Lynching

President Joe Biden signed the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act Tuesday, an anti-lynching bill that was first introduced over 120 years ago and failed to pass ...

During a video interview after the bill signing, Mr. Parker credited current events for helping the anti-lynching bill move through Congress and to Mr. Biden’s desk. “Lynching is not a relic of the past,” she added. His mother, Mamie Till, insisted on an open casket at the funeral to show the brutality he had suffered. The House approved the bill 422-3 on March 7, with eight members not voting, after it cleared the Senate by unanimous consent. Mr. Till, 14, had traveled from his Chicago home to visit relatives in Mississippi in 1955 when it was alleged that he whistled at a white woman. He was also joined by a descendant of Ida B. Wells, a Black journalist who reported on lynchings, and Rev. Wheeler Parker, a cousin of Mr. Till. Mr. Parker, two years older than Mr. Till, was with his cousin at their relatives’ home in Mississippi and witnessed Mr. Till’s kidnapping. Two white men, Roy Bryant and his half-brother J.W. Milam, were accused but acquitted by an all-white-male jury. It’s law,” said the president, who was surrounded by Vice President Kamala Harris, members of Congress, and top Justice Department officials. “Hate never goes away. Congress first considered anti-lynching legislation more than 120 years ago. Ms. Harris was a prime sponsor of the bill when she was in the Senate.