Women of the Movement: ABC Sets Premiere for Emmett Till Miniseries
ABC will revisit a major piece of civil rights history as the new year gets underway.
Women of the Movement, the Alphabet Net’s limited series about Mamie Till-Mobley and her pursuit of justice for son Emmett Till, will premiere Thursday, Jan. 6, at 8/7c, the network announced Thursday. Spanning six total episodes, the miniseries will air in that time slot for three consecutive weeks.
The drama tells the true story of Till-Mobley (played by newly minted Tony Award winner Adrienne Warren), who risked her life to find justice for her son after he was brutally murdered in the Jim Crow South in 1955. “Unwilling to let Emmett’s murder disappear from the headlines, Mamie chose to bear her pain on the world’s stage, emerging as an activist for justice and igniting the Civil Rights movement as we know it today,” the project’s logline describes.
In addition to Warren, Women of the Movement‘s sizable cast includes Tonya Pinkins (All My Children) as Till-Mobley’s mother, Alma Carthan; Ray Fisher (Zack Snyder’s Justice League) as Till-Mobley’s husband, Gene Mobley; Cedric Joe (Space Jam: A New Legacy) as Emmett; Glynn Turman (The Wire) as Emmett’s great-uncle Moses Wright; Chris Coy (The Deuce) and Carter Jenkins (Famous in Love) as J.W. Milam and Roy Bryant, the men responsible for Emmett’s murder; and newcomer Julia McDermott as Carolyn Bryant, the white woman with whom Emmett was accused of flirting before his death.
ABC has also released a new teaser for Women of the Movement. Press PLAY above to watch it, then let us know in the comments if you’ll be sampling the show.
Wait what about Station 19/Greys?
They are on breaks like it happens every season.
Either the shows come back on Jan 27 or they held the back halves of their respective seasons ’til after the Olympics (which I predict is what will happen)
Is is not a bit off for Pinkin’s stint on a soap opera referenced rather than her being a Tony award honouree?- seems so to me
I believe TVLine tends to default towards television shows that people have starred. I’m not familiar with Adrienne Warren outside of her work on Broadway but I believe this is her first tv role which is why her Tony award was mentioned versus the other person’s role on a soap opera.
Wow, this is surprising. Whoopi Goldberg just took off time to star in a movie role as Till-Mobley’s mother. I thought this was the project she was working on as she’s a Disney employee.
That’s a motion picture: https://variety.com/2021/film/news/whoopi-goldberg-emmett-till-movie-danielle-deadwyler-1235026380/
This story needs to be told to a wider audience. I can’t wait to see Women of the Movement about Mamie Till-Mobley and her pursuit of justice for son Emmett Till on Thursday, Jan. 6.
Matthew, I totally agree that this needs to be presented to a wider audience. I actually would like to see this story shown from the accuser’s (Carolyn Bryant) point of view, her reasoning for destroying a young boy’s future by having him killed, her guilt (if any) that eventually brought her to tell the truth and her racial beliefs that influenced this killing. Her story should be told to fully understand the weight of racism and the consequences it carries. Carolyn Bryant story also needs to be told to take accountability for Tills murder. This was just not any murder (although all murders are horrible) but this was a brutal murder that could have been stopped and was fueled by racism that needs to be told from the prospectively of the perpetrator.
I’ve read so much about Emmett Till and his brave mother. She wanted the world to know what racism, lies and hatred did to her son and she never stopped seeking justice for Emmett. I’m in and will have my nieces watching because they need to be reminded of this heinous crime and that in the environment we’re in now, something like this could easily happen again if we don’t pay attention.
I will certainly be watching. I’ve been interested with this story since I first read it and saw the pictures as a child in Jet Magazine.
When is the Emmett Till story coming to television?I am very interested in this story and I would like to watch it.
