The Alexandria Community Remembrance Project (ACRP) collected soil to recognize the lives and lynchings of Joseph McCoy and Benjamin Thomas.
The jars of soil will be given to the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) and will be taken to Montgomery, Alabama and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice as part of an ACRP pilgrimage starting October 6.
Joseph McCoy was born and raised in Alexandria in the late 1800s. In 1897, he was accused of a crime by his employer, arrested by police, and locked in a cell at the Alexandria Station House (which is now City Hall). Within a few hours, a white mob attacked the station house, dragged McCoy away and hanged him from a gas lamp post on the corner of Lee and Cameron Streets.
Less than three years later, Benjamin Thomas, 16, was arrested for allegedly assaulting a white girl. This was never proven, but Thomas was arrested anyway. Worried about another lynching similar to that of McCoy, local African Americans tried to protect Thomas by standing guard near his holding cell. Tragically, a lynch mob hunted him down, tortured and killed him. The police arrested the people trying to protect him and they were fined and sent to a chain gang.
The Alexandria Community Remembrance Project (ACRP) is a city-wide initiative dedicated to helping Alexandria residents know and understand the area's history of racial terror and hate crimes.
ACRP's pilgrimage will include visits to Montgomery and Selma civil rights sites in addition to the visit to the National Memorial for Peace and Justice and other educational events.
More information on ACRP is available at alexandriava.gov/cultural-history/alexandria-community-remembrance-project.
