My guest this episode is Benjamin Saulsberry, the Public Engagement and Museum Education Director of the Emmett Till Interpretive Center in Sumner, Mississippi.
The story of Emmett Till’s lynching and murder has long had a haunting effect on me, partially because I Iive about a mile north of the church where his funeral was held in 1955 and I went on a personal pilgrimage a few years ago where I walked 13 miles from that church to his grave site in suburban Chicago. A story about Till’s death was published in The Atlantic last summer and it was there I learned about the Till Center. Benjamin was kind enough to speak with me about the center and its goals for racial reconciliation and justice.
ABC is running a mini-series this week called “Women of the Movement” that is based on Till and his mother Mamie Till-Mobley and I thought it was a good time to air this podcast now.