The new drama, “Till,” opening in select theaters this weekend, details the historic lynching of 14-year-old Emmett Till, a Chicagoan who was murdered while visiting relatives in Mississippi in 1955.
The story is told through the eyes of his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, played by Danielle Deadwyler.
At first Deadwyler said she didn't want to play the role and almost didn't accept the part.
"I stepped into it really slowly," she explained. "I stepped into it with a great nervousness and a great sense of fear, because you do want to do justice to this experience."
Deadwyler realized the importance of telling Till's story from his mother's perspective.
"We want to continue to care for our stories, our loved ones in this way, because that is love. That is joy. And I think that was the intention of her work and that is her mission."
Chinonye Chukwu, "Till" director and co-writer, said this movie has been in the works for 30 years.
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"I told them the only way I would want to tell this story is through Mamie’s lens, is through following closely her emotional journey. For, without Mamie, the world wouldn't have known who Emmett Till was."
Chukwu’s goal was to show Mamie Till's remarkable drive to get justice for her murdered son and how she turned her pain into social activism.
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"I hope people can interrogate within themselves how they want to be change agents in the world big or small, everything in between, and how we can get outside our own individual bubbles and affect the next person, because we are all connected."
Watch NBC Chicago's documentary, "The Lost Story of Emmett Till: The Universal Child" and the Emmy-nominated special "The Lost Story of Emmett Till: Trial in the Delta" in the players below.
