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The Emmett Till Program provides support to state, local and tribal law enforcement and prosecutors in their investigation and prosecution of cold case murders associated with civil rights violations. Funds are limited to address violations of civil rights statutes resulting in death that occurred no later than December 31, 1979. The Objectives of the program are to: - Enhance collaboration between federal state and local law-enforcement and prosecution agencies in their investigation and prosecution of unsolved civil rights cold case murders. -Increase the number of State, Local and Tribal investigations and prosecutions of civil rights cold case murders. -Bring justice and support to families and stakeholders impacted by these murders. Performance Measure 1: Since the beginning of the grant, please describe how collaboration has aided in the development of processes or policies that will aid in future Civil Rights Cold Case investigations; Performance Measure 2: Number of victim’s family members agreeing to participate in the investigation; and, Performance Measure 3: Number of cases resulting in an arrest.
This chart shows obligations for the program by fiscal year. All data for this chart was provided by the
administering agency and sourced from SAM.gov, USASpending.gov, and Treasury.gov.
For more information on each of these data sources, please see the
About the data page.
The program was first funded in FY2020, in which BJA made one award. BJA issued a solicitation in FY2021 which seeks to fund additional awards and also so support national training and technical assistance.
BJA made $1.5 million in site-based awards under the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crimes Reauthorization Act of 2016 to help solve cold case civil rights murders that occurred before Dec. 31, 1979. Till, an African-American teenager, was visiting his family in Money, Mississippi, during the summer of 1955 when he was abducted, beaten and killed. Two local men were prosecuted for the crime but were acquitted by an all-white jury, though they later confessed to the killing. Till’s case helped galvanize the nascent civil rights movement. BJA awarded an additional $1.8 million to offer training and technical assistance to other communities seeking to resolve these cases, including making microgrants to the field.
Given the impact Emmett Till’s lynching had on America, in 2022, President Biden signed the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act into law after more than 200 attempts to make lynching a federal hate crime. In 2016, the program was authorized as part of the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crimes Reauthorization Act. Upon receiving funding in 2020, BJA launched the Emmett Till Cold Case Investigations and Prosecution Program. Please see https://bja.ojp.gov/program/emmett-till-cold-case-investigations-and-prosecution-program/news
Over the course of their award, the Houston Police Department (HPD) has reopened over 50 suspected cold case homicides for investigation. Of these cases family members from 16 cases are actively participating in and assisting the HPD in investigating and reviewing case details.
The Maryland Office of the Attorney General received an award to support the Maryland Lynching Truth and Reconciliation Commission to advance the 3 key areas now funded by the grant: (1) research and documentation of the more than 42 known cases of racial terror lynchings in Maryland; (2) conducting public hearings to solicit testimony from impacted community members (including family members and descendants of victims and offenders); and (3) developing recommendations for addressing, engaging, and reconciling the communities impacted by racially-motivated lynchings. Since the start of the grant, Commissioners have hosted six public hearings, with an additional four public hearings scheduled to take place throughout the remainder of 2024.
Single Audit Applies (2 CFR Part 200 Subpart F):
For additional information on single audit requirements for this program, review the current Compliance Supplement.
OMB is working with the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) and agency offices of inspectors general to include links to relevant oversight reports. This section will be updated once this information is made available.
