South Phoenix honors Emmett Till with church mural

Earlier last month, a new mural adorned the west wall of the Greater Bethel AME Church in south Phoenix. The mural honors Emmett Till, a 14-year-old boy from Chicago whose life and death helped spark the Civil Rights Movement. In 1955, Till was kidnapped, tortured and murdered in Mississippi after being accused of whistling at a white woman. His mother’s decision to hold an open-casket funeral exposed the brutality of racial violence in America.

Children from the congregation also lined up to press their painted handprints beside a peace sign on the edge of the mural, leaving their own mark of unity and hope.

Maggie Keane, the freelance artist behind the mural, joined “Arizona Horizon” to discuss her work.