This is a monumental achievement in our mission to preserve the complete truth of Emmett Till’s story,” said Patrick Weems, the ETIC’s executive director. “Without this purchase, this sacred ground could have been destroyed or lost forever. We saved it so that truth could keep shaping us and future generations can stand where history happened.”
Emmett Till, a Black teen, was lynched by White supremacists in Mississippi on August 28, 1955, after he was accused of flirting with a White woman. During his funeral, Till-Mobley insisted that her son’s casket be kept open so that America could see what had been done to him. The photos of his body were published by Jet magazine.
Emmett Till was lynched after Carolyn Bryant Donham, a White woman, accused the Black teen of flirting with her at a family store in Money, Mississippi. His August 1955 killing set the growing Civil Rights Movement into motion and caused a rallying cry nationwide. Four days before his killing, it was rumored that he had flirted with Bryant. This speculation led to two White men kidnapping Till from the home of his uncle, whom he was visiting, and taking him to the barn, where they beat and shot him dead.
Bryant’s then-husband, Roy Bryant, and his half-brother J.W. Milam were charged with Emmett Till’s murder and acquitted by an all-white jury. Both men, who have since died, confessed to the killing in a Look magazine interview months later.
However, officials were unable to prosecute them again because of double jeopardy. Dave Tell, author of “Remembering Emmett Till,” told Mississippi Today that Look magazine also hid the existence of the barn since others involved, including those who worked at the barn, would be implicated.
“Till was killed because of racism. And the barn was pushed out of public memory because of racism. It’s all part of the same story,” Tell said.
Keith Beauchamp, producer of the “Till” film, commended Jeff Andrews, who bought the property that included the barn in 1994. Upon learning about the barn’s history, Andrews often allowed Emmett Till’s family and others visit the historic site.
On its website, the ETIC said, “We did not want to have to pay for sacred ground. We understand that many other people also feel that even $1 is too much to pay for a site where such deep harm occurred. It’s an obstacle we wrestled with every step of the way. We explored every possible alternative to purchase, including asking for the owner to donate the property and exploring legal options including easements and eminent domain, but none were viable.
“The turning point came when we asked ourselves: What happens if someone else buys it? We could not risk this site — one of the most sacred in American history — falling into the hands of speculators or even hate groups. The barn is simply too important to leave to chance.”
The ETIC, which has collaborated with the National Park Service, will hold the title to the barn while it works to raise the resources to transform it into a sacred site.
By the 75th anniversary of Emmett Till’s lynching in 2030, ETIC plans for the barn to be open to the public as a permanent memorial.
“Visitors will come not to look at tragedy, but to confront their own role in the ongoing work of democracy,” it said.
Emmett Till Center buys barn where 14-year-old was slain, thanks to $1.5M gift from Shonda Rhimes
