埃米特·蒂尔的母亲万可儿·蒂尔-莫布里在她的回忆录《纯真之死:改变美国的仇恨犯罪故事》中写道，她听说超过20万黑人作为大迁徙的一部分搬到了芝加哥，包括她自己的家庭。她接着描述了她母亲的家，为来自密西西比州的黑人而建的“芝加哥爱丽丝岛”。

“埃米特的祖母阿尔玛·斯皮尔曼在将我们的许多家庭成员从南方转移到芝加哥地区的过程中发挥了重要作用，”蒂尔的堂兄弟奥利·戈登告诉美国广播公司新闻。

这些根源——以及她的背景如何将年轻单身母亲万可儿·蒂尔-莫布里塑造成民权偶像——在三集纪录片系列《让世界看看》的第一集里有所探讨，这部纪录片探讨了蒂尔-莫布里将儿子带回芝加哥并为其谋杀寻求正义的斗争的影响。每周一集于1月6日星期四开始。

和蒂尔-莫布里一样，前第一夫人米歇尔·奥巴马也是大移民的孩子。

“对我来说，无论是家庭中的母亲一方还是父亲一方，都有来自南方的人，”她在《让世界看看》的采访中说"他们像大多数来自南方的黑人一样迁移——为了机会和安全."

这位前第一夫人讨论了她在芝加哥长大的经历。

“那段时间，我的家庭和大多数黑人家庭一样——我们都生活在对方身边，”奥巴马补充道。“我母亲那边的家庭，我们和我的一个婶姨，我祖父的姐姐住在一起。所以我们就住在一个街区，拐角处住着我的外祖母和另一个姐姐，而他们的拐角处住着我的外祖父。”

“有一种自由、开放和某种社区意识，我们都试图在芝加哥复制，但当你在南方时，你会明白这一切都是从那里来的，”她补充道。

埃米特·蒂尔在芝加哥的那种家庭环境中长大，1955年在密西西比州探亲时，14岁时被杀害。他被指控对卡罗琳·布莱恩特吹口哨并进行性挑逗，卡罗琳·布莱恩特是一名白人妇女，后来再婚，现在被称为卡罗琳·布莱恩特·唐汉姆。

提尔被绑架了，他被打得很惨的尸体在塔拉哈西河被发现，脖子上绑着一把轧棉机来压他。科比当时的丈夫罗伊·布莱恩特和他的同父异母兄弟J.W .米兰姆被指控谋杀蒂尔，但他们被一个全白人陪审团宣告无罪。

美国广播公司新闻

前第一夫人米歇尔·奥巴马为美国广播公司纪录片系列“让世界看到”发言

在被告知她的儿子被绑架后，蒂尔-莫布里依靠芝加哥的黑人政治基础设施。她联系了《芝加哥保卫者报》和《芝加哥论坛报报》等报纸，要求寻找她的儿子，一位有政治背景的亲戚甚至让芝加哥市长理查德·J·戴利等官员参与其中。

“政治是每个人都参与的事情。芝加哥是一个政治动物。这是一种力量，”奥巴马谈到当时的气氛时说。“你的市议员代表了你的社区，代表了你在市议会的地位。所以你知道你的议员是谁。”

“这是我第一次直接接触政治，因为我父亲是一名辖区队长，这意味着他在一名市议员的选区工作，”她补充道。

根据《保卫者:传奇黑人报纸如何改变美国》一书的作者伊桑·麦克利的说法，蒂尔-莫布里可能也有类似的经历:“万可儿会在一个她知道分局队长是谁的社区里长大。”

在发现自己的儿子被杀后，尽管密西西比州的一名治安官命令将蒂尔的尸体立即埋葬在芝加哥，蒂尔-莫布里还是要求将他的尸体运回芝加哥。

提尔的遗体最终抵达芝加哥，但他的叔祖父与密西西比州当局签署了一份协议，棺材将保持密封。蒂尔-莫布里要求把它打开，让全世界都能看到她儿子在被杀前是如何被殴打的。

蒂尔葬礼上的照片激励了全国，并引发了民权运动的新阶段。

Michelle Obama reflects on Chicago politics that paved way for Mamie Till-Mobley's fight for justice

Mamie Till-Mobley, the mother of Emmett Till, wrote in her memoir, the "Death of Innocence: The Story of the Hate Crime that Changed America," that she had heard more than 200,000 Black people had moved to Chicago as a part of the Great Migration, including her own family. She went on to describe her mother's home the "the Ellis Island of Chicago" for Black people from Mississippi.

"Emmett's grandmother, Alma Spearman, was instrumental in moving many of our family members from the South to the Chicago area," Ollie Gordon, one of Till's cousins, told ABC News.

Those roots -- and how her background shaped Mamie Till-Mobley as a young single mother into civil rights icon -- are explored in the first episode of the three-part documentary series, "Let the World See," which examines the impact of Till-Mobley's fight to bring her son back to Chicago and seek justice for his murder. The weekly episodes begin Thursday, Jan. 6.

Like Till-Mobley, former first lady Michelle Obama also was a child of the Great Migration.

"For me, both on my mother's side and father's side of the family, folks came from the South," she said in an interview for "Let the World See." "They moved like most Black folks from the South moved -- for opportunity and for safety."

The former first lady discussed her experiences growing up in Chicago.

"My family was like most Black families during that time -- we all lived around each other," Obama added. "My mother's side of the family, we lived with one of my great-aunts, my grandfather's sister. So we lived on one block, and around the corner lived my maternal grandmother, along with another sister, and around the corner from them lived my maternal grandfather."

"There was a freedom and an openness and just sort of a sense of community that we all tried to replicate in Chicago, but you understood when you were in the South, that that's where it all came from," she added.

Emmett Till, who grew up in that familial environment in Chicago, was killed in Mississippi at the age of 14 while visiting family in 1955. He was accused of whistling at and making sexual advances towards Carolyn Bryant, a white woman who later remarried and is now known as Carolyn Bryant Donham.

Till was kidnapped, and his badly beaten body was found in the Tallahatchie River, with a cotton gin fan tied around his neck to weigh him down. Bryant's then-husband, Roy Bryant, and his half-brother, J.W. Milam, were charged with Till's murder, but they were acquitted by an all-white jury.

After being notified her son was kidnapped, Till-Mobley leaned on Chicago's Black political infrastructure. She contacted newspapers like the Chicago Defender and the Chicago Tribune to prompt a search for her son, and a politically connected relative even got officials like Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley involved.

"Politics was a thing everybody was engaged in. Chicago was a political animal. It was a force," Obama said of the atmosphere at that time. "Your alderman represented your neighborhood -- that represented you in the City Council. So you knew who your alderman was."

"That was one of my first direct experiences with politics because my father was a precinct captain, and that meant that he worked in a ward for an alderman," she added.

According to Ethan Michaeli, author of "The Defender: How the Legendary Black Newspaper Changed America," Till-Mobley likely had a similar experience: "Mamie would have grown up in a community where she knew who the precinct captain was."

After discovering her son had been killed, Till-Mobley pushed to have his body brought back to Chicago despite a Mississippi sheriff ordering Till's body to be buried immediately in that state.

Till's body finally arrived in Chicago, but his great-uncle had signed an agreement with Mississippi authorities that the casket would remain sealed. Till-Mobley demanded that it be opened so the world could see how her son was beaten before he was killed.

Images from Till's funeral galvanized the nation and sparked a new phase of the Civil Rights movement.