A statue to commemorate an icon of the civil rights movement is nearly complete.
Leflore County District 2 Supervisor Reginald Moore said Wednesday that the statue of Emmett Till is on track to be delivered to Leflore County in mid- to late October.
The statue will be installed at Rail Spike Park.
Till, a Black 14-year-old from Chicago, was visiting family in Money in 1955 when he was abducted, tortured and killed by two white men who accused him of whistling at a white woman at Bryant’s Grocery and Meat Market.
Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam were acquitted by an all-white jury of involvement in Till’s death but later admitted in a paid magazine interview that they were responsible.
Efforts have been made over the years to charge Carolyn Bryant, the woman at whom Till allegedly whistled, but two Leflore County grand juries have declined to indict her, including one earlier this summer.
Till’s mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, famously made the decision to have an open casket at her son’s funeral in order to display the brutality of his killing for the world to see.
Last year, state Sen. David Jordan secured $150,000 in funding for the statue to be developed.
The county Board of Supervisors approved a contract with Utah-based sculptor Matthew Glenn to make the statue. Moore said that he spoke with Glenn Tuesday and that Glenn reported the statue is being cast and proofed.
The statue will be placed on a concrete square and called “Emmett Till Square at Rail Spike Park.”
Moore said the laying of the foundation for the square will begin later this week or early next week.
Once the schedule for installation is finalized, a parade will also be scheduled that will begin downtown and culminate at the square.
He said he was honored and humbled to be a part of the process of bringing the statue to Greenwood.
“The feeling — I can’t really put it into words how historic and how meaningful seeing this project through from its inception to the completion,” Moore said. “I know that all eyes on the nation will be fixed on Greenwood for the unveiling.”
- Contact Kevin Edwards at 662-581-7233 or kedwards@gwcommonwealth.com.