“… will premiere Thursday, Jan. 6, at 8/7c.”
what channel in ws nc area
Although I appreciate the attempt to bring this story to public light and show the strength of the black community and black women, I felt that the story was told in a way as to show Emmit Till at fault and somehow as deservant of a beating such as he received. I say this because the show made Emmit look like the unruly outsider who wouldn’t submit to the rules of his new environment and therefore appearing as though he got what happens to people unwilling to submit to the norm in that area. Plus it put Emmit’s accuser in a light of no fault attempting to show her unwillingness to confuse what happened to her to her husband as though attempting to show that Emmit was at fault but his accuser tried to save him from the beating he received. This is already what the Country believes when they hear about black men and women being harmed at the hands of police officers. The claim is always somehow the victim’s fault because they didn’t conform to the request made of them e.g. they should have complied¹ with the police request or they should not have resisted. But let’s be clear the truth is known by those who have done these malicious crimes and acts and their fate is in the hands of a God who has declared vengeance is his and promises to repay. This crime by no means was Emmit’s fault and his accuser is not someone who attempted to help him avert being harmed. Being polite and politically correct does not do this story any justice. It just becomes a story that needs to be told truthfully.
So far I am enjoying this mini series about Emmit Till. The actors they have chosen to portray the real characters are excellent. I well be watching the whole series.
I watched the episodes on January 13th with it ending part way through the trial. Then there is a comnentary show that tells the outcome of the trial and the following attempt to charge them with kidnapping. So next we we get to see the rest of the trial that they have already told us what happened.
I have watch this 2 x all ready and the first time I was in tears and I know kids like to explore where we know is a no good place and yet we still a loud are child to go and think it will be alright and I know my mom is from down south and all she said was she would never return and she never did maybe there is some just cause. But I know watching this movie I still say he is a child and they where grown men and they didn’t have to kill the boy. His mother should have kept him home cause she knew what they was like over there she should have sat him down and really explain to him as to why and how white people don’t like black people. They people who playing these parts are doing a good job I just think we all sit back and should of would of and could of and at the end of it all its not gonna bring him back and it makes you look at white people in a different kind of light I try not to but they was hard on black people for no reason. I have mix feelings watching this show.
Lucinda I feel you. This was just a child but the fault is not Emmit’s nor his mother’s but it is the woman who lied on Emmit. The storyline has people thinking and believing that Emmit was some type of unruly outsider who wouldn’t do like all the other southern negros did in the area and his accuser tried to save him from the beating he received but such is not the case. It is reported that the woman that lied on Emmit eventually told the truth after Emmit’s mother’s passing about the events of her and Emmit’s encounter and he did not do what they had claimed that he did. The movie appears to take a politically correct stand on the two people who are not here to defend themselves. But the facts of this story were made known to the public long before Jay Z and Will Smith were born. I find it very disheartening the way that the story is being told because it s giving yet another reason why people believe that the effects of what happens to black men and women are caused by black men and women. A perfect example is when you hear people outside of the black community saying things like he wouldn’t been shot if he had complied with the police faulting the victim without knowing the facts. Emmit had every right to go visit his family down south just like a white person would have and his mother had the right to trust that he would be ok. It wasn’t them that did this horrible thing but it was the lie that was told that did. And black men and women are still being harmed and incarcerated because of lies being told on them. It’s their word against the majority’s word and the majority knows this.
The tragedy of the Emmit Till story is not that this happened to a child but that it was allowed to happened, in fact it was common place for black men and women to be falsely accused by white people and punished at the hands of the accuser. Hundreds of thousands of men and women have been harmed and killed in the manner that Emmit was but for the grace of God Emmit’s mother was able to shed some light on what was going on by exposing her son’s story to the world. And unfortunately this very same thing exist today where it is believed that the life of a person of color has less value than that of a white person. The word of a white person takes precedence over that of a black person. Just look at how the police were called on a black man bird watching in the park who had asked for a woman to put a leash on her dog. The woman called the police and falsely accused the man of harming her. If it had not been for his video he would have been arrested and probably beaten for harming this woman although the information was false. Or a black man jogging through a neighbor who was gunned down because it was believed that because of his skin color he had to of been stealing. This man was in fact pursued because of the color of his skin. And if it was not for a video the men who did this would have gone free. Black people have been lied on and harmed because of it for years. Black maids (not slaves but paid maids) accused of stealing silverware, money and clothes. And black men accused of seeking out white women. The word of a white person has more value because the life of a person of color has less value. So yes emmit was a child but what happened to him was sadly not unusal but was more the norm. Sadly the more things change, the more they stay the same.