Mamie Till-Mobley Memorial Stamp Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 7272 To provide for the issuance of a commemorative postage stamp in honor of Mamie Till-Mobley, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 18, 2020 Mr. RUSH introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform A BILL To provide for the issuance of a commemorative postage stamp in honor of Mamie Till-Mobley, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Mamie Till-Mobley Me- 4 morial Stamp Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 The Congress finds the following: 7 (1) Emmett Louis Till was born to Mamie Eliz- 8 abeth Till-Mobley on July 25, 1941, in Chicago, Illi- 9 nois. 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:20 Jul 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7272.IH H7272 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 7272 IH (2) Emmett Till was raised by Mamie Till- 1 Mobley in the Woodlawn neighborhood of Chicago’s 2 South Side, attending the nearby McCosh Elemen- 3 tary School. 4 (3) In August of 1955, Emmett Till traveled to 5 Tallahatchie County, Mississippi, to visit his great 6 uncle, Moses Wright. 7 (4) Before Emmett Till traveled to Tallahatchie 8 County, Mamie Till-Mobley cautioned him about the 9 dangers of the segregated South, instructing him to 10 ‘‘be very careful . . . humble himself to the extent 11 of getting down on his knees’’. 12 (5) When purchasing bubble gum in Money, 13 Mississippi, Emmett Till was falsely accused of flirt- 14 ing with shopkeeper Carolyn Bryant, who would ac- 15 knowledge that her own claims were false in 2017. 16 (6) Emmett Till was abducted at gunpoint from 17 Moses Wright’s home by Roy Bryant and J.W. 18 Milam on August 28, 1955. 19 (7) Full of vitriol and racial hatred, Roy Bryant 20 and J.W. Milam beat, tortured, and killed Emmett 21 Till with senseless brutality. 22 (8) Emmett Till’s body was found in the 23 Tallahatchie River, having been so gruesomely tor- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:20 Jul 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7272.IH H7272 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 7272 IH tured that it was only recognizable from his father’s 1 ring on his finger. 2 (9) When Emmett Till’s body was recovered, 3 his ear was found torn, his eye was displaced, his 4 teeth were missing, and the iron cotton gin fan used 5 in his murder was still attached to his corpse. 6 (10) On September 2, 1955, Mamie Till-Mobley 7 received her son’s casket at the Illinois Central Ter- 8 minal, falling in grief at its sight. 9 (11) Mamie Till-Mobley demonstrated exem- 10 plary bravery, requesting an open-casket funeral for 11 her son, because in her words, ‘‘everybody needed to 12 know what had happened to Emmett Till’’. 13 (12) Over a four-day period, over 50,000 visi- 14 tors viewed Emmett Till’s body at the Roberts Tem- 15 ple Church of God in Christ. 16 (13) The horror and grief caused across the 17 country and across the world by the photos of 18 Emmet Till’s body helped spark the civil rights 19 movement. 20 (14) The Reverend Jesse Jackson would de- 21 scribe Emmett Till’s open-casket funeral as the 22 ‘‘big-bang’’ of the civil rights movement. 23 (15) Emmett Till was laid to rest at Burr Oak 24 Cemetery on September 6, 1955, in Alsip, Illinois. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:20 Jul 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7272.IH H7272 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 7272 IH (16) During the trial, Moses Wright and other 1 local residents demonstrated unspeakable courage by 2 identifying Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam as Emmett 3 Till’s killers in open court. 4 (17) The all White jury deliberated for just 67 5 minutes, arriving at their preposterous verdict to ac- 6 quit Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam. 7 (18) In a January 1965 interview with Look 8 magazine, Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam admitted to 9 having gruesomely killed Emmett Till. 10 (19) Mamie Till-Mobley continued to be a 11 champion for civil rights after Emmett Till’s death 12 and funeral. 13 (20) Mamie Till-Mobley would earn a bachelor’s 14 degree cum laude from Chicago Teachers College in 15 1956 and earned a master’s degree in administra- 16 tion and supervision from Loyola University Chicago 17 in 1975. 18 (21) Mamie Till-Mobley distinguished herself as 19 a special education teacher in Chicago. 20 (22) Mamie Till-Mobley authored ‘‘Death of In- 21 nocence’’, with Christopher Benson, which was pub- 22 lished months after her passing. 23 (23) Mamie Till-Mobley passed away on Janu- 24 ary 7, 2003, at the age of 81. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:20 Jul 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7272.IH H7272 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 7272 IH (24) On February 26, 2020, the House passed 1 H.R. 35, the Emmett Till Antilynching Act to com- 2 memorate the life of Emmett Till, make lynching a 3 Federal crime, and correct a deep historical injus- 4 tice. 5 SEC. 3. MAMIE TILL-MOBLEY COMMEMORATIVE POSTAGE 6 STAMP. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Postmaster General shall 8 issue a commemorative postage stamp in honor of Mamie 9 Till-Mobley. 10 (b) DENOMINATION; DESIGNS.—The commemorative 11 postage stamp issued under this Act shall be issued in the 12 denomination used for first class mail up to one ounce in 13 weight and shall bear such designs as the Postmaster Gen- 14 eral shall determine. 15 (c) ISSUANCE PERIOD.—The commemorative postage 16 stamp issued under this Act shall be placed on sale as 17 soon as practicable after the date of the enactment of this 18 Act and shall be sold for such period thereafter as the 19 Postmaster General shall determine. 20 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:20 Jul 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H7272.IH H7272 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS