What happened to Emmett Till helped focus many Americans’ attention on the civil rights struggle during the 1950s.

Till was just 14 years old when white men in Mississippi tortured and murdered him in 1955. He died because a white woman claimed the African-American lad had whistled at her.

Two men who admitted to a reporter they had been involved in killing the boy were arrested — and acquitted in a trial. The jury was all-white.

No one else has ever been arrested. It is believed all the men involved are dead. Only the woman who claimed Till whistled at her remains.

Now the U.S. Justice Department is looking into the Till case again. Investigators will not say what prompted the probe, other than “new information.”

If there is new information, it ought to be brought forward.

For most people, the thought that a 14-year-old boy could be tortured and murdered for what Till did may seem unbelievable.

But it happened. Ensuring all the details are known — and never forgotten — is vital.