signing up for this webinar.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mamie Till did all that she could.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before sending her son, Emmett Till, to visit relatives in Mississippi, she gave him \u201cthe talk.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not about sex, but about \u201cthe rules.\u201d She warned her 14-year-old son not to look any white women in the eye. To cross the street when people approached.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She did all she could. But it didn\u2019t stop the 1955 lynching of Emmett Till, who was kidnapped, tortured and ultimately killed for allegedly whistling at a white woman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Though Till\u2019s murder was a watershed moment in the early Civil Rights movement, Celeste Thomas said this sort of talk is still a reality for African Americans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cUnfortunately, we still continue to have mothers who are going through this with their children being killed and murdered in the streets,\u201d said Thomas, director of Eastern Mennonite University\u2019s Multicultural Student Services office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
EMU\u2019s production of \u201cAnne & Emmett,\u201d which opened Friday, plays out the intense scenes of Emmett Till\u2019s last conversation with his mother, Mamie Till, portrayed by Harrisonburg Mayor Deanna Reed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been tough for me. We know the story of Emmett Till. When you have aunts and grandparents who lived during that time, it\u2019s connected to you,\u201d Reed said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Part of EMU\u2019s Martin Luther King Jr. Day observances, the one-act play written by Janet Langhart Cohen, focuses on the theme of silence in the face of injustice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An imagined conversation between Anne Frank, a young girl who died in the Holocaust, and Till takes place in a place called \u201cMemory,\u201d after each of their deaths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The university\u2019s theme for this year\u2019s MLK Day observances is a quote from King\u2019s 1958 book \u201cStride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story.\u201d King speaks about the danger of silence on behalf of bystanders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis [play] fits very well with that because there was silence on both parts of both of those situations. Our goal is to \u2026 not be compliant in the silence,\u201d Thomas said.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nIn addition to the play and a variety of programming through the week, Thomas organized a bus trip to Washington D.C., to inform the play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Members of the cast, crew and student body were invited to visit the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, including the Emmett Till exhibit, and the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the trip in early December, they explored the context behind the show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was the context that made Thaddeus Jackson, a sophomore who portrayed Emmett Till, think about what it felt like in the world of the play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jackson\u2019s acting skills shine when he delivers a gut-wrenching monologue reenacting Till\u2019s torture and death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI imagine I\u2019m there; I imagine what the floorboards felt like. I feel the energy of what situations are going on and how it makes me feel,\u201d Jackson said. \u201c[I try] to visualize the atmosphere and the energy. With something that grotesque and horrific, the energy that hangs in the air is very dense and very heavy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jackson had known all about the story of Emmett Till before the show. He remembered when he heard about Mamie Till through a Dave Chappelle bit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe punchline of the joke was centered around Mamie Till and he called her a \u2018gangster.\u2019 She wouldn\u2019t let them forget and she fought to have the casket open,\u201d Jackson said. \u201cWe don\u2019t realize how intense things were back in history. Now, our problems are, someone said something bad on the internet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jackson said the tough conversations in the play ultimately lead to mutual understanding, learning and empathy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said he hopes people who see the play will receive a simple but poignant message from it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTreat people as a human race instead of as a colored race,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Greta Schrag, an EMU sophomore, plays Anne Frank. She said portraying Frank taught her how challenging it can be to have tough conversations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her character\u2019s dialogue with Till is filled with misunderstandings and unfamiliar territory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe talk about truth in the show and how we need to keep telling these stories. We can\u2019t just gloss over them and pretend they didn\u2019t happen,\u201d Schrag said. \u201cIn order to actually have empathy for a person you actually have to understand and recognize the background that they came from. I think that\u2019s really important.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Exploring tough conversations is something the play\u2019s director, Ezrionna Prioleau, said she\u2019d wanted to bring to EMU for years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI really love the conversation that\u2019s had within this play and the themes that are within it,\u201d said the graduate student who assists in Thomas\u2019 office. \u201cI thought EMU would be a great place to start this conversation and continue this conversation of how hate is affecting the world and the communities that we live in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The shows continues today at 2 p.m., and Sunday at 5 p.m. in EMU\u2019s Lehman Auditorium. Masks are required for the performances that are free and open to the public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To continue the conversation, EMU will host a virtual talk-back about \u201cAnne & Emmett,\u201d with Thomas and Bob Bersson, a frequent contributor to EMU\u2019s Center for Interfaith Engagement and retired James Madison University professor, according to the press release. The event will be livestreamed to the public on EMU\u2019s Facebook page on Monday at 4:15 p.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reed said she hopes the young people will take what they\u2019ve learned from \u201cAnne & Emmett\u201d into the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMost importantly, we get to use these young people to tell the story and for them to learn as they\u2019re experiencing this,\u201d Reed said. \u201cIt\u2019s important to tell their story. It\u2019s important for us to tell the truth in order for us to heal as a nation and as a community.