Federal authorities have reopened the lynching case of Emmett Till , a black teenager whose brutal murder in Mississippi in 1955 helped launch the modern civil rights movement.

The Department of Justice informed Congress in a report in March that it is reopening the case after the discovery of new information, which was not detailed. The decision was first reported on Thursday by The Associated Press .

A DOJ spokeswoman, reached by HuffPost in an email on Thursday, said it cannot provide further comment because it is an open investigation.