When the opportunity arose to tell thelife story of Emmett Till’s mother Mamieon the small screen,JAY-Zjumped at the chance.
He noted that it was especially moving to hear the story of the 14-year-old Till’s racially motivated 1955 murder from the perspective of his moved-to-activism mother, calling it “too powerful to ignore.”
JAY-Z, 52, said that upon seeing the series, which premiered in January, for the first time, he was “blown away.”
Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley.Bettmann/Getty (2)
“You grow up knowing part of the story, and then you see it come back to life again,” he said. “Everyone was just so amazing. Adrianne [Warren, who plays Mamie] obviously was just, you could feel the emotion anytime you were on screen. Just to hear the actors talk and the commitment that everyone made and dedication to honor this family. You could just feel the love in this room.”
The media mogul also praised the “humanity” the show brought to the tragic tale, and in doing so, referenced the May 14 grocery store shooting in Buffalo, where a white manmurdered 10 Black people.
Warren opened up to PEOPLE at the event, and spoke of not only the additional weight the show creators felt in filming in Greenwood, Mississippi, where the events took place, but in the relevance of the show’s message, nearly 70 years on.
JAY-Z.Kevin Mazur/Getty
“It’s still happening. This is a historical piece, but it’s not,” she said. “And because of that, I think every single person that was a part of this, we all worked as a team because it meant so much to us. Because unfortunately, we’re still losing babies every day, and moms are still going through this pain. And the more we can bring humanity into people’s living rooms, the more we can see ourselves as human beings a little bit more every day and empathize with one another and therefore act differently throughout the world.”
Dr. Wheeler Parker Jr., Till’s cousin and the last living witness to his abduction, told PEOPLE that the series accurately portrays Mamie.
“It shows her and how he brought the best out of his mother. That’s very important,” he said. “She’s supposed to give hope to other women facing crises like that. How she took that negative and turned to positive — took a lemon and made lemonade. It speaks volumes.”
source: people.com