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This article ran in the 1\/15\/2021 Daily News-Record. Weather conditions did not allow for the 1\/16 performance of “Anne and Emmett.” Access the 1\/17 performance at 3:30 p.m. EST by ... read more about DN-R: EMU examines silence in face of hatred through ‘Anne & Emmett’ featuring Mayor Reed<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51080,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5583,14715,5861,17562,14145,5147],"tags":[6795],"feature":[],"class_list":["post-51079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-community","category-campus-life","category-conferences-and-events","category-digest","category-peacebuilding-and-development","category-theater","tag-diversity"],"yoast_head":"\nDN-R: EMU examines silence in face of hatred through 'Anne & Emmett' featuring Mayor Reed - EMU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2022\/dn-r-emu-examines-silence-in-face-of-hatred-through-anne-emmett-featuring-mayor-reed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"DN-R: EMU examines silence in face of hatred through 'Anne & Emmett' featuring Mayor Reed - EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This article ran in the 1\/15\/2021 Daily News-Record. Weather conditions did not allow for the 1\/16 performance of “Anne and Emmett.” Access the 1\/17 performance at 3:30 p.m. EST by\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2022\/dn-r-emu-examines-silence-in-face-of-hatred-through-anne-emmett-featuring-mayor-reed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/EasternMennonite\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-01-15T14:32:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-11-18T16:19:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/emu-wordpress-multisite-instance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2022\/01\/17092833\/61e1f6d8397b6.image_.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"812\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@EMU_News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@EMU_News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2022\/dn-r-emu-examines-silence-in-face-of-hatred-through-anne-emmett-featuring-mayor-reed\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2022\/dn-r-emu-examines-silence-in-face-of-hatred-through-anne-emmett-featuring-mayor-reed\/\",\"name\":\"DN-R: EMU examines silence in face of hatred through 'Anne & Emmett' featuring Mayor Reed - EMU News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2022\/dn-r-emu-examines-silence-in-face-of-hatred-through-anne-emmett-featuring-mayor-reed\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2022\/dn-r-emu-examines-silence-in-face-of-hatred-through-anne-emmett-featuring-mayor-reed\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/emu-wordpress-multisite-instance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2022\/01\/17092833\/61e1f6d8397b6.image_.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-01-15T14:32:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-11-18T16:19:56+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/d6737034219398924e6bd5dedcfa1245\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2022\/dn-r-emu-examines-silence-in-face-of-hatred-through-anne-emmett-featuring-mayor-reed\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2022\/dn-r-emu-examines-silence-in-face-of-hatred-through-anne-emmett-featuring-mayor-reed\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2022\/dn-r-emu-examines-silence-in-face-of-hatred-through-anne-emmett-featuring-mayor-reed\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emu-wordpress-multisite-instance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2022\/01\/17092833\/61e1f6d8397b6.image_.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/emu-wordpress-multisite-instance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2022\/01\/17092833\/61e1f6d8397b6.image_.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":812},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2022\/dn-r-emu-examines-silence-in-face-of-hatred-through-anne-emmett-featuring-mayor-reed\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"DN-R: EMU examines silence in face of hatred through ‘Anne & Emmett’ featuring Mayor Reed\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/\",\"name\":\"EMU News\",\"description\":\"News from the Eastern Mennonite University community.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/d6737034219398924e6bd5dedcfa1245\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"DN-R: EMU examines silence in face of hatred through 'Anne & Emmett' featuring Mayor Reed - EMU News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2022\/dn-r-emu-examines-silence-in-face-of-hatred-through-anne-emmett-featuring-mayor-reed\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"DN-R: EMU examines silence in face of hatred through 'Anne & Emmett' featuring Mayor Reed - EMU News","og_description":"This article ran in the 1\/15\/2021 Daily News-Record. Weather conditions did not allow for the 1\/16 performance of “Anne and Emmett.” Access the 1\/17 performance at 3:30 p.m. EST by","og_url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2022\/dn-r-emu-examines-silence-in-face-of-hatred-through-anne-emmett-featuring-mayor-reed\/","og_site_name":"EMU News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/EasternMennonite","article_published_time":"2022-01-15T14:32:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-11-18T16:19:56+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":812,"url":"https:\/\/emu-wordpress-multisite-instance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2022\/01\/17092833\/61e1f6d8397b6.image_.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@EMU_News","twitter_site":"@EMU_News","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2022\/dn-r-emu-examines-silence-in-face-of-hatred-through-anne-emmett-featuring-mayor-reed\/","url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2022\/dn-r-emu-examines-silence-in-face-of-hatred-through-anne-emmett-featuring-mayor-reed\/","name":"DN-R: EMU examines silence in face of hatred through 'Anne & Emmett' featuring Mayor Reed - EMU News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2022\/dn-r-emu-examines-silence-in-face-of-hatred-through-anne-emmett-featuring-mayor-reed\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2022\/dn-r-emu-examines-silence-in-face-of-hatred-through-anne-emmett-featuring-mayor-reed\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/emu-wordpress-multisite-instance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2022\/01\/17092833\/61e1f6d8397b6.image_.jpg","datePublished":"2022-01-15T14:32:00+00:00","dateModified":"2022-11-18T16:19:56+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/d6737034219398924e6bd5dedcfa1245"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2022\/dn-r-emu-examines-silence-in-face-of-hatred-through-anne-emmett-featuring-mayor-reed\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2022\/dn-r-emu-examines-silence-in-face-of-hatred-through-anne-emmett-featuring-mayor-reed\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2022\/dn-r-emu-examines-silence-in-face-of-hatred-through-anne-emmett-featuring-mayor-reed\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/emu-wordpress-multisite-instance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2022\/01\/17092833\/61e1f6d8397b6.image_.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/emu-wordpress-multisite-instance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2022\/01\/17092833\/61e1f6d8397b6.image_.jpg","width":1200,"height":812},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2022\/dn-r-emu-examines-silence-in-face-of-hatred-through-anne-emmett-featuring-mayor-reed\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"DN-R: EMU examines silence in face of hatred through ‘Anne & Emmett’ featuring Mayor Reed"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/","name":"EMU News","description":"News from the Eastern Mennonite University community.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/d6737034219398924e6bd5dedcfa1245","name":"admin","sameAs":["http:\/\/"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51079"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51079\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51096,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51079\/revisions\/51096"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51079"},{"taxonomy":"feature","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/feature?post=51079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}