Maryland Truth and Reconciliation
Maryland reckons with a painful history of lynching
More than 6500 black people were lynched between 1865 and 1950. In Maryland, a local community is recognising and reckoning with its violent past, working towards social transformation and racial healing.
As Mayor Jake Day says: 'White people did things that were inhumane, inhuman. So turning that corner means being really honest and frank and saying we are going to be a different society today'. No one has been held accountable for the 1931 lynching of 23-year-old Matthew Williams, brutally tortured and killed by a white mob. A plaque now commemorates these events, encouraging the community to face its past. Activist Amber Green, who fought for the plaque, says: 'This marker is not the finish line. It's literally us passing the baton on a relay race'. Historian Charles Chavis Jr agrees: 'The biggest task that we have moving through this century is to really find a way to connect with our shared humanity'.
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