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The Guardian
5 days ago
- The Guardian
‘His blood is in the soil': the Kentucky group honoring victims of lynchings
On 26 October 1924, Fred Shannon, a Black man, was lynched at age 28 by a mob of nearly 200 masked residents in Wayland, Kentucky. Shannon, a local musician, was falsely accused of killing a white man over a financial dispute. While was he being held at a local jail, the mob broke in, took him out in the street and shot him at least 18 times. For decades, Shannon's lynching and the murders of other Black men in the region went largely unnoticed, lost to history. But over the past four years the Eastern Kentucky Remembrance Project (EKRP), an interracial, intergenerational coalition of residents, has come together to memorialize their lives – and deaths. In May, the group successfully placed a remembrance marker for Shannon. EKRP managed to find a relative of Shannon, who will visit the site within the year. Research is already underway for more markers to honor those who were lynched in eastern Kentucky, carrying on the years-long tradition. Founded in 2021, the EKRP has worked to honor Black people who were lynched in the region with plaques and other markers. The group also cleans up a Black cemetery in the area as a part of its annual Decoration Day celebration. The project was first started during a Zoom meeting for the Kentuckians for the Commonwealth Group, EKRP's parent organization. John and Jean Rosenberg, who founded the EKRP, had visited the Legacy Museum, run by the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), based in Montgomery, Alabama, and learned of Shannon's lynching in Floyd county. The pair wanted to acknowledge the travesties that had taken place, according to members in the meeting. 'It's important for us to face this history,' said John in a 2021 press release about the group's founding. Five years later, Shannon's memorial service took place. On 31 May, a historical marker provided by grants from the EJI was placed outside the former Wayland jail where Shannon was killed, now a neighborhood liquor store. Dirt from the site was collected for the EJI's Community Remembrance Project, which houses soil from various lynching sites across the country. Darryl 'Dee' Parker, an EKR member, participated in the ceremony, calling it 'bittersweet' to memorialize Shannon while also recognizing the immense violence done to him. 'It was just something about touching the soil,' Parker said, who is Black. 'Just started having this little flashback, [thinking how] Fred's blood is in the soil somewhere.' Parker, like many participants in the project, have personal connections to lynching that took place in the area. During a visit to EJI, Parker learned that several of his own family members had been lynched in Kentucky. Tom Brown, a male relative, had been lynched in Nicholasville, Kentucky, after being accused of speaking to a white woman. Another family member was lynched in Midway, Kentucky; Parker's family believes that he was working at a local distillery and was accused of stealing liquor. His grandmother later confirmed the news, figuring that Parker had already known. 'Nobody really talked about this in the family. If I didn't uncover that, then that would have been lost, because I wouldn't be able to tell my kids and grandkids and so forth,' Parker said. Beverly May, member of EKR and longtime eastern Kentucky resident, also has personal ties to Shannon's killing. May, who was on the initial Zoom call that sparked EKR's creation, was 'stunned' to learn about Shannon's lynching in the region. 'I was really horrified that the lynching, something that I thought just happened in the south, happened a few miles from my house.' Wayland's own mayor hadn't known Shannon's killing was a lynching, assuming that it was punishment for murder. May soon learned she had a connection to Shannon's lynching; she discovered that her great-grandfather was sheriff of the county when Shannon's murder occurred. During a family reunion in 2022, May asked her relatives if they had heard anything about Shannon's lynching, especially as hundreds of men had participated. 'They all shook their heads and said: 'No,'' said May, who is white. 'I don't know if they told me the truth or not, but I know that there was no further discussion except, 'No, I didn't know that,'' May added. The work remains as relevant as ever, said EKR members, especially as the Trump administration continues to attack the teaching and archiving of Black history. Trump has also pledged to bring back statues commemorating Confederate leaders, many of which were successfully removed during 2020. A handful of residents in eastern Kentucky have been unsupportive of EKRP's efforts, said Parker. 'Some people in the town were like, 'What about the white man who got killed? What about this? What about that?'' he said. But the majority of people have been in favor of EKRP's mission and unaware of such violence taking place in the community. 'There's other people that didn't even know this history at all. [They were] like, 'Thank you. I'm glad you all are doing this.'' The stone marker even got a 'blessing' from the liquor store owner, a quiet man named Bobby who gave EKRP full permission to memorialize Shannon on his land, said Parker. The memorial was another form of resistance, especially as racial justice progress nationwide swings backward. 'I have been in mourning since the election,' said May. 'I am more shocked by the depth and the comprehensiveness of the move toward autocracy, blatant racism and blatant misogyny.' She added: '[But] the Trump administration has no say so about it. It's these little steps of remembrance and reconciliation are more important than ever and will continue to be.'
