In 1955, after Emmett Till is murdered in a brutal lynching, his mother vows to expose the racism behind the attack while working to have those involved brought to justice.
Till is a profoundly emotional and cinematic film about the true story of Mamie Till Mobley's relentless pursuit of justice for her 14 year old son, Emmett Till, who, in 1955, was lynched while visiting his cousins in Mississippi. In Mamie's poignant journey of grief turned to action, we see the universal power of a mother's ability to change the world.—United Artists Releasing
In the America of the 1950s when racism was high, the 14-year-old son of a Black lady named Mamie is brutally murdered for allegedly misbehaving with a white lady. Mamie fights back and relentlessly pursues a legal process against a prejudiced judicial system.—Madan Marwah
In August 1955, 14-year-old Emmett Till lived with his mother, Mamie, at 6427 South Saint Lawrence Ave in Chicago, Illinois. Before Emmett leaves to visit relatives in Money, Mississippi, Mamie warns him to be extra careful around white people. At a train station, the Tills meet with Mamie's uncle, Mose "Preacher" Wright, and Emmett's cousin, Wheeler Parker. After picking cotton on a sharecropper plantation, Emmett and his cousins purchase candy at the Bryant's Grocery and Meat Market. At the cash register, Emmett tells Carolyn Bryant that she looks like a movie star before showing her a photograph of a white girl in his wallet. Carolyn follows Emmett outside of the store, where he whistles at her. Disgusted, Carolyn retrieves a shotgun from her vehicle as Till and his relatives flee from the store.
In the early hours of August 28, Carolyn's husband, Roy, and his half-brother, John William "J. W." Milam, arrive at the Wrights' house and force themselves inside. They locate Emmett inside one of the bedrooms and force him to put on his clothes before kidnapping him. Emmett's great-aunt Elizabeth offers the men money, but Milam refuses. Before leaving, Milam holds Wright hostage with a gun. Inside one of the other vehicles, Carolyn identifies Till and the Bryants drive off into the night. Emmett is then badly beaten, fatally shot, and his body is dumped into the Tallahatchie River.
Back in Chicago, Mamie is informed of Emmett's kidnapping. Her cousin, Rayfield Mooty, arranges her to meet with William Huff, the counsel for the NAACP chapter in Chicago. At his office, Huff inquires about Mamie's past marriages as her personal history will be questioned. Meanwhile, the police locate Till's corpse along the river. Upon hearing the news, Mamie collapses in shock. Despite Mooty's reservations, Mamie asks for Emmett's body to be transferred back to Chicago. Shortly after, his coffin arrives on train, and Mamie cries in anguish upon seeing it. After seeing Emmett's mutilated corpse on an autopsy table, Mamie has an open casket funeral for Emmett to reveal what had been done to him. Emmett's killing and funeral garner national headlines across America.
Milam and Bryant are charged for their actions in relation to Till's killing. Accompanied by her father, Mamie travels to Mound Bayou to help represent Emmett for the trial. At the Regional Council, headed by T. R. M. Howard, Howard asks Mamie to consider her future after the trial as her activism can help galvanize federal support for voting rights toward Black Americans. On the first day of the trial, the defense team requests a recess after learning of another witness, to which the judge agrees and adjourns.
During the recess, the prosecution locates Willie Reed, who was an eyewitness to Till's killing. The next day, Wright and Reed give their testimonies, and the former identifies Milam as the culprit who held his family at gunpoint. Next, Mamie goes before the trial, testifying she could identify the corpse as her son. The defense then cross-examines Mamie, as she had told the "colored press" she warned Emmett on how to conduct himself in Mississippi. Later, on the witness stand, Carolyn Bryant testifies that Emmett grabbed her by the waist[7] and told her that he had previous interracial romance. Angered, Mamie leaves the courtroom sure that she already knows the verdict.
After an hour, the all-white and all-male Mississippi jury[8] acquits Milam and Bryant of Till's killing. Later, at an NAACP rally in Harlem, Mamie criticizes the Mississippi criminal justice system for victim blaming and the United States for failing in its promise for equal justice. She returns home and fondly remembers Emmett as she imagines him in his room.
The post-credits state that Mamie's actions galvanized the Civil Rights Act of 1957. She dedicated her life to teaching children while continuing to fight for civil rights in America. (thanks to Wikipedia)
