“What a fine young man you’re becoming,” Mamie Till-Mobley (Adrienne Warren, “Orange Is the New Black”) tells her son in “Women of the Movement,” ABC’s upcoming anthology series about the female activists who shaped the civil rights movement. A teaser has arrived for the first season, which centers on Mamie as she seeks justice for her son, Emmett Till (Cedric Joe, “Space Jam: A New Legacy”), who was abducted, tortured, and murdered by two white men in 1955, at the age of 14.
“People need to know what they did,” Mamie stresses in the spot. The real-life Till-Mobley helped spur the civil rights movement by demanding an open-casket funeral for her son — she wanted “the world to see what they did to [her] baby.” Tens of thousands of people viewed Till’s body, and pictures of his casket and funeral were circulated across the country. Till-Mobley also shared the story of her son on a successful NAACP tour. Till’s original casket is now housed in the Smithsonian Museum of African American History & Culture.
“Fighting for your child is going to inspire other women,” Mamie is told in the teaser.
“Women of the Movement” is created by Marissa Jo Cerar (“The Handmaid’s Tale”). She wrote the first episode, and Gina Prince-Bythewood directed; both are exec producing. Tina Mabry, Julie Dash, and Kasi Lemmons round out the season’s directing roster.
“Clemency” filmmaker Chinonye Chukwu is working on a project about Till-Mobley as well. Starring Whoopi Goldberg and Danielle Deadwyler, the feature film “Till” will follow Mamie in the aftermath of Emmett’s murder.
“Women of the Movement” premieres January 6 on ABC.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxP2Kl2e658
