“We have to teach history right,” says Keith Beauchamp, a filmmaker behind the movie Till, as he concluded a screening of the film and discussion with McCaskey history students.
Beauchamp met with students in the morning to share his background and tell the story of how he came to devote his career to telling the story of Emmett Till, whose brutal lynching in 1955 helped spark the civil rights movement.
Till, which is co-produced by Fred Zollo, Whoopi Goldberg, and Barbara Broccoli, tells the true story of Mamie Till-Mobley’s relentless pursuit of justice for her 14-year-old son. It draws on source material from Beauchamp’s 2004 documentary, The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till.
“It was a huge challenge to produce this film. Our cast and crew were emotionally rocked,” Beauchamp said. “I’m so close to this story, this is my baby, but I had to put my trust in others.”
Students enjoyed a private viewing of the film at Penn Cinema, and spent an hour discussing its themes after the screening.
“It’s a wonderful movie, and it’s necessary for people to see it and understand how this happened and think about how to prevent it from happening again,” says junior Tiyya Geiger. “During the film, I was thinking about the historical parallels with today.”
Through his journey, Beauchamp tracked and spoke with witnesses who had never before spoken about the case, befriended Mamie Till Mobley – who took Beauchamp under her wing – worked with such influential figures as Muhammad Ali and Reverend Al Sharpton, all the while persistently lobbying both the State of Mississippi and the federal government to reopen the Emmett Till murder investigation.
“We were able to achieve something so great,” he says, reflecting on how the film captures his life’s work. “It allows everyone the opportunity to experience Mother Mobley and her greatness. She was an unsung hero,” of civil rights.
Keith Beauchamp has been featured on 60 Minutes, ABC World News Tonight ‘Person of the Week,’ Court TV, MSNBC, Good Morning America, CNN, BBC, as well as in hundreds of publications around the world including The New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, Associated Press, and the Chicago Sun Times.
Beauchamp is currently the executive producer and host of Investigation Discovery’s crime reality series, The Injustice Files, and, as mentioned before, the producer of the Hollywood film Till. He is also a frequent lecturer at colleges and universities around the country.