Social Justice

Will Smith and Jay Z team up to produce Emmett Till mini series

Will Smith and Jay-Z are coming together to produce a mini series on Emmett Till for HBO

Published

9 years ago

July 25, 2015

Unheard Voices Staff

Emmett Till and Mamie Mobley (Fair Use Image)

Will Smith and Jay Z are coming together to produce a mini series on Emmett Till for HBO, Deadline reports.

Emmett Till series

Emmett Till, a Black 14-year-old, was brutally murdered in Mississippi in 1955 as retaliation for allegedly flirting with a white woman. Till’s mother Mamie insisted on an open-casket public funeral, with the image of the boy’s mutilated body shocking the country. (The original casket is now at the Smithsonian.)

The woman’s husband and his half-brother were acquitted of the murder, but later confessed their guilt, though double jeopardy meant they could not be tried again. Till’s gruesome death became a powerful symbol and rallying cry for the civil rights movement.

No writer has been added the project yet but it is expected to be six hours long.

Related Topics:Emmett Till Jay-Z Will Smith

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Unheard Voices Staff

Unheard Voices is an award-winning news magazine that started in 2004 as a newsletter in the Asbury Park, Neptune, and Long Branch, NJ areas to broadening into a recognized Black online media outlet. The company is one of the few outlets dedicated to covering social justice issues. They are the recipient of the NAACP Unsung Hero Award and CV Magazine's Innovator Award for Best Social Justice Communications Company.