1.
Two months ago I had a nice apartment in Chicago. I had a good job. I had a son. When something happened to the Negroes in the South I said, `That's their business, not mine.' Now I know how wrong. I was. The murder of my son has shown me that what happens to any of us, anywhere in the world, had better be the business of us all.
Mamie Till
2.
When people saw what had happened to my son, men stood up who had never stood up before.
Mamie Till
When people perceived the misfortune that had befallen my son, individuals who had never assumed a firm stance before now rose to their feet.
3.
Have you ever sent a loved son on vacation, and had him returned to you in a pine box, so horribly battered and water-logged that someone needs to tell you this sickening sight is your son, lynched?
Mamie Till
Have you ever dispatched a beloved offspring on a holiday, and had them delivered back to you in a casket, so brutally mangled and sodden that someone must relate to you this gruesome visage is your child, hanged?
4.
We cannot afford the luxury of self pity. Our top priority now is to get on with the building process. My personal peace has come through helping boys and girls reach beyond the ordinary and strive for the extraordinary. We must teach our children to weather the hurricanes of life, pick up the pieces, and rebuild. We must impress upon our children that even when troubles rise to seven-point- one on life's Richter scale, they must be anchored so deeply that, though they sway, they will not topple
Mamie Till
5.
I think everybody needed to know what had happened to Emmett Till.
Mamie Till
6.
If you have to get on your knees and bow when a white person goes past do it willingly.
Mamie Till
Prostrate oneself in homage when a white person passes.
7.
I am pleased that I am able to stand here today and say with a pure heart and meaningful heart that I am against the death penalty. There is no purpose that it serves except to further the damage that death has already done.
Mamie Till