It was standing room only in the Reynolds Alumni Center Columns Ballroom as the event “Emmett Till: An Eyewitness Account” commenced Wednesday evening.
The event, sponsored by the Legion of Black Collegians, the Missouri Students Association, the Residence Halls Association, One Mizzou and the History Department, brought two eyewitnesses, Simeon Wright and Wheeler Parker Jr., to speak and share their eyewitness account of Till’s story.
Till had allegedly whistled at a white woman while leaving a store with Wright and Parker in 1955. Soon after, Till was kidnapped and murdered at the age of 14. Wright, Till’s second cousin, and Parker, Till’s friend and next door neighbor, shed light on Till’s story.
“There are very few people that have not heard the Emmett Till story, but from someone who was there and someone who is related to (Till) speak on what they witnessed and how they felt made it that much more real,” LBC Communications Chairwoman Ashley Edwards said.
The event was coordinated by LBC Activities Chairwoman Kristen Andrews and freshman Alexis Rogers, National Association of Black Journalists secretary-elect, who grew up in the Chicago area, just as young Till had.
“I’m from the Chicago area so I’ve heard about Emmett Till a lot of times, and I’ve heard (Wright and Parker) speak at some of my other schools before,” Rogers said. “Their impact is great, and I think that is what we need sometimes.”
Rogers said she hopes the impact of the event on students was a big one.
“We’ve had a lot of things happening on Mizzou’s campus, some we are really proud about and some we are not so proud about, and I don’t think that everyone on our campus has been represented in the right way all of the time,” she said. “I thought this (event) would be an awesome thing for everyone to come and feel welcome, and everyone can get something out of it because this can touch every single person in a different way.”
LBC Vice President Cidney King said this event was a once-in-a-lifetime chance and would like to see Wright and Parker come back to MU in the future.
“I’d like to see this event come back, especially with the large turnout we had,” King said. “This event is an inspiration for students. You wouldn’t get this sort of thing from a book.”
Edwards said she agreed the event should eventually return to MU.
“Everybody should be able to hear this story so maybe in a few years when we have a few more classes here and more underclassmen will be able to witness this,” Edwards said.
Rogers said she was very happy with the turnout and would like to bring the event back to MU if the demand is there.
“Everybody (the audience) looks so beautiful, it warms my heart,” she said. “It warms my heart because it shows that people care.”