Community Calendar
In Remembrance: The Legacy of George Taylor
Shannon Hardy will lead a discussion at Soapstone United Methodist Church, Raleigh, at 6:30 P.M. on November 5, 2025, about truth telling and remembering the 1918 lynching of George Taylor in Wake County.
Caution: Some of the material presented may be disturbing.
What is it? After a presentation on the facts of the lynching of George Taylor in November 1918, the audience will be asked to reflect on contemporary sources that reported the lynching. A panel discussion among members of the Wake County Community Remembrance Coalition and a descendant of George Taylor will follow.
What is the background of this initiative? In the fall of 2017, three Wake County educators and their students began researching the 1918 lynching of George Taylor. Their efforts led to a collaboration with the Equal Justice Initiative based in Montgomery, Alabama, and the formation of the Wake County Community Remembrance Coalition. The students worked with archival documents and oral histories to create a timeline of the lynching and identified its location. Over the years, the coalition has led truth-telling events, worked for the installation of a historical marker for George Taylor in Rolesville, and obtained commitments for the inclusion of a "George Taylor Research Room" in a proposed new Wake County Library in Rolesville.
Why should I care? In Montgomery, Alabama, the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) has built The National Memorial for Peace and Justice. It memorializes lynching victims all over the United States. In the memorial, there is a hanging column for each county inscribed with the names of the lynching victims in that county. A field outside is filled with identical columns. The goal is to guide communities with documented lynchings through the reconciliation process starting with collecting a jar of soil from the lynching site. The jars are then put in the EJI Museum, and the community remembers the person killed with a marker in their community. The Wake County Community Remembrance Coalition took part in this process, working with the Town of Rolesville which erected the historical marker about George Taylor on September 7, 2024, in Rolesville’s Main Street Park.
Why should I attend this discussion? In the discussion, Hardy will be joined by members of the Wake County Community Remembrance Coalition, historians, teachers and former students who worked on the original research into Taylor’s killing 107 years ago. Hardy has led classroom and community discussions with students and community groups. She has led groups of educators and community leaders to Montgomery, Alabama, to Bryan Stevenson’s Legacy Museum and National Memorial for Peace and Justice.
Efforts like this event and the process to erect the historical marker by the Rolesville’s Remembrance Project Committee and other public interest groups are tangible steps being taken to build local awareness and enable truthful conversations about the legacy of racial terrorism and injustices in our community. These actions are just a few of many steps needed to move toward healing the past and seeding a future of unity, trust and respect for one another.
Location Soapstone United Methodist Church, 12837 Norwood Road, Raleigh, NC, 27613, 6:30 PM
https://soapstoneumc.org/ https://www.waketruth.org/
2025 Wake County Community Remembrance Coalition (WCCRC) Pilgrimage to Montgomery, AL
WCCRC mission…
…to educate ourselves (in in turn our communities) on our shared history of racial violence
…to establish collaborations between change agents in our community
…to return home with the inspiration, information, and connections to effect positive change
We will visit the following EJI sites:
…The Legacy Museum
The museum examines the full 400-year scope of American systems of racist oppression, from chattel slavery through Jim Crow segregation to mass incarceration today.
…The National Memorial for Peace and Justice
On a hill overlooking downtown Montgomery, a series of steel columns symbolically hang in rows around a green square, honoring more than 4,000 lynching victims. Each column represents a county where at least one confirmed lynching occurred. It is a solemn tribute and place of quiet reflection.
…Freedom Monument Sculpture Park
This 17-acre park situated on the banks of the Alabama River has over 50 works of art by internationally famous artists. The art depicts the humanity, dignity, resilience, and resistance of those facing brutality and oppression.
Tentative Itinerary
Friday, December 5th
6AM Meet at RDU/boarding
9AM Arrive Atlanta, secure vehicle(s)
10AM Drive to Montgomery (time change)
11:30 Packed lunch on the bus.
12PM Freedom Rides Museum
1PM Dexter Ave Parsonage & Church
4 PM Civil Rights Memorial
5PM Hotel Check-In/Gathering
6PM Dinner
Saturday, December 6th
6:15 Sunrise Civil Rights Walk (optional)
7:30 Morning Meeting / Breakfast
9:00 Freedom Monument Sculpture Park
10:30 Legacy Museum
1:00 Lunch - Pannie George’s
2:30 National Peace & Justice Memorial
3:30 Depart Montgomery
6:30 Arrive Atlanta Airport/Dinner
Sign Up:
Shannon Hardy - srhardy70@gmail.com
$150 Donation Covers:
Ground transportation; tickets to EJI sites, Dexter Ave, honorariums to offset travel cost for student leaders and educator trip organizers.