The Guardian
5 days ago
- The Guardian
‘His blood is in the soil': the Kentucky group honoring victims of lynchings
On 26 October 1924, Fred Shannon, a Black man, was lynched at age 28 by a mob of nearly 200 masked residents in Wayland, Kentucky. Shannon, a local musician, was falsely accused of killing a white man over a financial dispute. While was he being held at a local jail, the mob broke in, took him out in the street and shot him at least 18 times. For decades, Shannon's lynching and the murders of other Black men in the region went largely unnoticed, lost to history. But over the past four years the Eastern Kentucky Remembrance Project (EKRP), an interracial, intergenerational coalition of residents, has come together to memorialize their lives – and deaths. In May, the group successfully placed a remembrance marker for Shannon. EKRP managed to find a relative of Shannon, who will visit the site within the year. Research is already underway for more markers to honor those who were lynched in eastern Kentucky, carrying on the years-long tradition. Founded in 2021, the EKRP has worked to honor Black people who were lynched in the region with plaques and other markers. The group also cleans up a Black cemetery in the area as a part of its annual Decoration Day celebration. The project was first started during a Zoom meeting for the Kentuckians for the Commonwealth Group, EKRP's parent organization. John and Jean Rosenberg, who founded the EKRP, had visited the Legacy Museum, run by the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), based in Montgomery, Alabama, and learned of Shannon's lynching in Floyd county. The pair wanted to acknowledge the travesties that had taken place, according to members in the meeting. 'It's important for us to face this history,' said John in a 2021 press release about the group's founding. Five years later, Shannon's memorial service took place. On 31 May, a historical marker provided by grants from the EJI was placed outside the former Wayland jail where Shannon was killed, now a neighborhood liquor store. Dirt from the site was collected for the EJI's Community Remembrance Project, which houses soil from various lynching sites across the country. Darryl 'Dee' Parker, an EKR member, participated in the ceremony, calling it 'bittersweet' to memorialize Shannon while also recognizing the immense violence done to him. 'It was just something about touching the soil,' Parker said, who is Black. 'Just started having this little flashback, [thinking how] Fred's blood is in the soil somewhere.' Parker, like many participants in the project, have personal connections to lynching that took place in the area. During a visit to EJI, Parker learned that several of his own family members had been lynched in Kentucky. Tom Brown, a male relative, had been lynched in Nicholasville, Kentucky, after being accused of speaking to a white woman. Another family member was lynched in Midway, Kentucky; Parker's family believes that he was working at a local distillery and was accused of stealing liquor. His grandmother later confirmed the news, figuring that Parker had already known. 'Nobody really talked about this in the family. If I didn't uncover that, then that would have been lost, because I wouldn't be able to tell my kids and grandkids and so forth,' Parker said. Beverly May, member of EKR and longtime eastern Kentucky resident, also has personal ties to Shannon's killing. May, who was on the initial Zoom call that sparked EKR's creation, was 'stunned' to learn about Shannon's lynching in the region. 'I was really horrified that the lynching, something that I thought just happened in the south, happened a few miles from my house.' Wayland's own mayor hadn't known Shannon's killing was a lynching, assuming that it was punishment for murder. May soon learned she had a connection to Shannon's lynching; she discovered that her great-grandfather was sheriff of the county when Shannon's murder occurred. During a family reunion in 2022, May asked her relatives if they had heard anything about Shannon's lynching, especially as hundreds of men had participated. 'They all shook their heads and said: 'No,'' said May, who is white. 'I don't know if they told me the truth or not, but I know that there was no further discussion except, 'No, I didn't know that,'' May added. The work remains as relevant as ever, said EKR members, especially as the Trump administration continues to attack the teaching and archiving of Black history. Trump has also pledged to bring back statues commemorating Confederate leaders, many of which were successfully removed during 2020. A handful of residents in eastern Kentucky have been unsupportive of EKRP's efforts, said Parker. 