tallahassee community remembrance project
racial justice essay Awards Ceremony
On Saturday, March 4, 2023, representatives of the Tallahassee Community Remembrance Project and the Equal Justice Initiative gathered at the FSU Law School Rotunda for an awards ceremony honoring winners of the TCRP/EJI Racial Justice Essay Contest.
We were delighted to receive twenty submissions for the essay contest from local public high school students, all of whom were honored at the event for their efforts. The event also included remarks on the ongoing work of the TCRP and EJI, as well as a time of remembrance for the victims of the four documented lynchings in Leon County: Pierce Taylor (1897), Mick Morris (1909), Richard Hawkins (1937), and Ernest Ponder (1937).
We are pleased to announce the winning essay, “The History of Medical Experimentation on African Americans,” was written by Sanai Brown, a student at Rickards High School. Her essay explored the tragic history of unethical medical experiments performed on Black Americans throughout our country’s history and the racial disparities that persist in our modern healthcare system. We invite you to read, reflect on, and share Sanai’s winning essay.
We offer our sincere thanks to every student who submitted an essay, as well as their parents/guardians, teachers, and school administrators who supported their work. The Tallahassee Community Remembrance Project remains committed to remembering and acknowledging past and present racial violence and injustice in Tallahassee, Leon County, Florida. Thank you for your continued support of this important project!
ANNUAL REMEMBRANCE AT LYNCHING MARKER IN CASCADES PARK
On February 12, 2022, the Tallahassee Community Remembrance Project held its first annual remembrance at the lynching memorial in Cascades Park. The leadership for the event included TCRP co-convener Blan Teagle, Rev. Margaret Fox of First Presbyterian Church, Dr. Dan Leshem of FSU Hillel, vocalist Marques Jerrell Ruff, and Dr. Maxine Jones, history professor and women studies director at Florida State University, who spoke concerning Leon County’s victims.
Immediately following that remembrance, FSU history professor Dr. Jennifer Koslow made a presentation in the parish hall at St. John’s Episcopal Church 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.
Photos by Dennis Howard. Click here for more photos from this and other events.
Neither forgotten nor repeated.
The Tallahassee Community Remembrance Project, constituted of members from diverse congregations and organizations, will support and participate in a community effort to achieve three objectives:
Erect a memorial plaque remembering African American victims of Leon County lynchings;
Lead a service of repentance, reconciliation and healing; and
Organize events in perpetuity that would serve as a foundation and catalyst for remembrance of the atrocities of the past and present, acknowledging the challenging and difficult work of racial reconciliation through teaching, engagement, and action.
Mission Statement
The Tallahassee Community Remembrance Project seeks to remember and acknowledge past and present racial violence and injustice in Tallahassee, Leon County, Florida, and to inspire our community to come together for dialogue, education, understanding, action and, ultimately, for healing and trust.
About
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Our Partners
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