Michelle Obama & Common Join Mamie Till-Mobley Docuseries

ABC News has confirmed that former first lady Michelle Obama and Emmy-, Grammy- and Oscar-winning rapper and actor Common are set to appear in the limited docuseries Let the World See.

Obama and Common, both Chicago natives, will each add their personal insights into the life and legacy of civil rights movement icon Mamie Till-Mobley, the mother of Emmett Till. The docuseries premieres on January 6 on ABC and will air for three consecutive Thursday nights.

Let the World See will chronicle Till-Mobley’s quest for justice that sparked the civil rights movement following her son’s brutal murder, examining her fight to bring her son’s body home to Chicago and her decision to have an open-casket funeral for the public to see. The docuseries also traces Till-Mobley’s journey back to the Jim Crow South to face her son’s murderers in court and illustrates how the Till family has continued her legacy since her death in 2003, remaining active in the movement.

The docuseries includes interviews with Emmett Till’s cousins Rev. Wheeler Parker, Ollie Gordon and Amos Smith, and Thelma Wright, Till-Mobley’s cousin. It also features interviews with Rev. Jesse Jackson, FBI agent Lent Rice, journalist Dan Wakefield and Betty Pearson, who watched the Emmett Till murder trial in the courtroom more than 60 years ago. Contemporary authors such as Angie Thomas (The Hate U Give), Christopher Benson (Death of Innocence), John Edgar Wideman (Writing to Save a Life) and Michael Eric Dyson (Long Time Coming) also appear in the series.

Let the World See is produced by ABC News Studios in association with Roc Nation, Westbrook Studios, Kapital Entertainment and Cobble Hill Films and is directed by Jeanmarie Condon and Fatima Curry.