Bill was originally blocked in Senate two years ago

As Black History Month comes to a close, a bill that was long overdue to be passed may finally reach its completion.

On Monday night, the U.S. House of Representatives passed by a vote of 422-3, the Emmett Till Antilynching Act. The bill, which was named after Emmett Till, the Chicago teenager who was murdered in Mississippi in 1955, sparking national and international outrage. The story was recently the subject of the ABC docudrama ‘Women of the Movement.’ It will make lynching a federal hate crime.

Despite repeated attempts to have the bill passed, it was voted down in the Senate two years ago for being considered “too broad.” Now, there is hope that it will be passed unanimously in the Senate, including by Kentucky Senator Rand Paul.