Lynching

Anti-Lynching Activism at Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church

2/10/2021

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in DC by Lisa Dupree

Cover of Frederick Douglass's 1894 speech, "Lessons of the Hour," a scathing rebuke of lynching delivered at Metropolitan A.M.E. Church in Washington, D.C.

In the late 1800s, Metropolitan A.M.E. Church was a center for anti-lynching activism in Washington, D.C. Famed journalist Ida Wells-Barnett addressed the church on at least two occasions and, in 1894, Frederick Douglass delivered one of his last speeches from the Metropolitan A.M.E. pulpit. Entitled “The Lessons of the Hour” Douglass's address was an epic condemnation of lynching – from its pervasiveness, to its general acceptance amongst both Southern and Northern whites.

Miss Angelina Weld Grimké (1923) (Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons. Used via Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.)

Art as Protest: Angelina Weld Grimké's "Rachel"

4/2/2019

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in DC by Blake Wilson

In 1915, The Birth of a Nation was a controversial blockbuster and a D.C. schoolteacher, Angelina Weld Grimké, was a writer unafraid to use her art as form of protest. This is the story of "Rachel," an acclaimed anti-lynching play written in Washington, D.C.

Honoring Alexandria's Two Lynching Victims

1/8/2019

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in Virginia by Jesse Remedios

Memorial Corridor at The National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama. (Credit: Soniakapadia via Wikimedia Commons. Used via Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.)

The National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama, is dedicated to all the victims of racial terror lynching in this country. The memorial is made of hundreds of steel monuments with the names of all known lynching victims inscribed on the front. A monument representing Alexandria, Virginia contains two names: Joseph McCoy and Benjamin Thomas. This is their story, and our community's history.