Emmett Till's Chicago Home Granted Preliminary Landmark Status

FILE – This undated photo shows Emmett Louis Till, a 14-year-old black Chicago boy, who was kidnapped, tortured and murdered in 1955 after he allegedly whistled at a white woman in Mississippi. The federal government has reopened its investigation into the slaying of Till, the black teenager whose brutal killing in Mississippi helped inspire the civil rights movement more than 60 years ago. (AP Photo, File)

Emmett Till’s home on Chicago’s South Side is one step closer to becoming a historic landmark. The Commission on Chicago Landmarks voted yesterday to grant preliminary landmark status to the home where Till lived before a trip down South ending with his brutal lynching in 1955. The 14-year-old was lynched in Mississippi after being accused of offending a white woman in her family’s grocery store. His murder propelled the Civil Rights Movement. The proposal must still be approved by a city council committee and the full council.