Dave Tell, Speaker
Associate professor of communication studies at KU and co-creator of the Emmett Till Memory Project. His work on Emmett Till has been recognized with a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities
The Murder of Emmett Till
Presentation by: Dave Tell
On August 25, 1955, Emmett Till whistled at a white woman outside a Mississippi grocery store. Three days later, the 14-year-old African-American boy from Chicago was kidnapped, tortured, murdered, and thrown into a river. For the next 50 years, there was not a single memorial to Till’s murder in the Mississippi Delta. Since 2005, however, nine roadside markers, two restored buildings, a museum, an interpretive center, a community building, and a nature trail that tells the story of Till’s 1955 murder. This presentation introduces the audience to the various Till memorials and uses them to explore the competing narratives of exactly what happened on the night of the murder.
Contact Dave directly about speaking at your event:
(785) 864-0450
davetell@ku.edu