Civil Rights Anthology Series ‘Women of the Movement’ to be Co-produced by Jay-Z & Will Smith
The duo of Will Smith and Jay Z have partnered to produce Emmett Till’s story, as part of the civil rights anthology series ‘Women of the Movement’ which will be told from the perspective of Till’s mother, Mamie Till-Mobley on ABC.
After being shelved by HBO for years, the women-driven series will center around Till-Mobley reliving the horror of her son’s 1955 Mississippi lynching and arrive in the form of an eight-episode first season, which will loosely be based on Devery S. Anderson’s book Emmett Till: The Murder That Shocked the World and Propelled the Civil Rights Movement.
On August 28, 1955, Till was kidnapped and murdered when Carolyn Bryant claimed the then 14-year-old Chicago native whistled at her in a Money, Mississippi, grocery store. Bryant’s husband, Roy Bryant, and his half-brother, J.W. Milam, were acquitted by an all-White jury for the murder.
The brothers later confessed to the crime in an interview with Look magazine. In 2017 Bryant admitted that she lied about her interaction with Till, finally acknowledging that her false statement led to the child’s death.
Till’s killing is considered a turning point in the Civil Rights Movement after his mother, Mamie Till, insisted on an open casket during his funeral. The images of Till’s beaten and bloated body drove home the brutality used against Black people in the South.
Jay-Z and Will Smith previously teamed up on the production side for the 2014 Annie
A release date has yet to be announced.
