Why a Community Remembrance Project?

 

“… there is an astonishing absence of any effort to acknowledge, discuss, or address lynching. Many of the communities where lynchings took place have gone to great lengths to erect markers and monuments that memorialize the Civil War, the Confederacy, and historical events during which local power was violently reclaimed by white Southerners. These communities celebrate and honor the architects of racial subordination and political leaders known for their belief in white supremacy. There are very few monuments or memorials that address the history and legacy of lynching in particular or the struggle for racial equality more generally. Most communities do not actively or visibly recognize how their race relations were shaped by terror lynching. “

 

– From Lynching in America, Equal Justice Initiative. Click here to read the entire document.

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Nine men and one woman were lynched in Harris County, in Hamilton, between 1861 and 1947. In at least two cases (five people), law officers were present (1912, 1947). No perpetrators were named; no charges were ever brought, as was the case with almost all the nearly 5,000 men, women, and children lynched nationwide between 1860 and 1950. More details about the lynchings can be found under individual names on the Remembrance Harris County GA website.

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Across the country, in partnership with the Equal Justice Initiative, hundreds of counties are acknowledging historical harms against people of color as a step toward recovery and reconciliation.

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At least 13 memorials have been created in Georgia, including Troup and Muscogee County, currently in progress.

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Evidence abounds of health and economic disparities between white people and people of color across our country and, increasingly, we understand that much of this derives from our history of slavery, lynching, segregation, and unjust incarcerations and capital punishment.

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Our memorial park in Hamilton will acknowledge past harms and say “Never Again” as it joins recent county moves toward health and healing in such was as the naming of MLK Highway, the creation of Mercy Clinic, the upcoming completion of Rails to Trails, and the removal of racist police officers.