The St. Mary’s County Museum Division is once again partnering with the Big Conversation Partnership on Dismantling Racism in Southern Maryland and the Equal Justice Initiative on the Community Remembrance Project about Benjamin Hance, the only recorded lynching victim in St. Mary’s County in 1887. In November 2019, the Division and partners held a Soil Collection Ceremony at the location where Hance was said to have died at the hands of a local mob. Mr. Hance, a young African American, was arrested May 27, 1887 in Leonardtown and taken to the Old Jail. A mob broke in on the night of June 17th, held the jailkeeper at gunpoint, and removed Mr. Hance from his cell. They carried him to a site just out of town (now occupied by the Port of Leonardtown Winery) and proceeded to hang him from a witch hazel tree. This was the only documented lynching in St. Mary’s County. The Equal Justice Initiative believes that the Community Remembrance Projects like the Soil Collection Ceremony are more than opportunities to erect just another “historical marker”. Rather, their hope is that this process emphasizes the tremendous responsibility of collective remembrance and will serve to facilitate conversations and interactions […]
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