'Some people in the town were like, 'What about the white man who got killed? What about this? What about that?'' he said. But the majority of people have been in favor of EKRP's mission and unaware of such violence taking place in the community. 'There's other people that didn't even know this history at all. [They were] like, 'Thank you. I'm glad you all are doing this.'' The stone marker even got a 'blessing' from the liquor store owner, a quiet man named Bobby who gave EKRP full permission to memorialize Shannon on his land, said Parker. The memorial was another form of resistance, especially as racial justice progress nationwide swings backward. 'I have been in mourning since the election,' said May. 'I am more shocked by the depth and the comprehensiveness of the move toward autocracy, blatant racism and blatant misogyny.' She added: '[But] the Trump administration has no say so about it. It's these little steps of remembrance and reconciliation are more important than ever and will continue to be.'
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Yahoo
Fifteen-year-old Nolan Grove sentenced for murder could spend decades in prison
YORK COUNTY, Pa. (WHTM) — Nolan Grove was 13 when he pulled the trigger, and he's 15 now and in the York County Prison. 'There's a lot to be learned from this case,' defense attorney Farley Holt said. 'I guess the question goes back is whether or not he should have been tried as an adult to begin with.' Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Which could have happened in any state except California, the only state that prohibits charging children under sixteen as adults, regardless of the crime they're accused of. Had Grove been charged as a juvenile, he would have been released no later than his 21st birthday. He was fourteen when prosecutors decided to charge him as an adult, meaning effectively, less than a seven-year sentence had he been charged as a juvenile. 'They didn't feel there was enough time for Nolan to be rehabilitated,' Holt said. Grove had been out on bail, that part is unusual for someone charged with third-degree murder. But with the conviction, bail was revoked, and he went straight to York County Prison. 'Do I like him being at York County Prison? no, but at least I know he's safe there,' Holt said. 'I know they're gonna keep a really close eye on him because they're certainly not gonna let anything happen to a 15-year-old in there.' Sentencing is set for Aug. 28. The statutory maximum is 20 to 40 years. The judge does have discretion to go below 20. In all likelihood, though, Nolan Grove will leave prison a middle-aged, working-age man who has spent his whole adult life in prison. Neither the Republican nor Democratic senate co-chairs of the PA Criminal Justice Reform Caucus was available to speak. Download the abc27 News+ app on your Roku, Amazon Fire TV Stick, and Apple TV devices An organization called the 'Equal Justice Initiative' argues against sentencing children as adults citing studies showing people who were children when they committed a crime are less likely to commit crimes as adults – than people who were adult offenders in the first place. People who argue the opposite say their case is even more straightforward: Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Yahoo
A Black 18-year-old college student was lynched on a playground 95 years ago. His nephew just accepted his posthumous degree
As Imam Plemon El-Amin stood on stage at Morehouse College in front of hundreds of people, donning graduation regalia his uncle Dennis Hubert never got to wear, all he could think was that Hubert would never be forgotten – even 95 years after he was killed. Hubert, an 18-year-old African American divinity student at Morehouse College, was lynched in June 1930 by a mob of seven White men on the playground of a segregated Atlanta school. Last Sunday, the historically Black all-male college where Hubert was a rising sophomore awarded him a posthumous Bachelor of Arts degree in religion. At the commencement ceremony, Morehouse President David Thomas called Hubert a 'son of Morehouse, a martyr of justice, and what history now sees as the Trayvon Martin of the 1930s in Atlanta.' El-Amin, who never met Hubert, says the moment reminded him of an Islamic saying: There are three things a person leaves behind after their death – their charity, knowledge and family members who pray for them. 'Many prayers were said in his name,' El-Amin said about the ceremony, where the 75-year-old accepted the posthumous degree on his uncle's behalf. 