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Kolin’s Book of Poems on Emmett Till to be featured on “Mississippi Edition” Feb. 25
University of Southern Mississippi Distinguished Professor Emeritus of English Philip Kolin will discuss his new book of poems dedicated to the late Emmett Till on the Mississippi Public Broadcasting’s Think Radio program “Mississippi Edition” Thursday, Feb. 25 from 8:30 – 9 a.m. The weekday news show is hosted by Karen Brown.
Emmett Till in Different States, published by Third World Press, commemorates the 60th anniversary of Till’s savage murder that ignited the Civil Rights Movement. A Chicago teen visiting relatives in Mississippi in 1955, Till was tortured for whistling at a white woman and his murderers were acquitted by an all-white jury. His mother Mamie made history by showing the world her son’s mangled body in an open casket at the funeral.
Dr. Kolin’s poems span nearly seven decades in Till’s life and legacy, focusing on his death and its aftermath. They portray Till as evolving from a Civil Rights martyr to a heroic commentator on the murders of Dr. King, Medgar Evers, Virgil Ware, and Trayvon Martin, the horrors awaiting the Freedom Riders, the injustices faced by black soldiers in Vietnam, and Chicago’s gangland slaughtered children.
Regarded as an international authority on the works of Tennessee Williams, Dr. Kolin serves as editor of The Southern Quarterly at USM. Learn more about Kolin and his work at https://www.usm.edu/english/faculty/philip-kolin. Visit “Mississippi Edition” online at https://www.mpbonline.org/mississippiedition/.
