If the men who killed Emmett Till had known his body would free a people, they would have let him live.
—Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr.
In 1955, 14-year-old Emmett Till traveled from Chicago to visit family in Money, Mississippi. He was murdered by two men who accused him of flirting with a white woman. His death shocked the nation and spurred the burgeoning Civil Rights Movement.
David Driskell was deeply affected by Till’s death and felt compelled to create a memorial to the young teenager. Conceived as a visual allegory, Driskell’s modern-day pietà alludes to similarities between Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection, Till’s murder and funeral, and the religious foundation and coming events of the struggle for African American rights.
Description:
An oil painting in which the artist presents the bruised and battered body of Emmett Till as a Christ-like figure with his arms outstretched in the form of a crucifixion. The hands and arms of a figure behind him are visible holding the body.
