Mobley, Mamie Till (1921–2003)

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Mobley, Mamie Till (1921–2003)

African-American educator and civil-rights activist. Name variations: Mamie E. Mobley; Mamie Till or Mamie Till-Mobley. Born Mamie Carthan, Nov 23, 1921, in Webb, Mississippi; grew up in Chicago; died Jan 6, 2003, in Chicago, IL; dau. of John and Alma Carthan; m. Louis Till, Oct 14, 1940 (sep. 1942, executed in Italy, 1945); m. Gene "Pink" Bradley, c. 1952 (div. c. 1954); married once more; children: Emmett Till (b. 1941).

For 50 years, sought justice for her son, who was murdered at age 14 and thrown into a river in Mississippi because he supposedly whistled at a white woman (1955); demanded his disfigured body be displayed in an open coffin in his hometown of Chicago, causing the spark that ignited the civil-rights movement; taught in Chicago Public Schools for 26 years; championed children in poor neighborhoods and spoke out against racial injustice.

See also memoir (with Chris Benson) Death of Innocence (Random House, 2004).