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“Un(re)solved”

Excellence in Multimedia Journalism

FRONTLINE (PBS), 2022

Author(s): Tamara Shogaolu, Michelle Mizner, Collyn Stephens and Staff | FRONTLINE (PBS)

2:22

Frontline set out to learn how the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act has been enforced since it was signed into law more than 14 years ago. The act calls on the Justice Department to open the unsolved cases of African Americans who were victims of suspected racially motivated killings before 1970.

There are now 151 names on the Till Act list. Among them are voting rights advocates, veterans, Louisville’s first female prosecutor, business owners, mothers, fathers and children. In “Un(re)solved,” Frontline tells each of their stories in a remarkable, multiplatform, interactive presentation that honors these lives and draws needed attention to injustices too long ignored.

Frontline partnered with Northeastern University’s Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project to detail the lives of each person on the Till Act list. The team supported interviews with families, friends and witnesses with thorough searches of newspaper archives and public records. The journalists interviewed former Justice Department and FBI officials, state and local law enforcement officers, lawmakers, civil-rights leaders and other investigative journalists.

The multimedia experience includes a serialized podcast, augmented-reality installation and documentary. Nearly two dozen oral histories will be archived in the National Library of Congress in collaboration with StoryCorps, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to preserve and share humanity’s stories.