If Emmett Till Lived: Freedom on American Ground

What if Emmett Till lived? The Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College Chicago (MoCP) is honored to mount an initiative born in collaboration between Sarah Elizabeth Lewis and Reverend Wheeler Parker, Jr., Emmett Till’s cousin, best friend, and the last surviving witness to his kidnapping. In the wake of what would have been Till’s 85th birthday, our project engages individuals and institutions around the country as we ask, “What would Emmett Till’s life have been had he safely boarded the train back home to Chicago? What would that life have required of us all?” At a moment when history is being fiercely contested, and violent opposition still remains to the very idea of honoring Till’s memory, this project serves as a creative monument to his unlived life and continuing legacy. The exhibition, If Emmett Till Lived: Freedom on American Ground brings together photographs by more than 110 artists from MoCP’s permanent collection, inviting viewers to imagine and meditate on the years that Till missed. The standalone publication, If Emmett Till Lived: A Creative Monument, edited by Sarah Elizabeth Lewis and designed by Miko McGinty, features photographs from the show and original essays by Lonnie G. Bunch III, Vinson Cunningham, Paul Farber, Sherrilyn Ifill, Sarah Elizabeth Lewis, Siddhartha Mitter, Jeneé Osterheldt, and Patrick Weems. The book is published by MoCP and DelMonico Books˙D.A.P. The project is a collective endeavor inviting civic and cultural leaders to select an image for the show to represent their hopes for Till’s unlived life. Collaborators in imagining If Emmett Till Lived include Dr. Marvel Parker and Rev. Wheeler Parker, Jr., along with Lonnie G. Bunch III, Chelsea Clinton, Ava DuVernay, Alicia Garza, Sherrilyn Ifill, John Legend, Brent Leggs, Franklin Leonard, Wynton Marsalis, Rep. Ayanna Pressley, RaMell Ross, Amy Sherald, Yara Shahidi, Hank Willis Thomas, Hamza Walker, Patrick Weems, and Deborah Willis. The full set of contributors, including members of the Till family, geographically represent Till’s untaken journey home from Mississippi to Chicago and the Great Migration, born in part of the violence and injustices of the Jim Crow rule that took his life. The project forms a collective arena to consider how freedom has been and can be secured on American ground. We have been deeply moved at the confluence of people and events surrounding this project. Reverend Parker was honored at a dinner held at the Obama Presidential Center at the end of July. Toward the end of August, Patrick Weems’s Emmett Till Interpretive Center in Mississippi will take possession of the barn where Emmett Till was murdered in order to convert this sacred space into a site of remembrance and dedication. And on September 9, in Chicago, the Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ, the site of Emmett Till’s funeral, will unveil a recreation of its historic sign and illuminate it for the first time, heralding the opening of our exhibition. Additionally, a dedicated website— ifemmettlived.org — launched in September 2026, providing visitors with expanded information about the exhibition and its related public programs. Artists featured in If Emmett Till Lived include a cousin of Till, professional photographer Lance Omar Thurman, represented by his image of the remains of Bryant’s Grocery & Meat Market in Money, Mississippi. The full line up of artists includes Hanif Abdur-Rahim, Jody Ake, Harold Allen, Manuel Álvarez Bravo, Stephen Althouse, Tom Arndt, David Avison, Laylah Amatullah Barrayn, Uta Barth, Alun Be, Endia Beal, Dawoud Bey, Jay Boersma, Christian Boltanski, Clarissa Bonet, Phil Borges, Jack D. Bridges, Sheila Pree Bright, Christopher Burkett, Patty Carroll, Keith Carter, William Carter, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Peter Cochrane, Teju Cole, Raul Corrales, Edward Curtiss Colver, Kenn Cook Jr., Barbara Crane, Paul D’Amato, Paul Dahlquist, Bruce Davidson, Tim Davis, Lloyd DeGrane, Adam Ekberg, Paul Elledge, Elliott Erwitt, Terry Evans, Nona Faustine, Scott Fortino, Steven D. Foster, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Russell K. Frederick, Leonard Freed, Lee Friedlander, Daniel Castro Garcia, Gretchen Garner, Meg Gerken, Lyle Ashton Harris, Declan Haun, Todd Hido, Milton J. Hinton, James Hodgson, Earlie Hudnall Jr., Hyers + Mebane (Martin Hyers + William Mebane), James Iska, Dave Jordano, Ron Jude, Michael Kenna, Lewis S. Kostiner, Dorothea Lange, Jason Lazarus, An-My Lê, Annie Leibovitz, Ralph Lemon, Nathan Lerner, Patrick Linehan, Danny Lyon, Sally Mann, Robert Mapplethorpe, Stephen Marc, Diana Matar, Aspen Mays, Cecil McDonald, Jr., Roger Minick, Natasha Leonie Moustache, Kenji Nakahashi, Mário Cravo Neto, Carlos Javier Ortiz, Esther Parada, Gordon Parks, Antonio Perez, Alayna N. Pernell, Jack Perno, Alexis Peskine, Cara Phillips, David Plowden, Marc PoKempner, Brad Richman, Milton Rogovin, Walter Rosenblum, Whitten Sabbatini, Karen Savage, Francesco Scavullo, Victor Schrager, Sara Shamsavari, Arthur Sha