When it is suggested that Emmett, 14, leave Chicago to visit Mississippi in 1955, at her great-uncle Mose Wright’s (Glynn Turman, formidable as always), she warns him against the culture of Jim Crow South, he recalling, as he repeats, to “keep your eyes down” around whites.
Going out with other boys, Emmett essentially dares to walk into a grocery store, where he smiles at the white woman behind the counter (Julia McDermott). When someone whistles as she leaves, it sets off a wave of racist hysteria, which leads her husband (Carter Jenkins) and step-brother (Chris Coy) to kidnap Emmett, who is later found dead.
The fact that viewers don’t immediately see what happened doesn’t make these events, or Granny’s grief, less devastating. Still, “Women of the Movement” – collected from a pair of books, including Till-Mobley’s memoir – didn’t quite hit its stride until the mother began to seek justice for her son, by recruiting journalists and working with the NAACP.
Justice, however, is an elusive commodity, even with a prosecutor (Gil Bellows) ready to pursue the case, confronting a lawyer (Timothy Hutton) keen to tap into community bigotry.
The final chapters (all six parts will air in three weekly installments) get a bit too much of conventional courtroom drama, right down to the mellow vibe, before Till-Mobley delves into the aftermath of the trial and finds his voice as a leader of civil rights.
The title actually signals this story as the first of what is meant to be an anthology devoted to different women who played key roles in the movement. Additionally, ABC will complement the drama with a docu-series, “Let the World See,” devoted to Till-Mobley’s activism.
“Women in the Move†will premiere Jan. 6 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
