The lynching of Emmett Till in 1955 and the courageous decision of his mother, Mamie Till Mobley, to display his mutilated body to the public was one of the events that galvanized the civil rights movement. Benjamin Saulsberry from the Emmett Till Interpretive Center in Sumner, Mississippi, and NIOT board member Joyce Trotman-Jordan will discuss that event, compare and contrast with the current situation, and some ways in which we can respond to racial injustices of today using the resources at our disposal.
Benjamin Saulsberry is Public Engagement and Museum Education Director at the Emmett Till Interpretive Center in Sumner, Mississippi. He is a native of West Tallahatchie County, Mississippi. He grew up surrounded by social justice activism, which he credits for his deep care and concern for his community today. Ben joined the Emmett Till Interpretive Center in 2016 and has spoken on race, racism, and racial reconciliation across the country on behalf of the Center, including at Harvard Law in 2017 and the University of Detroit at Mercy in 2019. He attended Mississippi Valley State University and the University of Mississippi for graduate work in music.
Joyce Trotman-Jordan is a retired educator with 40 years of experience in public school as a teacher and school counselor with extensive background knowledge in multicultural counseling. Teaching in an urban environment before transferring to a suburban school district, she has seen the inequity in our schools first hand. She earned her BA from Rutgers University in Elementary Education and her Ed.M degree from the Graduation School of Education, Rutgers University in the field of Counseling Psychology and Guidance. Joyce also sits on the Board of Millhill Child and Family Development Center in Trenton. As an avid equestrian you can find Joyce talking about horses or riding stables anytime of the day! If you ask her about her first encounter with racial equity she will undoubtedly tell you about Lerone Bennett Jr.
This event was recorded on May 1, 2023.