Rev. Wheeler Parker, Jr., the first cousin of Emmett Till and last surviving witness to his abduction, will be featured at the National Civil Rights Museum to discuss his book, A Few Days Full of Trouble: Revelations on the Journey to Justice for My Cousin and Best Friend, Emmett Till. The hybrid event is part of the museum’s Book & Author Series on Wednesday, October 4, at 6:00 pm Central. Parker joins co-author Christopher Benson in the poignant recollection of a story that continues to intrigue civil rights justice seekers and criminal cold case enthusiasts.

In 1955, fourteen-year-old Emmett Till of Chicago was lynched in the Mississippi Delta while visiting family. The case ignited a flame within the Civil Rights Movement that has yet to be extinguished. The details surrounding the event remain distorted by time and questions remain about what justice would look like now for a case nearly 70 years old, especially now that Till’s assault accuser, Carolyn Bryant, is recently deceased.

In A Few Days Full of Trouble, the co-authors offer a new perspective on the story of Emmett Till. As his cousin and best friend, the Rev. Wheeler Parker Jr. is a lone survivor of the night of terror when young Emmett was taken from his family's rural Mississippi Delta home in the dead of night.

Rev. Parker offers an emotional and suspenseful page-turner set against a backdrop of reporting errors and manipulations, racial reckoning, and political pushback. His account is accompanied by never-before-seen findings in the investigation, the resurrection of memory, and the battle-tested courage of faith. A Few Days Full of Trouble is a powerful work of truth-telling, a gift to readers looking to reconcile the weight of the past with a hope for the future.

Parker is pastor and district superintendent of the Argo Temple Church of God in Christ in Summit, Illinois, the church built by Alma Carthan, grandmother of Emmett Till. He lectures and teaches on the history of the struggle for equal justice in America.

Christopher Benson, an Emmy Award-winning lawyer, journalist, and associate professor at Northwestern University, co-authored with the late Mamie Till-Mobley, the Pulitzer Prize-nominated, award-winning book Death of Innocence. Formerly the Washington editor of Ebony, he has contributed to Chicago magazine, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, and The New York Times.

Autographed copies of A Few Days Full of Trouble will be available in the Museum’s store and online. The hybrid Book & Author Series event begins at 6:00 pm Central and is free and open for registration. For more information, visit civilrightsmuseum.org.

The book talk precedes the opening of the museum exhibition, “Emmett Till & Mamie Till: Let the World See,” in which Parker and his family are consultants helping to bring a fuller story for young museum-goers about Emmett Till and his family, who valiantly sought justice for the teen. Event attendees will have a special opportunity to see the exhibit days before it opens to the public. ­

For more info, visit civilrightsmuseum.org.