Mamie Till  1921-2003

An American educator and activist in the Civil rights movement, Mamie Till was the mother of Emmett Till, the 14-year-old youth murdered in Mississippi on August 28, 1955, after being accused of offending a white grocery store cashier named Carolyn Bryant. For Emmett's funeral in Chicago, Mamie Till insisted that the coffin containing his body be left open because, in her words, "I wanted the world to see what they did to my baby."  Allowing the world to see graphic images of her son in Jet Magazine and the Chicago Defender made it hard for people to ignore the violence being perpetrated against Black bodies. 

King Rail populations have declined by an estimated 4.5% per year since 1966, indicating a cumulative decline of 90% over that period.