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Founded by @sarahelizabethlewis1 | What is the relationship of the arts and culture for justice? | If Emmett Till Lived through December 19 @mocpchi

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What if Emmett Till lived? What if he had returned home still a child, alive and free?

Now live: ifemmettlived.org accompanies the exhibition “If Emmett Till Lived: Freedom on American Ground”opening on September 10 at the Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College Chicago (@mocpchi), and book by @sarahelizabethlewis1 in collaboration with Rev. Wheeler Parker Jr., Emmett Till’s cousin, best friend, and the last surviving witness to his kidnapping.

Explore the exhibition, the book, the project’s images, and reflections from civic and cultural leaders who share their hopes for Emmett Till’s unlived life. We invite you to sit with these selections, to reflect alongside their contributors, and to consider the life Emmett Till deserved, and that we live for him today.

Website by @madeo_studio with thanks to @_ncoops @radicarol @jlmoynihan @jessicawilliamsstark

#IfEmmettTillLived by @visionandjustice

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a month ago

We were so deeply moved by the lines of crowds who showed up the opening of If Emmett Till Lived—who joined us to imagine possibility. We were reminded of the nearly 100,000 people who paid tribute at his funeral more than 70 years ago at the Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ in Chicago. With this exhibition, we honor Till’s continuing legacy with our creative monument and the power of images past and present. Thank you @lanceomar for capturing this collective moment in history. #IfEmmettTillLived taken in Museum of Contemporary Photography by @visionandjustice

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a month ago

At the time of Emmett Till’s murder, images of his open casket funeral only ran in black press—Jet, @ebonymagazine, and the @chicagodefender. Today we salute publications such as the @guardian for coverage that honors not only Till’s life, but that of his cousin and best friend, Reverend Wheeler Parker Jr., as an act of far too belated justice.

Emmett Till’s mother Mamie Till-Mobley hired David Jackson to photograph Till’s brutalized body at his funeral for Jet magazine, and said in September 1955: “I wanted the world to see what they did to my baby.”

“Till-Mobley was prophetic in her understanding that witnessing would be critical for grasping the crucible of American democracy,” says @sarahelizabethlewis1 in her interview with Briana Ellis-Gibbs of the @guardian.

Link in bio to read more on theguardian.com

#IfEmmettTillLived by @visionandjustice

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a month ago

Sarah Elizabeth Lewis has won a 2026 Rabkin Prize.⁠
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We sat down with Sarah for a conversation about her work and ideas, as we did with each of this year’s Rabkin Prize winners. To listen to Sarah’s full Rabkin Interview, go to the link in our bio.⁠
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Sarah Lewis is currently the John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Humanities and an associate professor of African and African American Studies at Harvard University, and the founder of Vision & Justice. She has authored and edited over 60 publications including “The Unseen Truth: When Race Changed Sight in America” (Harvard University Press, 2024); “The Rise: Creativity, The Gift of Failure, and the Search for Mastery” (Simon & Schuster, 2014); volumes “Carrie Mae Weems” (MIT Press, 2021) and “Vision & Justice” (Aperture, 2016); “Coreen Simpson: A Monograph” (Aperture, 2025) and “Race Stories: Essays on the Power of Images” (Aperture and The New York Times, 2024). Lewis was named to TIME’s 2026 “The Closers” list, for her work toward greater equality in the U.S. She has organized landmark convenings, founded a Vision & Justice book series, and curated exhibitions, including “If Emmett Till Lived: Freedom on American Ground” (Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College Chicago, September 2026). Her TED talk, “Embrace the Near Win,” has over 3 million views. Her writing has been published in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Artforum, and The New York Review of Books, and her work has been featured in Vogue, The Boston Globe and The New York Times. Lewis is the recipient of honorary degrees from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts, and Pratt Institute, along with the Walter Channing Cabot Fellowship at Harvard University, the Andrew Carnegie Fellowship, the Arthur Danto/American Society for Aesthetics Prize from the American Philosophical Association, the Freedom Scholar Award from Association for the Study of African American Life and History, and the Infinity Award for Critical Writing and Research from the International Center of Photography.⁠
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Portrait by Kevin J. Miyazaki⁠
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#rabkinprize #worthlistening by @visionandjustice

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10 days ago

“...and don’t let them catch you! Both a wish and a warning in the wake of Emmett Till. Till deserves to play alongside these boys. We can envision him amidst these silhouettes. Till brings to the surface the ephemeral nature of black childhood. It is a phenomenon less to do with age and more with how old we are allowed to be.”—@yarashahidi on @hankwillisthomas

For the exhibition and publication #IfEmmettTillLived, we invited civic and cultural leaders, advocates, and artists to select photographs from @mocpchi’s collection and contribute reflections on their hopes for Emmett Till had he returned home, alive and free.

