Today is Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley Day.

On July 23, 2026, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker signed legislation officially designating July 25 as Emmett Till Day.

The law calls for the day to be observed across Illinois in honor and remembrance of Emmett Till, who was born in Chicago on July 25, 1941. Pritzker signed this legislation at Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ where Emmett Till's open-cast funeral was held in 1955.

Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Black boy from Chicago who was abducted, tortured, and murdered in Mississippi on August 28, 1955, after being accused of whistling at a white woman.

Mamie Till-Mobley, his mother, decided to hold an open-casket funeral at Chicago’s Roberts Temple Church, forcing the world to see the brutality inflicted on her son. “I think everybody needed to know what had happened to Emmett Till,” she said. Mamie's decision would make her son's death a touchstone for a generation.

Fifty thousand people in Chicago saw Emmett Till's mutilated corpse with their own eyes.

Photographs from the funeral galvanized public opinion and became a pivotal moment in the Civil Rights Movement.

In 2023, President Biden established the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument, which includes sites in both Illinois and Mississippi connected to their lives and legacy.

The observance in Illinois today is intended not only to remember Emmett Till but also to:educate future generations about the history of racial violence, and recognize the role Emmett Till's murder and his mother's courage played in accelerating the Civil Rights Movement, and reaffirm our commitment to racial justice, and justice and equality.

This year’s observance is the first official Emmett Till Day in Illinois following the law’s enactment. Ceremonies are expected to include educational programs, community events, and commemorations at Roberts Temple in Chicago and other sites associated with Till’s life and legacy.

We remember.

See you on Tuesday.