Durbin, Duckworth push to make Bronzeville church where Emmett Till’s funeral was held a National Historic Site

Last month, Sens. Duckworth and Durbin introduced a bill to make the Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ building, 4021 S. State St., a National Historic Site. Now they’ve penned a request to the National Park Service to conduct a reconnaissance survey of the church, a step in the process of making it a historical site in the National Park System.

“We believe Roberts Temple, which is in dire need of structural repair and rehabilitation, should be designated as a new unit of the National Park System,” the Illinois Democrats wrote in a letter to the park service, noting that Till’s mother made the “courageous” decision to hold an open-casket service so the public could see for themselves the brutality the teen suffered in his last moments.

“Roberts Temple is an ideal candidate for inclusion in the National Park System: a nationally significant cultural resource that represents a crucial part of American history, and a site that can serve as a beacon for public awareness and education about the way the Civil Rights Movement reshaped the fabric of our nation,” Duckworth and Durbin wrote.

Last year, the Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group National Trust for Historic Preservation put the church on its annual list of America’s 11 most threatened historic sites because of structural issues.