But Till’s murder was forgotten for 49 years and 11 month in the Delta. Till’s first memorial wasn’t dedicated until July 1, 2005. The region has seen an unprecedented “memory explosion” in the past few years. More than $4million has been spent on dozens of roadside markers and two restored buildings. An interpretive center, two walking parks, a museum, and two other buildings. Many details about what happened to Till that fateful night are still unclear. The sudden investment in Till’s memory raises many questions. This racially charged tale is who gets to tell it? Who decides what happened? What’s driving the construction of these memorials, and who is responsible? These questions are addressed in the recently published book “Remembering Emmett till.” The book suggests that Till’s story has been told through generations, and retold by many memorials. However, the plot was shaped by poverty as well as historical fact. This is especially evident in Glendora in the Mississippi Delta, 150 miles south from Memphis. The village is plagued by poverty and holds on to Till’s story with fervor. Glendora, a community stricken by poverty, is brimming with memorials. There are 18 memorial signs in the tiny community of five streets that honor Emmett Till’s 1955 death. Glendora also houses the Emmett Till Historic intrepid Center, which is a Till-themed park, and the Black Bayou Bridge, which was recently revealed in a New York Times article to be the location from where Till’s body might have fallen in the water. Glendora is also characterized by a shocking level of poverty. Officials from Glendora noted in a federal aid application that Glendora’s median household income was 70% lower than the state average. 68% of Glendora families live below poverty line and only 18% of adults have a high school diploma. According to Glendora Mayor Johnny B. Thomas’ 2017 statistics, 86% of the children live below the poverty level. Partners in Development, an organization that helps the most vulnerable, has chosen to concentrate on Haiti, Guatemala, and Glendora (Mississippi). Two things make the Glendora version unique: Second, although almost every 20th century history of Till’s murder suggests that the murderers dropped his body in the Tallahatchie River (or something like that), Glendora’s commemorative work suggests that Till was actually dropped into the Black Bayou, a tributary that flows from a bridge on Glendora’s south side. This account states that Till’s body was carried by the bayou for three miles to Tallahatchie River. It was then recovered. The second is that, although no historian can say where Till’s body was taken to by the murderers, the Glendora Museum claims the fan was stolen from Glendora Cotton Gin. This fan was allegedly taken from Elmer Kimbell who was a gin employee, and the next-door neighbor to J. W. Milam. These details are disputable While it may seem trivial to these details about Till’s life, Glendora residents often feel that the future of the community is dependent on how Till’s body was weighed down and where it was placed in the water. The Mississippi Development Authority sent an economic development team to Glendora in 2010. The team was charged with devising a plan to save the town from being in poverty. This was a difficult task. They were unable to find any solutions. The only suggestion of the development authority was to have Glendora capitalize upon its connection with the Till murder. They claimed that more commemoration would attract tourists and tourism would lead to economic development. This suggestion was based on Till’s version that maximized Glendora’s relevance. Mayor Thomas knew all of this. He had promoted a Glendora-centric story about Till’s murder, in which Till was dropped in Black Bayou with a fan made from local gin. These claims may seem plausible but they are hard to prove. The Mississippi Department of Archives and History has disproved these claims. This state agency has spent more money on Till’s commemoration that any other organization. It also restored the Tallahatchie County Courthouse which was the site of the Till trial. The agency even invested $200,000 to restore Ben Roy’s Service Station in Money (Mississippi). The Till murder scene is only 67 feet from Bryant’s Grocery and Meat Market. However, the service station was not involved in the crime, with customers allegedly discussing the matter from the porch. However, the agency isn’t convinced Till’s body was dropped off the Black Bayou Bridge. The agency does not believe the fan was taken from the local gin. The agency actually has a five-page Summary of Research in its files that is dedicated to disputing the veracity of these claims. This document found neither claim to be verifiable, and rejected all grant applications submitted by the town._x000D
Thomas was told by one state agency to dig deep into Till’s story, and rejected by another. Thomas gets creative Despite not having the support of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History Thomas was able to create tributes to Till’s history. The work began Sept. 27, 2005. The United States Department of Agriculture granted a Community Connect Broadband Grant for Glendora on that date. The grant, valued at $325 405, was meant to bring broadband connectivity in Glendora. Thomas received the USDA grant and converted the old cotton gin to a community computer lab that offers internet access. He also used funds to build the Emmett Till Historic Intrepid Center, the first Emmett Till museum in the world. This was also located within the gin. The USDA approved the expenses but it is not clear if they knew that the money was being used for a museum. Emmett Till is not mentioned in the 647 pages that the USDA has preserved, including the application, labor contracts and invoices. Glendora was unable to pay the bills after the grant expired. Internet service was cut off. It has not been restored. However, the museum is still open and visitors occasionally visit it. The majority of tourists however go to Sumner which is 12 miles north of Glendora, the location of the trial. The USDA initially funded the museum, but the Glendora Economic and Community Development Corporation (a 501(c),3) founded by Thomas, maintains it on a daily basis. The nonprofit has been given most of the town’s public business, if it is not all. Glendora’s development corp pays city workers, manages 24 Section 8 apartments, and runs the Till museum. Public records show that the nonprofit receives approximately $100,000 per year from the federal Housing Development Fund. The nonprofit pays city workers, maintains the apartments and subsidizes the Till Museum with this money. The question remains unanswered. Was Emmett Till really dropped from the Black Bayou Bridge. Is the fan taken from the local Gin? Elmer Kimbell was involved? Perhaps. It is difficult to distinguish the veracity and poverty of these claims. Thomas has been able to leverage the town’s poverty to support the museum; the museum, in turn, supports Glendora’s plausible-but-unverifiable theories of Till’s murder. Glendora would have been able to keep this story alive if she were wealthy. The Black Bayou Bridge and Elmer Kimbell wouldn’t be remembered. Glendora isn’t wealthy. Glendora is not wealthy. Instead, stories about Kimbell and Glendora Cotton Gin, as well as the Black Bayou Bridge, continue to circulate, sometimes from the most prestigious media outlets._x000D