Emmett Till's Cousin Speaks In St. Paul, Marking What Would Be His 80th Birthday

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MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The family of a young boy whose brutal murder shocked the nation is remembering him on his birthday.

Emmett Till was murdered in 1955 in the Mississippi Delta after being accused of making sexual advances on a white woman. He was just 14 at the time.

Sunday, the Emmett Till Legacy Foundation hosted remembrance ceremonies around the country because it would have been Till's 80th birthday. Deborah Watts, Till's cousin, spoke at Minnesota's ceremony, held outside the governor's residence in St. Paul.

Deborah Watts (credit: CBS)

"The past is not passed until justice is served," Watts said. "And we stand here in solidarity and say justice for Emmett Till."

Till's case has been reopened. His family says they want charges for the woman who accused Till of making sexual advances -- now-87-year-old Carolyn Bryant Donham -- because they say she lied.