Emmett Till sign rededicated Tuesday — what would have been his 76th birthday

On what would have been his 76th birthday, a sign honoring Emmett Till was rededicated Tuesday outside the former Bryant’s Grocery in Money.

“The quest for freedom will always move forward thanks to the good people, black and white, in Mississippi in spite of what has happened," Leslie Burl McLemore, a member of the Mississippi Freedom Trail Task Force and professor emeritus at Jackson State University, told those gathered. "People who persist in love, freedom and good will prevail in the long term.”

The repaired marker restores information detailing how Till’s death in 1955 helped propel the modern civil rights movement. Visitors to the marker discovered it was defaced in June.

McLemore reassured those present, including several of Till's relatives, that "love has more power than hate."

Till has been dead for more than 60 years, but he has never been more alive in the American consciousness, most recently when NBA star LeBron James mentioned the courage of Till's mother after his own home became the target of a racist attack.

On Sept. 23, 1955, an all-white, all-male jury acquitted half-brothers Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam of murder in Till's slaying.

Months later, the two men confessed to Look magazine they had indeed beaten and killed Till after he reportedly wolf-whistled at Bryant's then wife, Carolyn, who divorced him and now bears the last name Donham.

And now she has admitted that she lied when she testified that Till was guilty of grabbing her — a lie she repeated to the FBI a decade ago.

She admitted her lie to Tim Tyson, author of the book, "The Blood of Emmett Till," saying, "Nothing that boy did could ever justify what happened to him."

But she never gave a reason in Tyson's book why she lied.

The Emmett Till marker was the first marker on the Mississippi Freedom Trail, which was launched in 2011, and it is the only marker to ever be damaged on the trail.

“Repairing the Emmett Till marker on the Mississippi Freedom Trail quickly was our top priority,” said Visit Mississippi Director Craig Ray.

Davis Houck, a member of the Emmett Till Memory Project and Fannie Lou Hamer professor of rhetorical studies at Florida State University, said the fact that Mississippi and its public officials "prioritized repairing the defaced sign is a testament to Emmett Till's importance to so many in the state. The additional fact that they rededicated the sign on what would have been Till's 76th birthday adds pathos and significance to our collective memory of his death."

Contact Jerry Mitchell at (601) 961-7064 or jmitchell@gannett.com. Follow him onFacebook andTwitter.