Graball Landing

Historic Location in Glendora, Mississippi

This is the site where Emmett Till is believed to have been found.

It is called Graball Landing, and it is situated near Glendora, Mississippi.

Till was an African American teenager who was lynched in August 1955 for allegedly wolf-whistling at a white grocery store owner.

Following the murder, his killers attached a large fan to his neck and threw his body into the Tallahatchie River.

Three days later, two boys who were fishing several miles downstream noticed the teenager's remains floating in the water.

Till's brutal murder proved to be the catalyst for the civil rights movement, which campaigned to abolish racial discrimination in the United States. The shocking manner of his death and the acquittal of his killers shone a light on the systematic racism that had been plaguing Mississippi.

There is debate over whether this was the exact spot where Till's body was discovered, as some historians believe that he was found further downstream, at a site called Fish Lake Landing.

The FBI has also weighed in on the matter, concluding that the body was most likely removed from a section of the river that was further east.

Considering the length of time that has passed, it seems unlikely that a consensus will ever be reached.

Despite the debate, Graball Landing has become the designated memorial site for the removal of Till's remains.

The history of this location dates back to the mid-1800s, when slaves were ordered to clear the woods from the northern banks of the Tallahatchie River to make way for a steamboat landing.

Sadly, this site has been a regular target of vandalism. Over the years, memorial markers have been repeatedly shot and thrown into the river. The vandals were so persistent that the sign manufacturers eventually started using heavy, bulletproof materials.

Sub-entry

This location has been marked as a sub-entry. As a result, it may lack certain details. For more information about this subject, please check out the following location:

Bryant's Grocery & Meat Market

Graball Landing location

The address and the GPS coordinates for this location are as follows:

Address

River Road, Glendora, Mississippi, MS 38928, USA

Map

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Google Maps

GPS coordinates

The latitude and longitude coordinates for the site are:

33.831783, -90.270229

Directions

The site lies to the east of Glendora. It is accessible via Sharkey Road, which is on the northern outskirts of the village.

Details about the general area

Glendora is a village in Tallahatchie County. It is roughly 100 miles south of Memphis.

Photos

Photos of the site and other related images.

Map

Image source: Google Maps

This is an aerial map of the Tallahatchie River near Glendora, Mississippi.

There is debate over the precise location where Emmett Till's body was pulled ashore.

The official memorial site is at Graball Landing. However, a number of historians have claimed that the exact spot is at Fish Lake Landing, which is no longer attached to the Tallahatchie River.

To confuse matters even more, the FBI concluded that Till's remains were found further east, at a short section of the river that veers south into Leflore County.

Entrance

Image source: Jeremy Drexler

This photograph of the entrance to Graball Landing was taken by Jeremy Drexler.

The entrance is on a rural dirt road called River Road. It is accessible via Sharkey Road, which lies on the northern outskirts of Glendora.

The Google Street View car has yet to visit this location.

Graball Landing

Image source: Jeremy Drexler

Till's body was discovered on August 31st, 1955—three days after he was abducted by two white men and murdered.

Locals believe that his remains were brought ashore at this location.

Graball Landing dates back to 1840, when slaves cleared the vegetation around this section of the Tallahatchie River to make way for a steamboat landing.

The landing and its adjoining buildings were destroyed by a tornado in 1894.

Memorial marker

Image source: Jeremy Drexler

The original memorial marker was vandalized and shot at so many times that a heavy, one-inch-thick bulletproof sign had to be installed at the site.

The current sign makes reference to the repeated vandalism:

"Since the Emmett Till Memorial Commission first commemorated Grabal Landing in 2008, it has become a nationally recognized memory site. Signs erected here have been stolen, thrown in the river, replaced, shot, removed, replaced, and shot again. The history of vandalism and activism centered on this site led ETMC founder Jerome Little to observe that Graball Landing was both a beacon of racial progress and a trenchant reminder of the progress yet to be made."

Glendora

This Google Street View image of Sharkey Road was captured in May 2014.

There is a second marker at this crossroads, which serves as a sign post for the river site.

Sadly, this marker has also been shot at multiple times.

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This location belongs to the following categories:

Crime Scenes

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