Charlottesville Group Traveling To Bring Soil To Lynching Memorial
Thousands have visited the Equal Justice Initiative’s Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery since its grand opening in April; but one group from Charlotesville, Virginia is bringing more than just camera’s and curiosity on their visit to the memorial.
Scoop by scoop, several University of Virginia staff and faculty members collected soil near the site that Henry James was lynched nearly one hundred years ago.
Thursday, that soil will be added to a wall, at the equal justice initiatives headquarters in Montgomery and displayed next to hundred of jars with soil from lynching sites across the country.
After the group collected the soil from the site in Charlottesville, hundreds packed in to a local church for a community conversation and ceremony where July 12th, the day James was murdered, was declared John Henry James day in Charlottesville.
Henry James’ name is engraved into a monument in the EJI’s memorial, along with the names of thousands of other lynching victims.
In addition to collecting soil samples, the EJI is also encouraging communities to claim replicas of the monuments available at the site, to take responsibility, officials say, while moving towards reconciliation.
The group from left Charlottesville on Sunday and is due to arrive on Thursday. during their ‘Civil Rights Pilgrimage’ they will also be visiting some of the most prominent civil rights sites in Montgomery.
