WOODLAWN — A South Side nonprofit working to establish West Woodlawn as an environmental justice hotspot will honor Emmett Till’s birthday by kicking off renovations to his family home, debuting an art installation and hosting an ice cream social this weekend.
A celebration of Till’s 82nd birthday takes place 1-6 p.m. Sunday at the future Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley House Museum, 6427 S. St. Lawrence Ave. in Woodlawn. To RSVP, click here.
Nonprofit Blacks in Green will host the afternoon of activities, including the launch of an original art installation by Germane Barnes, a groundbreaking ceremony for exterior improvements to the Till house, an ice cream bar, live music and entertainment, line dancing lessons, a petting zoo and more.
“We’re using our events this weekend … to get out the good news about the great things that are possible when we work together as neighbors,” Blacks in Green founder Naomi Davis said.
Blacks in Green plans to open a house museum, garden, and community performance theater at the Till home in 2025.
Crews will install a green-energy and solar roof and energy-efficient windows, repair masonry, and replace doors using $250,000 from the city’s Adopt-a-Landmark Fund. The two-flat was named a Chicago Landmark in 2021.
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Till, the 14-year-old Chicagoan killed by white supremacists in Mississippi 65 years ago, lived with his mother on the second floor of the St. Lawrence Avenue home while his uncle and cousins lived on the first floor. He was born July 25, 1941.
Till and his cousins visited a general store owned by Roy Bryant in Money, Mississippi, on Aug. 24, 1955. Bryant’s wife Carolyn accused Till of whistling at her. Days later, Bryant and his half-brother J.W. Milam kidnapped and tortured Till before shooting him in the head and throwing his body in the river.
Till’s death, and Till-Mobley’s decision to display her son’s brutalized body at an open-casket funeral in Bronzeville, helped spark the Civil Rights Movement of the ’50s and ’60s.
Barnes’ installation, titled “Be Careful, I Always Am,” surrounds the Till house with a three-story scaffold symbolizing Till-Mobley’s protection and care for her son.
The scaffold will include oral histories and designs inspired by Till’s love of Superman comics and the tie he wore in an iconic picture of him. The installation also includes hammocks for visitors to use.
Barnes will give a presentation on the piece as part of Blacks in Green’s monthly lecture series.
Information about how neighbors can join the volunteer cast of “Fertile Ground,” a performance honoring the Great Migration and sustainable living on the South Side, will also be available at Sunday’s event.
“Fertile Ground” consists of spoken word, dances and songs inspired by life experiences of residents along the Stony Island Avenue corridor and the greater South Side. It’s organized by Blacks in Green and Deeply Rooted Dance Company.
Neighbors with unique stories about Black Chicago history can participate in casting calls and rehearsals in the weeks leading up to the free performance 6 p.m. Aug. 12 at the Logan Center for the Arts, 915 E. 60th St. in Hyde Park.
Community-led productions in the vein of “Fertile Ground” will be the focus of the Till house museum’s performance theater when it opens, Davis said.
“We’re building up an economy around [theater] because whether it’s marketing, set design, tech, hair and makeup, wardrobe, art direction or managing direction, Chicago has a booming theater industry” that West Woodlawn is ready to capitalize on, Davis said.
Blacks in Green has won a series of major financial awards in recent months as the group establishes the “Sustainable Square Mile” in West Woodlawn with green energy, horticulture and tourism initiatives.
The group received $10 million from the Environmental Protection Agency in June to provide technical assistance and training to community organizations in environmental justice communities across the Midwest.
The organization also received $1.5 million from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ Earth Fund this week, which will help organizers develop green spaces and green infrastructure, buy vacant properties and hire more full-time staff.
“We’re pouring our resources, attention and love into this [Sustainable Square Mile] pilot,” Davis said. “We want 60 sustainable square miles across the city and 10,000 across the country, but we’re starting with West Woodlawn with the hope and intention … to replicate our work on [the pilot] in other neighborhoods.”
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