The original casket of lynching victim Emmett Till could be displayed in the main Smithsonian Institution complex even before an African-American museum opens later in Washington, D.C.
The original casket of lynching victim Emmett Till could be displayed in the main Smithsonian Institution complex even before an African-American museum opens later in Washington, D.C. Till’s family is donating the casket. The director of the planned museum, Lonnie Bunch, says the casket will eventually go to the National Museum of African-American History and Culture when it opens in 2015. There’s no final decision about displaying it earlier. Till’s family scheduled a memorial service to remember the teen Friday — exactly 54 years after he was killed in Mississippi. The casket was recently found at a suburban Chicago cemetery where former workers are suspected of unearthing corpses. Till’s remains weren’t disturbed. But after his body was exhumed in 2005 and reburied, the original casket was simply discarded. ______ In photo: In this July 10, 2009 file photo, the original glass-topped casket of lynching victim Emmett Till is seen rusting in a shack at the Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, Ill., after it was found by investigators at the cemetery where four workers are accused of digging up bodies to resell plots. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green, File) Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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