Events in Mississippi, Illinois commemorate 60th anniversary of slaying of Emmett Till

Johnson County Sheriff criminal scene investigator Amy Shanahan holds up a shotgun casing in court in the third day of testimony in the capital murder trial of Frazier Glenn Miller Jr. at Johnson County District Court in Olathe, Kan., on Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2015. Miller Jr., 74, is charged with killing three people last year at Jewish sites in suburban Kansas City. (Joe Ledford/The Kansas City Star via AP, Pool) (The Associated Press)

prev next

Deborah Watts of Minneapolis, sits in a Jackson, Miss., hotel Thursday, Aug. 27, 2015, and speaks about events in Mississippi and Illinois this week that commemorate the 60th anniversary of the slaying of her cousin, Emmett Till, a black 14-year-old from Chicago, who was visiting relatives in the Mississippi Delta when witnesses said he violated the Jim Crow social code by whistling at a white woman. He was kidnapped and killed Aug. 28, 1955, and his body was recovered from the Tallahatchie River three days later. An all-white jury acquitted two white men charged in the slaying. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis) (The Associated Press)

Deborah Watts of Minneapolis, sits in a Jackson, Miss., hotel Thursday, Aug. 27, 2015 and speaks about events in Mississippi and Illinois this week that commemorate the 60th anniversary of the slaying of her cousin, Emmett Till, a black 14-year-old from Chicago who was visiting relatives in the Mississippi Delta when witnesses said he violated the Jim Crow social code by whistling at a white woman. He was kidnapped and killed Aug. 28, 1955, and his body was recovered from the Tallahatchie River three days later. An all-white jury acquitted two white men charged in the slaying. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis) (The Associated Press)

JACKSON, Miss. – Events in Mississippi and Illinois this week are commemorating the 60th anniversary of the slaying of Emmett Till.

The black 14-year-old from Chicago was visiting relatives in the Mississippi Delta when witnesses said he violated the Jim Crow social code by whistling at a white woman. He was kidnapped and killed Aug. 28, 1955, and his body was recovered from the Tallahatchie River three days later.

His mother chose to have an open-casket funeral in Chicago, and Jet magazine published a photo of his mutilated corpse, sparking outrage that galvanized the civil rights movement.

An all-white jury acquitted two white men charged in the slaying.

Movie screenings and church services are among the events Thursday through Sunday in Mississippi. A wreath-laying ceremony is Friday at his mother's gravesite in Chicago.