currently trying to whitewash parts of america s history in textbooks. my colleague blaine alexander has a closer look. reporter: the monument will have three sites, the tallahatchie river bank where emmett till s mutilated body was pulled from the water, the courthouse in summer, mississippi where his killers were trial and acquitted by an all white jury. and roberts temple church in chicago, the site of emmett till s open casket funeral, a decision by his mother who allowed jet magazine to photograph and publish images of her son s body, bringing her the world face to face with brutal reality of racism. what do you remember most about that? i just remember being kind of reverend parker was emmett till s a cousin, his best friend, and the last living witness to emmett till s objection. he was in the very next room when a group of white men took emmett till s from his family house. talking to god inwardly, there and they worked with him
photograph and publish images of her son s body, bringing the world face-to-face with the brutal reality of racism. what do you remember the most about that day? i remember i just remember being kind of numb. reporter: reverend wheeler parker was till s cousin, his best friend, and the last living witness to till s abduction. he was in the very next room when a group of white men took till from his family s house. stretching my eyes, shaking and talking to god inwardly, and in they walk with a pistol in one hand and a flashlight in the other. reporter: what was it like there in the house that night after he was taken away? nobody talked to anybody. it was just dark forever. i moved from place to place, talk to anyone today that i can. reporter: parker still remembers exactly where he sat during till s funeral. now that church is being restored to its original 1955 appearance. brent leggs is helping