These images do more than document the world—they invite us to imagine what was denied and what remains possible. Share your reflection with us at ifemmettlived.org/imaginings by @visionandjustice

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16 days ago

There were many Tills.
There are many Tills today.

Emmett Till’s name and memory continues to shape struggles for racial justice, historical reckoning, and demand that America confront the violence of its past and present.

Watch the full video on the @visionandjustice YouTube channel (link in bio).

#IfEmmettTillLived taken in Museum of Contemporary Photography by @visionandjustice

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17 days ago

I am so grateful to Brent Leggs (@brentleggsnthp), CEO of the National Trust for Historic Preservation (@savingplaces), for his partnership on the opening of If Emmett Till Lived.

“Historic places stand as an opportunity for healing and reconciliation,” says Brent at the Opening Convening for “If Emmett Till Lived” at Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College Chicago (@mocpchi). “Through this creative monument and the permanent work of historic preservation, Emmett Till and Mamie-Till Mobley’s life and memory will forever be remembered.”

Watch the full conversation with Mitch Landrieu (@mayorlandrieu), lawyer, politician, and former Mayor of New Orleans, and @paul_farber, director of @monument_lab, on the @visionandjustice YouTube channel (link in bio).

#IfEmmettTillLived taken in Museum of Contemporary Photography by @visionandjustice

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18 days ago

James Baldwin once said, “There may not be as much humanity as one would like in the world, but there is enough.” For Sharon Davies, President and CEO of the @ketteringfoundation, “this exhibition tells us that there is enough humanity in our world.”

Watch the full video from our Opening Convening for “If Emmett Till Lived” at Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College Chicago (@mocpchi) on the Vision & Justice YouTube channel (link in bio).

#IfEmmettTillLived taken in Museum of Contemporary Photography by @visionandjustice

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19 days ago

We owe Lonnie Bunch a great debt for his service to this country, as the Secretary of the @smithsonian and founding director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture (@nmaahc). His contributions to this project were also enormous, as he shares in his essay for the book:

“Yet his life also inspired me to be ready to fight, to confront century- old traditions and not to simply accept the racial status quo. Emmett Till’s death and his life cast a large shadow over Americaa shadow that forced the country to grapple with the darkness, the vioence, and the hatred that was as much a part of our national character as the quest for freedom and fairness.”

Watch the full video on the @visionandjustice YouTube channel (link in bio).

#IfEmmettTillLived #LonnieBunch taken in Museum of Contemporary Photography by @visionandjustice

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20 days ago

The history they tried to bury: in this video from our Opening Convening for “If Emmett Till Lived” at Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College Chicago (@mocpchi), @paul_farber, director of @monument_lab describes the coalition that came together around Mamie Till-Mobley to change the world: “because of a mother’s will and the coalition around her.”

Farber was in conversation with lawyer, politician, and former Mayor of New Orleans, Mitch Landrieu (@mayorlandrieu) and president and CEO of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Brent Leggs (@brentleggsnthp). Watch the full video on the Vision & Justice YouTube channel (link in bio).

#IfEmmettTillLived taken in Museum of Contemporary Photography by @visionandjustice

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21 days ago

“When I was 14 I kissed a white girl, and I’m still here.”—Mitch Landrieu (@mayorlandrieu)

At the Opening Convening for “If Emmett Till Lived” at Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College Chicago (@mocpchi), Lawyer, Politician, and former Mayor of New Orleans Mitch Landrieu reflects on “the real truth” of America.

Watch the full video on the Vision & Justice YouTube channel (link in bio).

#IfEmmettTillLived taken in Museum of Contemporary Photography by @visionandjustice

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22 days ago

At the Museum of Contemporary Photography (MoCP), If Emmett Till Lived: Freedom on American Ground confronts one of the most consequential acts of racial violence in American history through radical historical imagination.

Curated by scholar and author Dr. Sarah Elizabeth Lewis in collaboration with Reverend Wheeler Parker Jr.—Till’s cousin, best friend, and the last surviving witness to his kidnapping—the landmark exhibition brings together photographs by more than 110 artists from MoCP’s permanent collection. The exhibition serves as a creative monument to Till’s unlived life and enduring legacy, while asking viewers to reckon with the historical conditions that foreclosed that future and the unfinished project of securing freedom on American ground.

The exhibition opened at MoCP earlier this month to an extraordinary response, drawing a capacity audience and an exceptional gathering of artists, curators, scholars, and cultural and civic leaders from Chicago and across the country.

On view through Dec 19. Plan your visit in bio.

PC: Installation views of If Emmett Till Lived: Freedom on American Ground, by Lance Omar Thurman. Courtesy of Vision & Justice and MoCP at Columbia College Chicago.

@mocpchi @sarahelizabethlewis1 @visionandjustice #ifemmetttilllived taken in Museum of Contemporary Photography by @visionandjustice

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23 days ago