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When President Joe Biden signed a proclamation Tuesday establishing a national monument honoring Emmett Till and his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, it marked the fulfillment of a promise Emmett鈥檚 relatives made after his death 68 years ago.

The Black teenager from Chicago, whose abduction, torture, and killing in Mississippi in 1955 helped propel the Civil Rights Movement, is now an American story, not just a civil rights story, said Emmett鈥檚 cousin the Rev. Wheeler Parker Jr.

鈥淚t has been quite a journey for me from the darkness to the light,鈥� Mr. Parker said during a proclamation signing ceremony at the White House attended by dozens, including other family members, members of Congress, and civil rights leaders.

鈥淏ack then in the darkness, I could never imagine the moment like this, standing in the light of wisdom, grace, and deliverance,鈥� he said.

With the stroke of Mr. Biden鈥檚 pen, the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument, located across three sites in two states, became federally-protected places. Before signing the proclamation, the president said he marvels at the courage of the Till family to 鈥渇ind faith and purpose in pain.鈥�

鈥淭oday, on what would have been Emmett鈥檚 82nd birthday, we add another chapter in the story of remembrance and healing,鈥� Mr. Biden said.

It鈥檚 the fourth such designation by the Democratic president鈥檚 administration, reflecting its broader civil rights agenda, the White House said. The move comes as conservative leaders, mostly at the state and local levels, push legislation that limits the teaching of slavery and Black history in public schools.

鈥淎t a time when there are those who seek to ban books [and] bury history, we鈥檙e making clear, crystal clear,鈥� Mr. Biden said. 鈥淲e can鈥檛 just choose to learn what we want to know. We should know everything 鈥� the good, the bad, the truth of who we are as a nation. That鈥檚 what great nations do.鈥�

On Tuesday, reaction poured in from other elected officials and from the civil rights organizing community. The Rev. Al Sharpton said the Till national monument designation tells him 鈥渢hat out of pain comes power.鈥�

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jefferies said the monument 鈥減laces the life and legacy of Emmett Till among our nation鈥檚 most treasured memorials.鈥�

鈥淏lack history is American history,鈥� he said in a written statement.

Emmett鈥檚 family members, along with a national organization seeking to preserve Black cultural heritage sites, say their work protecting the Till legacy continues. They hope to raise money to restore the sites and develop educational programming to support their inclusion in the National Park System.

Brent Leggs, executive director of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, said the federal designation is a milestone in a yearslong effort to preserve and protect places tied to events that have shaped the nation and that symbolize national wounds.

鈥淲e believe that not until Black history matters will Black lives and Black bodies matter,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hrough reckoning with America鈥檚 racist past, we have the opportunity to heal.鈥�

The African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund has provided $750,000 in grant funding since 2017 to help rescue sites important to the Till legacy. A number of other philanthropic organizations have contributed several million dollars towards the preservation of the Till sites.

Mr. Biden鈥檚 proclamation protects places that are central to the story of Emmett Till鈥檚 life and death at age 14, the acquittal of his white killers by an all-white jury, and his late mother鈥檚 activism.

In the summer of 1955, Mamie Till-Mobley put her son Emmett on a train to her native Mississippi, where he was to spend time with his uncle and his cousins. In the overnight hours of Aug. 28, 1955, Emmett was taken from his uncle鈥檚 home at gunpoint by two vengeful white men.

Emmett鈥檚 alleged crime? Flirting with the wife of one of his kidnappers.

His mother, Ms. Till-Mobley demanded that Emmett鈥檚 mutilated remains be taken back to Chicago for a public, open-casket funeral that was attended by tens of thousands of people. Graphic images taken of Emmett鈥檚 remains, sanctioned by his mother, were published by Jet magazine and fueled the Civil Rights Movement.

At the trial of his killers in Mississippi, Ms. Till-Mobley bravely took the witness stand to counter the perverse image of her son that defense attorneys had painted for jurors and trial watchers.

Altogether, the Till national monument will include 5.7 acres of land and two historic buildings. The Mississippi sites are Graball Landing, the spot where Emmett鈥檚 body was pulled from the Tallahatchie River just outside of Glendora, Mississippi, and the Tallahatchie County Second District Courthouse in Sumner, Mississippi, where Emmett鈥檚 killers were tried.

At Graball Landing, a memorial sign installed in 2008 had been repeatedly stolen and was riddled with bullets. An inch-thick bulletproof sign was erected at the site in October 2019.

The Illinois site is Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ in Chicago, where Emmett鈥檚 funeral was held in September 1955.

Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth, who originally introduced the bipartisan legislation to federally recognize and protect Roberts Temple, noted the church鈥檚 importance to the history of Chicago and the nation.

鈥淚t鈥檚 past time we recognize how national monuments can not only teach us about our history 鈥� but provoke us to build a more just future,鈥� the Democratic senator said in a statement.

Mississippi state Sen. David Jordan was a freshman at Mississippi Valley State College in 1955 when he attended part of the trial of the two men charged with killing Emmett. As a state senator for the past 30 years, Jordan, who is Black, spearheaded fundraising for a statue of Emmett Till that was dedicated last year in Greenwood, Mississippi, a few miles from where the teenager was abducted.

On Tuesday, Mr. Jordan praised Mr. Biden for creating the Till national monument.

鈥淚t鈥檚 one of the greatest honors that a president could pay to a person, 14 [years old], who lost his life in Mississippi that鈥檚 created a movement that changed America,鈥� Mr. Jordan told the AP.

Daphne Chamberlain, a history professor at Tougaloo College in Jackson, Mississippi, said Emmett鈥檚 brutal killing continues to resonate in racial justice issues of today.

鈥淥ver the past decade or so, we have seen as a nation the murder of young Black men like Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, Tyre Nichols in Memphis, [and] Ahmaud Arbery,鈥� she said. 鈥淚n each of these instances, what we have also seen is the bravery of the mothers in coming to the forefront and speaking out against what happened to their sons, but also making sure that they stayed the course in pursuing justice.鈥�

The Till national monument joins dozens of federally recognized landmarks, buildings, and other places in the Deep South, in the North, and out West that represent historical events and tragedies from the Civil Rights Movement. For example, in Atlanta, sites representing the life and legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., including his birth home and Ebenezer Baptist Church, are all part of the National Park Service.

The designation often requires public and private entities to work together on developing interpretation centers at each site so that anyone who visits can understand the site鈥檚 significance. The hiring of park rangers is supported through partnerships with the National Park Foundation, the park service鈥檚 official nonprofit, and the National Parks Conservation Association.

Increasingly, the park service includes sites 鈥渢hat are part of the arc of justice in this country, both telling where we鈥檝e come from, how far we鈥檝e come, and frankly, how far we have to still go,鈥� said Will Shafroth, the president and CEO of the National Park Foundation.

For Mr. Parker, who was 16 years old when he witnessed Emmett鈥檚 abduction, the Till monument proclamation begins to lift the weight of trauma that he has carried for most of his life. In an interview with the AP ahead of Tuesday鈥檚 White House event, Mr. Parker reflected on the decades-long fight to portray Emmett and his story in a proper light.

鈥淚鈥檝e been suffering for all these years of how they鈥檝e portrayed him 鈥� I still deal with that,鈥� Mr. Parker, said of his cousin Emmett.

鈥淭he truth should carry itself, but it doesn鈥檛 have wings. You have to put some wings on it.鈥�

This story was reported by The Associated Press. AP writers Emily Wagster Pettus in Jackson, Mississippi, and Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report.