Emmett Till marker in Mississippi toppled but not vandalized

By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS
Associated Press

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — An Emmett Till historical marker in Mississippi will be repaired after being knocked off the pole that supports it. That’s according to Allan Hammons, president of an advertising agency that made the sign. A previous version of this metal sign was vandalized and another Till historical marker in the area was shot multiple times. Hammons told The Associated Press on Friday the sign was not defaced this time. Till was a Black teenager from Chicago who was killed in Mississippi in 1955 after witnesses said he whistled at a white woman in a country store. His killing and an all-white jury’s acquittal of two white men who later confessed became a catalyst for the civil rights movement.