Emmett Till Antilynching Act is going to President Trump's Office

After decades of lawmakers trying to make lynching a hate crime, it finally passed in the senate and now the house of representatives.

“We’re finally grabbling with some of the issues and things we need to, to point out the fact that discrimination and acts of this nature is no longer accepted in a civilized society", says community leader, Harrell Carter.

14 year old Emmett Till was lynched in Mississippi in 1955.

Now in 2020, nearly 65 years later, the Emmett Till Antilynching Act passed by the House of Representatives.

But lawmakers tried to pass similar legislation before.

“Representative white was the only black, african american representative at that time and he tried to get this anti lynching bill passed", says Cindy Boyles leader of the Jackson Madison County Remembrance Project.

It failed many times but passed 410 to 4 Wednesday.

Boyles adds, “So 120 years later, we’re finally getting this kind of a bill passed.”

Thousands of African Americans were lynched across the country, mainly in the south, three were known to be lynched in Jackson.

Eliza Woods, John Brown, and Frank Ballard.

And the Jackson Madison County Remembrance Project has worked to memorialize them.

“And we’ll keep doing that, but having that federal anti lynching law is another piece of the puzzle that helps bring this all together and helps bring the truth out", says Boyles.

The Emmett Till Antilynching Act now has to be signed by President Trump. In Jackson, for 39 News, I’m Imani Williams.