Emmett Till's church may become landmark

CHICAGO, Nov. 1 (UPI) -- Chicago is considering landmark status for the church where the mother of Emmett Till added fuel the rapidly growing civil rights movement, a report said.

Till was killed in Mississippi, allegedly for whistling at a white woman. Two men were acquitted, although they later admitted the August 1955 slaying.

Till's mother Mamie Till-Mobley insisted Till's casket be open at his Sept. 3, 1955, funeral at the Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ. Millions saw pictures of Till's disfigured, bloated body in Jet magazine.

University of Pennsylvania civil rights Professor Thomas Sugrue said the funeral closely followed the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down segregated public schools.

"After the open casket, you see this crescendo take place in a very short period -- Rosa Parks on the bus in Montgomery, Martin Luther King establishes the (Southern Christian Leadership Conference), the confrontation in Little Rock with desegregation, the students at the Woolworth's," Sugrue told the Chicago Tribune. "It was bam, bam, bam."

The Commission on Chicago Landmarks is to take up landmark status for the South Side church Thursday.