Community Remembrance Project holding first program to honor victims of lynching

On Feb. 29, 2020, the Tallahassee Community Remembrance Project (TCRP), a coalition of 46 partner organizations and faith communities, led a soil collection ceremony at the corner of E. Gaines and S. Meridian Streets to remember the four documented victims of lynching in Leon County: Pierce Taylor, Mick Morris, Ernest Ponder, and Richard Hawkins.

On July 17, 2021, a historical lynching marker was unveiled and dedicated at the same location with 400 people in attendance.

This year, at 2 p.m. Feb. 12, the TCRP will hold its first annual remembrance at the marker. Dr. Maxine Jones, history professor and women studies director at Florida State University, will speak concerning Leon County’s victims.

Blan Teagle, Co-Convener, Tallahassee Community Remembrance Project, will give the welcome. The Opening Prayer will be by the Rev. Margaret Fox, Pastor, First Presbyterian Church. Marques Jerrell Ruff will sing “Over My Head” and Closing Remarks will be by Dr. Dan Leshem, Executive Director, FSU Hillel.

Immediately following that remembrance, FSU history professor Dr. Jennifer Koslow will make a presentation at 3 p.m. in the parish hall at St. John’s Episcopal Church, 211 N. Monroe St., concerning six more Leon County men who were taken by law enforcement to Lake City in 1911 but who were removed from the jail under false pretenses and lynched there, in Columbia County.

Enter the parish hall from the Calhoun Street entrance. Koslow's talk, “They were all from Leon County: The 1911 Lynching in Lake City,” will last 45 minutes with an additional 15 minutes for questions and answers. Face masks are required.

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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Community Remembrance ceremony honors Leon County lynching victims