We hope you can join us for a presentation by the Prince George’s County Lynching Memorial Project (PGCLMP) on a lesser-know part of community history: The Untold Story of the 1875 Lynching of Mr. John Henry Scott in Oxon Hill.
This in-person event is free and open to the public. Details are provided below and in the attached flyer.
- Title: The Untold Story of the 1875 Lynching of Mr. John Henry Scott in Oxon Hill
- Date: Saturday, February 21, 2026
- Time: 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM
- Where: Oxon Hill Branch Library*, 6200 Oxon Hill Road, Oxon Hill MD 20745 (In-person only)
- Registration (Optional): Link to Register. Walk-ins are welcome.
Discover the untold story of John Henry Scott and the history of racial terror lynching in Prince George’s County. Learn about the mission and work of the Prince George’s County Lynching Memorial Project (PGCLMP) and explore actions we can take for racial justice. A Q&A session will follow the presentation.
Mr. Scott was a laborer and farmhand who lived in the Oxon Hill area. He was extrajudicially murdered by a mob on March 23, 1875, in one of the four documented instances of racial terror lynchings that took place in Prince George’s County.
Sources including contemporary newspaper articles and independent research conducted by PGCLMP and the Prince George’s Chapter of the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society inform the presentation about Mr. Scott’s lynching.
According to the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), 4,400 such racial terror lynchings took place throughout the United States from the 1860s through the end of World War II. The effects of these traumatic events continue to reverberate in our communities. The PGCLMP in its presentation will discuss some of those effects and detail its work in fostering truth-telling and advancing the cause of racial justice.
