Reverend Wheeler Parker Jr. is pastor and district superintendent of the Argo Temple Church of God in Christ in Summit, Illinois, the church built by Alma Carthan, grandmother of Emmett Till. A sought-after public speaker, Rev. Parker lectures and teaches on the history of the struggle for equal justice in America. In 2023, he attended the signing of the proclamation establishing the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument as an honored guest of President Joe Biden. He has enjoyed more than fifty years of marriage to his wife, Dr. Marvel Parker. Christopher Benson--Emmy Award-winning lawyer, journalist, and associate professor at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism--co-authored, with the late Mamie Till-Mobley, the Pulitzer Prize-nominated, Robert F. Kennedy Award-winning Death of Innocence. Formerly the Washington editor of Ebony, he has contributed to Chicago magazine, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, and The New York Times.
