Mother of lynching victim Emmett Till dies

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - The mother of Emmett Till, whose 1955 race-motivated killing became a catalyst for the civil rights movement, has died. <br> <br> Mamie Till Mobley, 81, died Monday at Chicago&#39;s Saint Bernard Hospital, the Cook County medical examiner&#39;s office confirmed. The cause of death was not immediately available. <br> <br> Mobley had been scheduled to visit the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site in Atlanta this weekend for the closing ceremonies of an exhibition of lynching photos. <br> <br> an Associated Press article last month, Mobley said she remained haunted by the Mississippi killing of her 14-year-old son. An all-white jury acquitted half brothers J.W. Milam and Roy Bryant in the black teenager&#39;s death, though Look magazine published an article with their alleged confession four months later. <br> <br> ``I&#39;ve been trying to get that case reopened since 1956,&#39;&#39; said Mobley, who traveled the country speaking about the case. ``People have told me to let this thing die, even people in my own family. But people need to be aware.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Till was vacationing in the Delta town of Money, Miss., on Aug. 24, 1955, when he allegedly whistled at a white woman. Mobley told The Associated Press that her son, from Chicago, had been naive and didn&#39;t understand the reality of lynchings at the time, though she had warned him. <br> <br> Four days after the so-called ``wolf whistle,&#39;&#39; Till was abducted from his uncle&#39;s home in the night. His battered body was found with a bullet hole in the head three days later, in the Tallahatchie River. It was submerged with a cotton gin fan. <br> <br> The trial drew international attention, with more than 100 news reporters in attendance. Black reporters were forced to sit in the ``blacks only&#39;&#39; section. <br> <br> Civil rights leaders credit both Till and Mobley with helping to spark the movement that ended Jim Crow segregation laws and passed the Civil Rights Act, the Rev. Jesse Jackson said Monday. <br> <br> ``She was a very articulate teacher who saw the pain of her son and did a profound, strategic thing,&#39;&#39; Jackson said. ``When they pulled his water-soaked body from the river, most people would have kept the casket closed. She kept it open.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Jackson said more than 100,000 people viewed the body in Chicago and were transformed. Months later, a bus boycott in Montgomery, Ala., started a cycle of nonviolent protests. <br> <br> ``The lynching and martyrdom of Emmett Till was a pivotal moment in American history,&#39;&#39; Jackson said. ``It is true that the 1954 Supreme Court decision broke the legal chains of Jim Crow. The martyrdom of Emmett Till broke the emotional bond and created a resolve to fight back.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> The case has been the subject of recent documentary films, a book and an upcoming memoir by Mobley, expected to be published by Random House this year. In the past, Till&#39;s death was the inspiration for song lyrics by Bob Dylan and essays by Langston Hughes. <br> <br> Mobley was suffering from kidney failure before her death, though she continued traveling to make speeches about her son&#39;s death. <br> <br> ``This has just grated on my mind because the trial was so unfair,&#39;&#39; she said. ``And this little boy, he was just a little piece of dust in the wind.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Family members initially had no comment about her death, though cousin Erica Gordon said they would issue a statement Monday night.