CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Before he was brutally murdered in Mississippi in 1955, 14-year-old Emmett Till lived with his mother Mamie Till Mobley in a two-flat at 6427 S. St. Lawrence Ave. in Chicago’s South Side.
In October 2020, an organization called Blacks in Green bought the home, and it’s now received a $150,000 grant from the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund to help restore the building.
“We’re so excited to be able to bring it forth in a new glory,” said Naomi Davis, founder and CEO of Blacks in Green.
The second floor will be restored to the way it looked when Emmett Till lived there, and the first floor will be used for exhibitions.
Davis said they’ve sought input from Till’s family members.
“They’re extremely pleased and proud,” Davis said. “They’ve been supportive all along the way.”
The money will help Blacks in Green hire a manager or curator for the Till-Mobley house, Davis said.
Davis said the goal is to open the Till-Mobley house to the public in 2025.
Till’s birthday is July 25. He would have been 81.
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