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Cousin to Speak on Emmett Till and Civil Rights Movement

Emmett TillDaytona Beach, Fla., Oct. 23, 2006 -- A cousin of black teenager Emmett Till, who was murdered in 1955, will speak at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University about the tragic event that stunned the nation and galvanized the civil rights movement.

Wheeler Parker traveled with Emmett Till from Chicago to Money, Miss., to visit relatives in August 1955. There, Till allegedly whistled at a white woman. The two teens were sleeping at the home of their great-uncle when white men came to take Emmett away.

Till was beaten, shot, and thrown weighted down into a river. Two white men were tried and acquitted of his murder by an all-white, all-male jury, but later admitted their role in the crime to a journalist. A researcher concluded recently that as many as seven additional people may have been involved in the killing.

Parker, who has been pastor of Argo Temple (Church of God in Christ), in Summit, Ill., since 1993, will begin his presentation with a videotape of television news footage and then discuss his memories of his cousin and the significance of Till’s murder for the civil rights movement.

“We’re honored to have Rev. Parker visit our campus,” says Paula Reed, director of the Women’s Center at Embry-Riddle. “We hope that students, faculty, and staff, as well as members of the general public, will take this opportunity to come listen to a man who witnessed a pivotal moment in history.”

The event is sponsored by Embry-Riddle’s Office of Diversity Advancement.

Parker’s presentation, which is free and open to the public, will be held at 5 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 30, in the Miller Instructional Center auditorium on Embry-Riddle’s Daytona Beach campus, 600 S. Clyde Morris Blvd. Light refreshments are available at 4:30 p.m. Parker will also give the same presentation the same day at 10:20 a.m. in the new Center for Civic Engagement at Bethune-Cookman College in Daytona Beach.

For more information, contact Paula Reed at (386) 226-6149 or paula.reed@erau.edu.

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the world’s largest, fully accredited university specializing in aviation and aerospace, offers more than 30 degree programs in its colleges of Arts and Sciences, Aviation, Business, and Engineering. The university educates more than 32,000 students annually in undergraduate and graduate programs at residential campuses in Prescott, Ariz., and Daytona Beach, Fla., through the Worldwide Campus at more than 130 centers in the United States and Europe, and through online learning.