The Owensboro Equal Justice Initiative is working to bring awareness to three victims of illegal hanging at the courthouse. They have collected dirt from the Courthouse property and plan to send it to a museum dedicated to teaching about these victims.
Dr. Eunice Taylor said that the organization is working on a Community Remembrance Project focused on remembering victims of lynching throughout the nation by creating a local memorial for the victims.
Taylor said their own and statewide research showed that 169 reported lynchings occurred in Kentucky. She believes that more lynchings occurred; however, the documentation does not currently support that.
Through the project, lynching is defined as any death not being sentenced by the legal justice system. This included acts of terrorism like illegal hangings, being drug from vehicles, being burned, being broken out of jail with the presumption of guilt, etc.
“[Hearing that,] in me it also brings out maybe, what can we do better. I think that’s one of the reasons why we’re all committed to the remembrance project,” Taylor said.
In Owensboro, Taylor said the committee found evidence pointing to the traditional lynching area on the Courthouse lawn — which tree has since been removed.
After locating the area, they collected dirt from the grounds in the act of preservation for the bodies lynched there. Taylor said they are touring the city and discussing the history of the three men who died in Daviess County with community members.
The jars of dirt are part of a project in the Legacy Museum to commemorate all victims of illegal lynchings throughout the nation. The museum has a memorial wall for the dirt of each of the sites and a coinciding metallic brick with each victim corresponding to the county.
“The idea behind the memorial is that each of these counties, the representative would go through a process of claiming and bringing home their particular column. So that’s really what’s behind all of this,” Taylor said.
Taylor said they don’t want to cause any controversy; instead, she said they aim to educate and prepare the county in hopes that the three can be memorialized with their column.
They are looking at other statewide initiatives to find inspiration for the next steps, saying ultimately the bodies don’t have to be memorialized as long as “the community can discuss the history” of the three.
“One of the things we’d like to propose is doing an educational opportunity such as this involving members of the community. That could take on several different forms,” Taylor said. “But what’s needed is encouragement, truth-telling, looking at how racial justice still impacts our lives today, not only as African Americans but as members of the human race.”
She said people interested in helping with the organization can reach out on their Facebook page.
