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Whoopi Goldberg is set to produce a film about the life of Emmett Till, the 14-year-old boy who was tortured and murdered in 1955 after allegedly whistling at a White woman while visiting family in Mississippi.

Goldberg is teaming up with Keith A. Beauchamp and Frederick Zollo for the film, titled Till.

From Variety:

“Till” will be based on Beauchamp’s 2004 documentary “The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till,” and Simeon Wright’s “Simeon’s Story: An Eyewitness Account of the Kidnapping of Emmett Till.” Beauchamp’s film led the U.S. government to reopen the Till case in 2007.

“Here is a story that is as much a part of American history as the Boston Tea Party and may stand as the greatest argument for getting rid of sanctioned racism,” Goldberg said. “Emmett Till’s brutal death at the hands of ignorant, brutish people exposes the Jim Crow-era South that gave the implicit OK to uphold that kind of racism without any real fear of repercussions. Today, the return of rampant, unchallenged racism cries out for the telling of Emmett Till’s story again.”

Zollo produced Civil Rights dramas “Mississippi Burning” and “Ghosts of Mississippi.” Goldberg starred in the latter film.

The upcoming film is just one of many projects this year that will highlight the teenager’s death and the Civil Rights Movement that followed. It was recently announced that Jay Z and Will Smith were also teaming up to develop an HBO miniseries on Till’s life.

A Kickstarter campaign has been started to raise funds for the film. You can check it out here.

SOURCE: Variety | PHOTO CREDIT: Getty

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Whoopi Goldberg Set To Produce Emmett Till Film  was originally published on newsone.com