ASI Upcoming Events

Rev. Dr. Wheeler Parker Jr. and Jerry Mitchell

Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2025

Anthony and Wright Administration Building Auditorium

7:30 p.m.

Rev Dr Wheeler Parker Jr, an elderly black man posing for a photograph.

Rev. Dr. Wheeler Parker Jr.

Cousin to Emmett Till, Eyewitness to history

On Aug. 28, 1955, 70 years ago this year, Rev. Dr. Wheeler Parker Jr.'s 14-year-old cousin and best friend, Emmett Till, was brutally murdered and lynched while he and Rev. Dr. Parker were visiting family in Mississippi.  Despite a confession from the killers, no one was ever found guilty in the courts for this crime. An eyewitness to the events, Rev. Dr. Parker tells the story across the country in pursuit of historical accuracy and truth. 

 

Jerry Mitchell, an elderly white man Posing for a photograph.

Jerry Mitchell

Investigative reporter

Two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, MacArthur Fellow and 1982 Harding graduate Jerry Mitchell leads the investigative reporting team for Mississippi Today and has helped put four Klansmen and a serial killer behind bars as well as helping free two people from death row. 

 

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