Mississippi county OKs contracts for Emmett Till statue

GREENWOOD, Miss. (AP) — A Mississippi county has approved contracts for a sculptor to make and install a bronze statue of Emmett Till. The 1955 lynching of the Black teenager became a catalyst for the civil rights movement. The Greenwood Commonwealth reports that Leflore County supervisors voted on the contracts Monday, about seven months after they initially agreed that the county would have a statue of Till. A Utah-based company, Big Statues, will make and install the statue in a Greenwood park by early October. The Justice Department announced in December that it was ending its investigation into Till’s slaying.