Emmett Till Center to Honor His Legacy With Events Across State

TOUGALOO, Miss.—Teenage Wheeler Parker Jr. closed his eyes, expecting to be shot as white men entered the bedroom where he was staying with a flashlight and a gun around 2:30 a.m. That was the night they abducted the 16-year-old’s cousin and best friend, 14-year-old Emmett Till, from their great uncle’s home in Money, Mississippi. It was in August 1955, several days after a white woman accused him of whistling at her.

Parker, who is now a pastor in Illinois, would later tell NPR in 2023 that he can vividly remember “shaking like a leaf on a tree in the dark of a thousand midnights.” As the last living witness to Till’s abduction, he is among the speakers who is set to speak at events across the state honoring the 70-year anniversary of T i ll’s brutal murder, which galvanized the Civil Rights Movement.

In the historic halls of Tougaloo College, an institution that was a safe haven for civil rights workers, the Emmett Till Interpretative Center continued its year-long “Remembering Emmett” series on Thursday morning in the historic Woodworth Chapel.

Two boys who look like they're around 10 ride bicycles in an old black and white photo, one with a much younger boy sitting up front holding the handle bars — Cousins Emmett Till (left) and Wheeler Parker (back right) wheel around Argo-Summit, Ill., with family friend Joe B. Williams (front right). Parker said this photo was taken some time between 1949-1950. Photo courtesy Wheeler Parker Jr.

“We’ve been in communities talking about Emmett’s legacy, but we’re also doing the work and having conversations about our work around historic preservation and truth telling,” said EITC Chief Program Officer Dr. Daphne Chamberlain, a Tougaloo College alumna.

The ETIC continues to commemorate the anniversary of Till’s murder through social justice work, racial healing efforts and truth-telling in its panel series. After starting with events at Tougaloo College in October, the series will continue through November with sessions at Morning Star Baptist Church in Gulfport and conclude at the Mound Bayou Museum of African American Culture and History.

“We’ve been in communities talking about Emmett’s legacy, but we’re also doing the work and having conversations about (ETIC’s) work around historic preservation and truth telling,” Chamberlain said.

The events this month are part of Tougaloo College’s 156th Annual Founders’ Week celebration.

Truth-Telling at Tougaloo

Thursday morning’s conversation at Tougaloo College, “Remembering Emmett: From Silence to Social Change,” consisted of notable panelists, including Dr. Flonzie Brown Wright.

Wright, who became the first Black woman elected to public office in the State since Reconstruction when she became an election commissioner in Canton in 1968, is a civil rights activist known for her work helping Black Mississippians gain voting rights during the 1960s. She decided to run for office after a white registrar refused to approve her application to vote in Jim Crow Mississippi, saying, “N—er, get out of my office.”

“The day that I left the courthouse, and I walked down the corridor, I decided that I would run for public office—and I knew that I was going to win,” she told Voices of the Civil Rights Movement in 2018.

A Tougaloo College alumna, Wright continues to teach and inspire others to fight for social justice.

Flonzie Brown Wright, wearing a hat, speaks at an outside event — Dr. Flonzie Brown Wright, a Tougaloo College alumna, was a panelist for the Emmett Till Interpretive Center’s 70th anniversary commemoration series, “Remembering Emmett,” at Tougaloo College on Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025. The longtime Mississippi civil-rights activist is seen here speaking at the Mississippi Capitol Building in Jackson, Miss., Sunday, June 25, 2023. AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis

Tougaloo College School of Humanities Dean Dr. Miranda Freeman, an associate professor of English, was also on the panel. An academic and life-long scholar of historic storytelling, Freeman said she was excited to partner with the Emmett Till Interpretive Center to make this event happen.

“I jumped at the opportunity when Daphne (Chamberlain) wanted us to partner with the ETIC. It is important for the students to keep in mind that the Civil Rights Movement was not long ago, and there is still work to be done,” Freeman said in an interview with the Mississippi Free Press on Oct. 8.

Rev. Wheeler Parker, Jr. will be the convocation speaker at the conclusion of Tougaloo College’s Founders’ Week on Sunday, Oct. 12.

Freeman said having Rev. Parker as the speaker for the ending convocation will be special for her.

“It’s just deeply personal to see him grow from a young boy to a man, carrying and sharing this story to ensure it is told even through its ugliness. It’s just so meaningful, and it makes me want to continue the work to ensure a story that is never forgotten,” Freeman said.

‘70 Years Was Not Long Ago’

Dr. Chamberlain, who is a historian, told the Mississippi Free Press that self-preservation and truth-telling are essential to prevent erasure for Black and Brown people in both social and academic settings.

“Seventy years was not long ago. People can still close their eyes and still remember reading Jet magazine and seeing what happened to Emmett. If we don’t do what’s necessary right now, 70 years from now, we won’t have textbooks that include Black folks in classroom conversations,” Chamberlain said.

She believes that communities of color are under attack today and that self-preservation and intentional social justice work are paramount.

“We are in the fight of our lives and the fight for our history. We have to fight back in a time where erasure is very real,” Chamberlain said.