Women of the Movement

Women of the Movement is an American historical drama miniseries that premiered on ABC on January 6, 2022. Created by Marissa Jo Cerar, the series centers on Mamie Till-Mobley, played by Adrienne Warren, who devoted her life to seeking justice for her murdered son Emmett, played by Cedric Joe. Tonya Pinkins also co-stars as Alma Carthan, Emmett's grandmother.

The series is based on the book Emmett Till: The Murder That Shocked the World and Propelled the Civil Rights Movement by Devery S. Anderson. In August 2021 during post-production, the book Death of Innocence: The Story of the Hate Crime That Changed America by Mamie Till-Mobley and Christopher Benson, was also added to the project.

Background
In 1955, Mamie Till-Mobley's son Emmett Till was murdered in Mississippi during the Jim Crow era. Her fight to get justice for him and to make sure he would not be forgotten would ultimately help to spawn the civil rights movement.

Main

 * Adrienne Warren as Mamie Till-Mobley
 * Tonya Pinkins as Alma Carthan, Mamie's mother and Emmett's grandmother
 * Cedric Joe as Emmett Louis "Bobo" Till
 * Glynn Turman as Rev. Mose Wright, Mamie's uncle
 * Ray Fisher as Gene Mobley. Mamie's boyfriend
 * Chris Coy as J. W. Milam, Roy's half-brother
 * Julia McDermott as Carolyn Bryant, Roy's wife
 * Carter Jenkins as Roy Bryant
 * Gary Basaraba as Sheriff Clarence Strider

Recurring

 * Jamir Vega as Simeon Wright, Emmett's cousin
 * Joshua Caleb Johnson as Wheeler Parker Jr.
 * Leslie Silva as Ruby Hurley, the South-Western Director of the NAACP
 * Chris Butler as Rayfield Mooty, a well-networked steel worker from Chicago who takes up Mamie's cause.
 * Alex Désert as Dr. Theodore Roosevelt Howard
 * Miles Fowler as Simeon Booker
 * Sharon Perry as Clotye Murdock Larsson
 * Tongayi Chirisa as Medgar Evers
 * Jason Turner as James L. Hicks
 * Daniel Abeles as Chet Packton
 * Timothy Hutton as Jesse J. Breland, the prosecuting lawyer in Mississippi
 * Gil Bellows as Gerald Chatham
 * Vivian Fleming-Alvarez as Elizabeth "Lizzie" Wright, the wife of Mose
 * Dan Byrd as Dan Wakefield
 * Kevin Cutts as Sheriff Smith
 * Jason Gaines as Johnny Whitten
 * Jason Horgan as J.W. Kellum
 * Ted Welch as Harvey Henderson
 * Chip Lane as Judge Curtis Swango
 * Deja Dee as Willie Mae
 * Luke Hardeman as Maurice Wright
 * Hudson Hurley as Roy Bryant Jr.
 * Todd Barnett as Robert Smith
 * Charlotte Haynes Hazzard as Mandy Bradley

Development
Jay-Z, Will Smith and Aaron Kaplan of Roc Nation, Overbrook Entertainment and Kapital Entertainment first tried to produce an untitled miniseries based on the life of Emmett Till at HBO in 2016. While at HBO, the group merged with Rosanna Grace and Nicole Tabs of Serendipity Group Inc, John P. Middleton and Alex Foster of The Middleton Media Group, and David Clark of Mazo Partners. When the project left HBO it was reconceived to focus on women during the civil rights movement. The series, now titled Women of the Movement, began development in April 2020.

On August 28, 2020, on the 65th anniversary of Emmett Till's murder, ABC gave the official green light to the series, with Marissa Jo Cerar coming on board as the writer and Gina Prince-Bythewood confirmed to direct the first episode of the series.

Casting
On October 16, 2020, Adrienne Warren was cast in a leading role of Mamie Till-Mobley. On November 13, 2020, Niecy Nash joined the series as Alma Carthan, Emmett Till's grandmother. On December 3, 2020, Cedric Joe joined the series as Emmett Till. On December 9, 2020, Glynn Turman joined the series as Mose Wright, Emmett Till's great uncle. On December 17, 2020, Ray Fisher joined the series as Gene Mobley, Mamie's husband. On January 6, 2021, it was announced that Tonya Pinkins had replaced Nash in the role of Alma Carthan. On January 11, 2021, Chris Coy, Julia McDermott and Carter Jenkins joined the series as J. W. Milam, Carolyn Bryant and Roy Bryant, respectively. On March 10, 2021, Joshua Caleb Johnson was cast in a recurring role. On April 13, 2021, Leslie Silva, Chris Butler, Alex Désert, Miles Fowler, Tongayi Chirisa, Jason Turner, and Daniel Abeles joined the cast in recurring roles. In June 2021, Gary Basaraba joined the cast. In August 2021, Timothy Hutton was cast in a recurring role.

Release
On October 21, 2021, ABC released a teaser trailer for the miniseries. The first two episodes premiered on January 6, 2022.

Critical response
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an 89% approval rating with an average rating of 6.8/10, based on 19 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "Women of the Movement enlivens the tragedy of Emmett Till with solid storytelling and a deeply moving pair of performances by Adrienne Warren and Cedric Joe." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 71 out of 100 based on 15 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".