Venmo: Susan Sanford @susandotoo
Hotel and flight are arranged by the participants to allow use of points.
Flight Info:
Delta #2478 - Depart RDU 7:15am (nonstop)
Delta #2052-Depart Atlanta 8:56pm (nonstop)
Currently about $200.
Hotel Info:
Hampton Inn & Suites Montgomery-Downtown
Current room price: $170 before taxes, double
Legacies of Lynching: An Inaugural Gathering
On behalf of UNC-Chapel Hill's Center for the Study of the American South (CSAS) and the Organization of North Carolina Community Remembrance Coalitions (NCCRC), we invite you to join us for a historic one-day convening. Inspired by the work of Bryan Stevenson's Equal Justice Initiative, the eleven North Carolina county-based Community Remembrance Coalitions have engaged in documenting and commemorating the sites of lynchings in their local communities. At this first statewide gathering of coalition and academic leaders, descendant families, and community members, we hope to foster collaboration, deepen understanding, and further the community commemoration of North Carolina’s history. The day will include talks, interactive workshops, networking opportunities, cross-generational discussions of histories of racial violence, and pathways toward healing and reconciliation.
Registration will be free and open to the public. A registration link will be posted when it becomes available.
This program is supported in part by North Carolina Humanities the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, www.nchumanities.org.
EJI Pilgrimage to Montgomery, Alabama
Pilgrimages to the Equal Justice Initiative Legacy Sites in Montgomery, Alabama
After taking students to the EJI's Legacy Museum and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in 2018, we saw the transformative power of these spaces. No one leaves unchanged or apathetic; these sites demand action of their visitors. With that understanding, the Wake County Community Remembrance Coalition (WCCRC) began taking community stakeholders on annual "pilgrimages" to the EJI's sites in Montgomery, Alabama.
Our next pilgrimage will be on Thursday and Friday, December 5th & 6th, 2024. The visit will include time to visit the Legacy Museum, the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, and if time permits, the new Freedom Monument Sculpture Park and a meeting with EJI staff.
Members of the group will purchase their own tickets on the same flight from Raleigh to Atlanta and book their own hotel rooms. Group leaders will rent vans to ferry members from Atlanta to Montgomery where participants will spend the day learning about the history of racial terrorism in the United States. Participants will be asked to make a donation to cover the cost of the vans. Meals will be at each person’s own expense. The day will be intense, both physically and emotionally, but time will be allotted for individual or group reflection. Past participants say that it is a most worthwhile trip.
More information and a link to register for this year’s pilgrimage is here: https://www.waketruth.org/steel-monument-1.
GT Historical Research Virtual Meeting (Copy)
A monthly virtual historical research meeting. Come with new research or questions.
Reckoning with the truth
Reckoning With the Truth Presented by the Orange County Historical Museum
Reckoning with the Truth
OCHM is partnering with the Orange County Community Remembrance Coalition, Spirit Freedom, and the Orange County Public Library to bring you this important program.
This impactful event seeks to confront the history of racial terror in Orange County. In conjunction with the soil collection project and the installation of a marker honoring the Morrows, it aims to correct the narrative of racial violence in our community, acknowledge the pain both past and present, and honor the lives lost. By exploring how past traumas continue to shape our present, we can work toward a more just and informed future.
Program Highlights:
2-3:30 PM: Speakers and Discussion
Dr. Freddie Parker: An Overview of Lynchings in the U.S. and Orange County
Wade Harrison: A Presentation on Governor Holden and Lucinda Morrow's testimony
3:30-4 PM: Break and Refreshments
4-6 PM: Short Reading and Moderated, Open Discussion
Group Reading
Dr. Michelle Laws: Presentation and Facilitated Discussion
This event provides an opportunity for collective reflection, open dialogue, and community healing.
Intended for mature audiences
Registration is encouraged but not required
GT Historical Research Virtual Meeting
A monthly virtual historical research meeting. Come with new research or questions.
GT Historical Research Virtual Meeting
Monthly virtual historical research meeting. Come with new research and questions for further research.
Racial Equity Institute/ROAR Workshop
Moving away from a focus on personal bigotry and bias, the workshop presents a compelling historical, cultural, and structural analysis of racism.
Dedication of Historical Marker Remembering George Taylor
Please join us for the dedication of the historical marker remembering George Taylor in Rolesville, NC.
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