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

11 years ago

July 25, 2015

UVM 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.

Table of Contents

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.

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