Obverse and reverse designs were recommended Nov. 19 by the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee for the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley congressional gold medal. 

The medal is authorized under provisions of Public Law 117-334 signed Jan. 5, 2023, by President Joe Biden.

On Aug. 28, 1955, 14-year-old Emmett Till was kidnapped, beaten, and shot in Money, Mississippi, where he had traveled from Chicago to stay with his great uncle. Emmett’s body was discovered three days later in the Tallahatchie River. His uncle was able to provide eyewitness testimony, but his murderers were still acquitted.

Emmett’s casket during his Chicago funeral was open at his mother’s request so the world could see what the murderers had done to her son.

Despite her grief, Till-Mobley went on a speaking tour around the country to share her son’s story.

She traveled to Mississippi to testify at the trial of her son’s murderers. Her actions became a catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement as her courageous testimony and Emmett’s inextinguishable light exposed the true depths of the horrors born from racism in this country.

Till-Mobley served as chair and co-founder of the Emmett Till Justice Campaign, which had the dual purpose of reopening Emmett Till’s murder case for re-investigation and advocating for Federal legislation to ensure that other racially motivated murders during the Civil Rights era were investigated and, when possible, prosecuted.

The CCAC-recommended obverse design for the medal illustrates Till-Mobley embracing her son as mother and son are enveloped by angel’s wings.

The recommended reverse design depicts a rendering of Till-Mobley towering over Emmett’s casket, pulling back the drapery covering her son’s casket exposing the savagery of his murder, as mourners from all walks of life pass in payment of their respect.

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