'Many people remembered him and were informed about his life and his legacy, and so the knowledge was there, as well as the charity of him sacrificing his life so that we would be more conscious of the value of young life and the value of human life, but also the value of justice.' El-Amin's family has had 'a long tradition' of a 'connection with Morehouse,' he said, with multiple generations graduating from the institution. Ten men in his family graduated from Morehouse and seven women graduated from its sister school, Spelman College. 'I was proud of Morehouse to give Dennis the honor, and I'm quite appreciative,' El-Amin said. 'The whole Hubert family is really appreciative of that.' Hubert's family had well-established roots in the community: his father was a prominent preacher and his mother was the principal of the elementary school where Hubert was killed, according to El-Amin. 'For one of their promising children, who (was) a rising sophomore at the Morehouse College to be murdered just in cold blood … at that time, 1930, is saying that there (were) no human rights given to the people of Georgia,' El-Amin said. Hubert was one of at least 38 lynching victims killed in Fulton County between 1877 and 1950, according to the Equal Justice Initiative. In Georgia, nearly 600 African Americans were lynched in that period – the second highest number of lynchings in any state. 'When we begin to address this history, when we begin to try to create remedies for the harm and suffering that terror violence and lynching violence created, I think we lay a path down that will help us move forward, which is why I was so pleased that Morehouse decided to award a degree posthumously to Dennis Hubert,' said Bryan Stevenson, the executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative. Like many lynching victims, Hubert was a young man with a bright future ahead of him. When he was killed, the student had been the driver for John Hope, the first Black president of Morehouse. 'This is a recognition of Dennis as not only a human being, but also as someone that had made his mark and was beginning to make his mark at Morehouse, and was not able to make his full mark here in the city or in life, but that people have a high regard for him,' El-Amin said. Less than 15 minutes after Hubert arrived at the Crogman School for Negroes that fateful evening on June 15, 1930, several White men attacked Hubert, falsely accusing him of insulting a White woman. 'What do you want of me? I have done nothing,' Hubert told the mob before one of the men shot him point-blank in the back of the head in front of two dozen witnesses. Hubert's killing sent shockwaves across the community, and the men were soon indicted in connection with his killing – accountability that was rare during that period, according to the Fulton County Remembrance Coalition. The defense argued the killing was 'justifiable homicide' because of the alleged insult. 'The African American community was pushing for justice, and they did get some things that were first in terms of justice between Black and White folk,' El-Amin said. Two days after the men were denied bail, the home of Dennis Hubert's father, Rev. G. J. Hubert, was burned to the ground, according to the coalition. When a Black Baptist church held a fundraiser to rebuild the home and support prosecution of the men, a White mob bombed it with tear gas. Days later, Dennis Hubert's cousin, Rev. Charles R. Hubert, escaped an attempt on his life, and the Spelman College chapel was attacked, according to the coalition. The men were acquitted of murder charges, and only two were convicted of lesser offenses, according to the coalition. One man received a sentence of 12 to 15 years for voluntary manslaughter, while another who confessed to firing the fatal shot received a sentence of just two years. El-Amin's mother, who was 12 when her brother was killed, scarcely spoke about Hubert because of the pain his loss had wrought. 'He was probably her protector and her person that she looked up to,' El-Amin said. But when she grew older and El-Amin became her caretaker, his mother would often call him 'Dennis,' which was 'quite moving' for El-Amin. Though Hubert died 20 years before his nephew was born, the tragedy scarred the family for generations. Growing up as the only son in his family, El-Amin said his mother worried about him because she couldn't bear to lose another family member. Other family members moved out of Atlanta to escape the trauma. They were among more than six million Black people who fled the South to escape racial terrorism between 1916 and 1970, according to the coalition. While Hubert's death traumatized El-Amin's family, he says he's comforted by his faith. 