Five remarkable facts about Emmet Till’s mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, you should know

Mamie Till-Mobley was considered the godmother of the civil rights movement in the mid-1900s. She devoted herself to fighting racial injustice after the gruesome murder of her 14-year-old son in 1955. Emmet Till was accused of allegedly sexually harassing Carolyn Bryant, a white shopkeeper in Money, Mississippi. The world soaked in the barbaric details of the chilling manner in which he was lynched by Roy Bryant, the husband of Carolyn Bryant, and his half-brother, J.W. Milam. The extent of their brutality was reflected by the damage on Emett’s body and the mere fact that his remains would have remained unidentified except for a ring he inherited from his late father.

 Emmet’s death changed the temperature of the civil rights movement, but the fine young gentleman he became was accredited to the influence of his mother. Shining the spotlight on this remarkable woman, here are five remarkable facts about Mamie Till-Mobley that you probably did not know.