I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4581 
To provide for the issuance of a commemorative postage stamp in honor 
of Mamie Till-Mobley, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 20, 2021 
Mr. RUSH (for himself, Mr. CARSON, Mrs. HAYES, Mr. KHANNA, Ms. NOR-
TON, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Ms. PRESSLEY, and Mr. THOMPSON of Mis-
sissippi) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Oversight and Reform 
A BILL 
To provide for the issuance of a commemorative postage 
stamp in honor of Mamie Till-Mobley, and for other 
purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Mamie Till-Mobley Me-
morial Stamp Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds the following: 
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(1) Emmett Louis Till was born to Mamie Eliz-
abeth Till-Mobley on July 25, 1941, in Chicago, Illi-
nois. 
(2) Emmett Till was raised by Mamie Till- 
Mobley in the Woodlawn neighborhood of Chicago’s 
South Side, attending the nearby McCosh Elemen-
tary School. 
(3) In August of 1955, Emmett Till traveled to 
Tallahatchie County, Mississippi, to visit his great 
uncle, Moses Wright. 
(4) Before Emmett Till traveled to Tallahatchie 
County, Mamie Till-Mobley cautioned him about the 
dangers of the segregated South, instructing him to 
‘‘be very careful . . . humble himself to the extent 
of getting down on his knees’’. 
(5) When purchasing bubble gum in Money, 
Mississippi, Emmett Till was falsely accused of flirt-
ing with shopkeeper Carolyn Bryant, who would ac-
knowledge that her own claims were false in 2017. 
(6) Emmett Till was abducted at gunpoint from 
Moses Wright’s home by Roy Bryant and J.W. 
Milam on August 28, 1955. 
(7) Full of vitriol and racial hatred, Roy Bryant 
and J.W. Milam beat, tortured, and killed Emmett 
Till with senseless brutality. 
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(8) Emmett Till’s body was found in the 
Tallahatchie River, having been so gruesomely tor-
tured that it was only recognizable from his father’s 
ring on his finger. 
(9) When Emmett Till’s body was recovered, 
his ear was found torn, his eye was displaced, his 
teeth were missing, and the iron cotton gin fan used 
in his murder was still attached to his corpse. 
(10) On September 2, 1955, Mamie Till-Mobley 
received her son’s casket at the Illinois Central Ter-
minal, falling in grief at its sight. 
(11) Mamie Till-Mobley demonstrated exem-
plary bravery, requesting an open-casket funeral for 
her son, because in her words, ‘‘everybody needed to 
know what had happened to Emmett Till’’. 
(12) Over a four-day period, over 50,000 visi-
tors viewed Emmett Till’s body at the Roberts Tem-
ple Church of God in Christ. 
(13) The horror and grief caused across the 
country and across the world by the photos of 
Emmet Till’s body helped spark the civil rights 
movement. 
(14) The Reverend Jesse Jackson would de-
scribe Emmett Till’s open-casket funeral as the 
‘‘big-bang’’ of the civil rights movement. 
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(15) Emmett Till was laid to rest at Burr Oak 
Cemetery on September 6, 1955, in Alsip, Illinois. 
(16) During the trial, Moses Wright and other 
local residents demonstrated unspeakable courage by 
identifying Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam as Emmett 
Till’s killers in open court. 
(17) The all White jury deliberated for just 67 
minutes, arriving at their preposterous verdict to ac-
quit Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam. 
(18) In a January 1965 interview with Look 
magazine, Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam admitted to 
having gruesomely killed Emmett Till. 
(19) Mamie Till-Mobley continued to be a 
champion for civil rights after Emmett Till’s death 
and funeral. 
(20) Mamie Till-Mobley would earn a bachelor’s 
degree cum laude from Chicago Teachers College in 
1956 and earned a master’s degree in administra-
tion and supervision from Loyola University Chicago 
in 1975. 
(21) Mamie Till-Mobley distinguished herself as 
a special education teacher in Chicago. 
(22) Mamie Till-Mobley authored ‘‘Death of In-
nocence’’, with Christopher Benson, which was pub-
lished months after her passing. 
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(23) Mamie Till-Mobley passed away on Janu-
ary 7, 2003, at the age of 81. 
(24) On February 26, 2020, the House passed 
H.R. 35, the Emmett Till Antilynching Act to com-
memorate the life of Emmett Till, make lynching a 
Federal crime, and correct a deep historical injus-
tice. 
SEC. 3. MAMIE TILL-MOBLEY COMMEMORATIVE POSTAGE 
STAMP. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Postmaster General shall 
issue a commemorative postage stamp in honor of Mamie 
Till-Mobley. 
(b) DENOMINATION; DESIGNS.—The commemorative 
postage stamp issued under this Act shall be issued in the 
denomination used for first class mail up to one ounce in 
weight and shall bear such designs as the Postmaster Gen-
eral shall determine. 
(c) ISSUANCE PERIOD.—The commemorative postage 
stamp issued under this Act shall be placed on sale as 
soon as practicable after the date of the enactment of this 
Act and shall be sold for such period thereafter as the 
Postmaster General shall determine. 
Æ 
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