'Life doesn't stop with death and … God rewards those who are oppressed and those who are unjustly murdered,' he said. Part of the tragedy of Hubert's lynching was a lack of awareness surrounding his story among Morehouse graduates until only recently, several alumni said. Michael Tyler, a 1977 Morehouse graduate, said he doesn't 'believe that any of my classmates, or anybody during our generation, was aware of what had transpired with Dennis Hubert.' A few years ago, Tyler learned of Hubert's story when he visited an exhibit memorializing him at the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama. Sean Jones, a 1998 graduate who serves as president of the Atlanta branch of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, discovered that piece of his school's history in 2021, then called for a discussion of it at the next alumni meeting. As a board member of the Fulton County Remembrance Coalition, Jones constantly advocated for the college to formally recognize Hubert and educate both students and alumni about his story. 'It's personal, it's painful, and … oftentimes it's a scary thing, because some persons have nightmares about it once they hear this kind of history,' Jones said. 'But it is something that must be discussed, must be highlighted.' The lack of awareness about the tragedy – even among Morehouse graduates – made the college's tribute that much more meaningful, Tyler and Jones said. 'It was extraordinarily significant and compelling, and something that I am exceedingly proud of my alma mater for doing – telling a story that had not been told in the public domain as it needed to be,' Tyler said. With the long-overdue recognition, '(Hubert's) memory will continue to inspire a new generation of Morehouse Men to serve with courage, speak truth to power, and uphold the ideals of equity and moral leadership in their respective callings,' a Morehouse College spokesperson said in a statement. Morehouse had approached El-Amin about the decision to award Hubert a degree a year and a half ago and initially planned to recognize Hubert last year, he said. Morehouse's faculty and students had nominated Hubert for the honorary degree, according to the college president. 'We remember the son who should have become a man here. We remember the voice that would have preached liberation. We remember the dreamer who was never given the chance to dream aloud,' Thomas said at the ceremony. El-Amin believes the school's decision to honor Dennis was influenced by the work of the Fulton County Remembrance Coalition and the Equal Justice Initiative to memorialize Hubert along with other lynching victims. The organizations in 2021 collected soil from the site of Hubert's killing – now the Crogman School Lofts apartment complex – and placed a marker there in his honor in 2022. A group of Morehouse students who attended the 2022 commemoration joined hands, encircled the memorial marker and sang the 'Dear Old Morehouse' hymn in Hubert's honor, Tyler recalled. 'Ninety-five years later, people are conscious of his life, which means he's still alive, though not here with us physically or in body, but his life, his will, and he is providing inspiration for those of us left behind,' El-Amin said. Such memorials may help educate future generations and prevent the return of past injustices, community members said. They're especially important today 'when there's such a hostility in some spaces to learning the history of struggle and violence against Black people,' Stevenson, of the Equal Justice Initiative, said. 'We can see that those very, very terrible times are not that far away and can easily come back,' El-Amin said.
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Irondale mayor hosting 5th annual prayer breakfast
IRONDALE, Ala. (WIAT) — Irondale Mayor James D. Stewart Jr. will host the 5th Annual Irondale Mayor's Prayer Breakfast on May 7. The event will take place at Church of the Highlands on 4700 Highlands Way in Irondale. Doors open at 6:30 a.m. with the program scheduled to begin at 7:45 a.m. The breakfast brings together local pastors, community members, elected officials and more. Mayor Stewart will hold a keynote conversation with Anthony Ray Hinton, a community educator with the Equal Justice Initiative. 'We are honored to welcome Mr. Anthony Ray Hinton to Irondale for our 5th Annual Mayor's Prayer Breakfast,' said Mayor Stewart in a release for the event. 'His story is a testament to the power of hope and perseverance in the face of unimaginable adversity, and we believe his presence will uplift and inspire all who attend. National Day of Prayer is an opportunity for all of us to renew our commitment to praying for our community, serving neighbors in need, and making a difference in the lives of others.' Those interested in attending can learn here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
