The deep green vines that jump from the rich Mississippi Delta soil hide the remains of Bryant's grocery from view.

It's a ruin today but remains a significant place in American history.

A shocking crime began here in 1955 when 14-year-old Emmett Till — a teenager from Chicago visiting family — arrived to buy bubblegum.

Judging by the many bullet holes in a nearby sign honouring the young African-American, hiding his memory is not an accident.

Emmett Till was brutally murdered at age 14 in Mississippi in 1955. ( AP )

Emmett was kidnapped from his family then tortured and shot in the head at a nearby barn.

His mutilated body was then tied to a 70-pound (31-kilogram) fan from a nearby cotton gin and dumped in the Tallahatchie River.

"I think torture would be a light word from what they did to him that night. Hours of torture and then on top of that shooting him in the head," said Patrick Weems, the Director of the Emmett Till Museum.

Mr Weems has worked hard to cut away the overgrowth of history and continue to reveal this truth to the world.

The now overgrown Bryant's grocery in Money, Mississippi. ( Adrian Wilson )

He's inspired by the work of Emmett Till's mother.

Back in 1955, she insisted on an open casket for her son, setting in train a set of events that would lead to the modern civil rights movement.

"That open casket in Chicago really set a fire under a lot of young people, a lot of young people who became a part of the civil rights movement," Mr Weems said.

Mississippi State senator David Jordan can attest to that.

After a drive through verdant green cotton and cornfields, Senator Jordan meets us at City Hall in nearby Greenwood.

The Tallahatchie River in Mississippi is where Emmett Till's body was dumped. ( Adrian Wilson )

He was one of the few people to witness the trial of the two killers, Roy Bryant and JW Milham.

He was also one of a select group to witness Rosa Parks say the murder had inspired her famous bus protest.

"She told a room full of us that's the reason she did not give up her seat. She was thinking about Emmett Till," the senator remembered.

No-one was ever convicted of this shocking crime.

The courthouse in Sumner Mississippi where Emmett Till's killers were acquitted. ( Adrian Wilson )

Senator Jordan is still outraged by the chummy, jokey atmosphere as the all-white jury took a little over an hour to acquit Bryant and Milham.

"It really wasn't a trial. Now keep in mind this was my first time in court. But I didn't see no seriousness," Senator Jordan said.

"I just saw laughter and talking among the jurors, it really was a mockery of justice."

The killers — the label fits because even though they were acquitted they gave a paid interview confessing to the murder — never did time for this.

Nor did anyone else.

"It was terrible and people were scared to death but somehow as young people we were not," Senator Jordan said.

"We were angry. I certainly were and all my buddies were. And there wasn't anything we could do but African-Americans were scared to death."

The barn where Emmett Till was tortured and murdered. ( Conor Duffy )

Now the FBI has reopened the case.

The investigation centres on the one-time occupant of the now-overgrown Bryant's grocery, Carolyn Bryant — known today as Carolyn Donham.

She recently gave an interview admitting she lied in court, meaning even the flimsy explanation given for the murder — that 14-year-old Emmett had flirted with her and grabbed at her — was untrue.

Senator Jordan says witnesses also believe she positively identified Emmett for his kidnappers.

Ms Donham has also written a memoir of her life.

It's not due to be published until 2036 but the FBI may have already seized it.

Despite that, Senator Jordan doesn't see the point in prosecuting an 85-year-old woman.

Others disagree.

Sorry, this video has expired Carolyn Bryant's allegation triggered the 1955 murder of Emmett Till

Mr Weems believes it's time for a reckoning.

"In order to do the work of racial healing we have to have justice first," he said.

"But hopefully, if a trial is reopened, we don't just stop with Carolyn Bryant but work is not just to put an 85-year-old woman behind bars but to use that to look at an entire system of racism that allowed this murder to take place."

Mississippi is a state that still features the Confederate flag in the corner of its state flag.

Its picturesque cotton and cornfields merge into a green blur on the way to Tutwiler where Emmett Till's body was taken before being sent to Chicago.

Nearby is the birthplace of blues music.

Pastor Willie Williams was born that year and as he prepares for bible study, he welcomes the new investigation.

"The more we bring it to the light, the more we talk openly about the sin of racism and what happened," Pastor Williams said.

He preaches to a mixed congregation and is more optimistic than many about the state of race relations.

"There's only one race — that's the human race," he said.

"You're a human being, I'm a human being, one race, life is in the blood and we need wisdom. It's not the colour of your skin, it's the colour of your heart — what kind of heart do you have?"

Said with a blazing smile, it's the kind of hope and optimism that could reopen the trauma of the past and cut away the history obscuring true reconciliation.