MOCP OPENS IF EMMETT TILL LIVED | FREEDOM ON AMERICAN GROUND

Stephen Marc, Untitled, from Changing Chicago Project, 1988. Gelatin silver print. Courtesy: Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College Chicago.

The Museum of Contemporary Photography (MoCP) invites the public to a day of programming marking the opening of If Emmett Till Lived: Freedom on American Ground, an exhibition curated by Dr. Sarah Elizabeth Lewis and Reverend Wheeler Parker, Jr., Emmett Till's cousin, close friend, and last surviving witness to his 1955 kidnapping.

The Opening Convening brings together an extraordinary roster of participants, including artist Dawoud Bey; Lonnie G. Bunch III, 14th Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution and founding director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture; Sharon L. Davies of the Charles F. Kettering Foundation; Dr. Paul M. Farber of Monument Lab; attorney Sherrilyn Ifill; Former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu; Brent Leggs of the National Trust for Historic Preservation; artist Cecil McDonald, Jr.; and artist avery r. young, alongside Reverend Parker and Dr. Lewis. A reception at MoCP follows the convening.

Date: Thursday, September 10, 2026

Time: 3:00 – 6:00 p.m. CT

Convening Location: Columbia College Chicago Student Center, 754 S. Wabash Ave., 5th Floor Auditorium

Reception Location: MoCP, 600 S. Michigan Ave. (ground level)

This program is free and open to the public. Registration is required.

REGISTER HERE