The Maryland Lynching Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s public hearing for Prince George’s County will be held in partnership with the Prince George’s County Lynching Memorial Project on Saturday, January 25th from 10am to 2pm at Bowie State University, and virtually. The stories of the four Black men who were victims of documented racial terror lynchings in PGC will be told, descendant testimonies will be heard, and expert witnesses on the impacts and will speak. An opportunity for Public Comment will be provided. Pre-registration is encouraged: Link to RSVP
The Maryland Lynching Truth and Reconciliation Commission was established in 2019 by House Bill 307 and amended by House Bill 297 in 2021 and Senate Bill 478 in 2023. The MLTRC is authorized to research cases of racially motivated lynchings and hold public meetings and regional hearings where a lynching of an African American by a white mob has been documented. Home – Maryland Lynching Truth and Reconciliation Commission
The Prince George’s County Lynching Memorial Project’sfirst Community Remembrance event which will honor Mr. Thomas Juricks, the first known victim of a racial terror lynching in Prince George’s County. We hope to see you there! The event is free and open to the public. Registration is encouraged but not required: https://bit.ly/TJuricks2023.
The event will be held on Saturday, April 15th, 2023 at the Harmony Hall Arts Center in Fort Washington.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Local History Remembered:
Prince George’s County Lynching Memorial Project (PGC LMP)
to Honor County’s Earliest Known Lynching Victim
Event: Community Remembrance for Mr. Thomas Juricks
Date: Saturday, April 15, 2023
Time: 1:00 – 3:00 PM
Location: Harmony Hall Arts Center in the Harmony Hall Regional Center, 10701 Livingston Road, Fort Washington, MD
This moving program will tell the story of Mr. Thomas Juricks, a Black laborer and farmhand who lived with his family in the Piscataway area near Fort Washington and was extrajudicially murdered by a masked mob of White men on October 12, 1869. The historical aspects of his life and tragic lynching will be paired with a long overdue send-off for Mr. Juricks that will acknowledge and honor him through a libation ceremony, soil collection, music, poetry and dance. Students of several local schools will be performing. Opportunities will be provided to the entire community to reflect and acknowledge that his life mattered and understand how this violent history reverberates into present-day issues such as white supremacy, mass incarceration and educational disparities between races.
“It has been our honor to collaborate with the Chapel Hill community of Fort Washington in researching the history of the lynching that took place there and in presenting what we hope will meaningfully honor the life taken and commit us all to the cause of racial justice in Prince George’s County,” stated the PGC LMP Co-Chairs Crystal Carpenter, Rev. Diane Teichert, and Krystina Tucker.
PGC LMP is a registered non-profit, all-volunteer organization affiliated with Bryan Stevenson’s Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) and the Maryland Lynching Memorial Project (MDLMP). Its mission is to educate the public on the truths of our nation’s continuing legacy of the institution of slavery and its impact on enslaved persons and their descendants, memorialize victims of racial terror lynchings in our county, and advance the cause of racial justice and reconciliation through mutual support and collaboration.
We’ve posted a new video on our Videos & Resources page to talk about the why – why we look back at history to explain and understand what is happening now. Why the story of Thomas Juricks? What can we learn from history? What can we gain by addressing these horrific events in the present?
In this exclusive video, we invite you to understand history that is often not told – the story of a lynching in one of our Prince George’s County communities. Watch this presentation shared at a local library.
It also explains the necessity to tell this buried story from our past while learning about the PGCLMP and how you can get involved in their work around truth, reconciliation, and healing.
You are invited to the special webinar sponsored by Prince George’s County Lynching Memorial Project and the Prince George’s County NAACP.
This webinar focuses on the continued struggle of African Americans and their organizations to fight modern day lynching and examines historical lessons from the past.
Prince George’s County NAACP and the Maryland Lynching Memorial Project invite you to this exciting and important discussion about lynching in America on November 10, 7 – 9 PM.
Thursday, August 26, 12:00 pm – In partnership with the Prince George’s Lynching Memorial Project’s Community Remembrance Committee, this program supports the outreach efforts to honor Thomas Juricks, a victim of a lynching in Piscataway, Maryland. Omar Eaton Martinez of Parks & Planning and Shemika Berry of the Accokeek Foundation will be part of the panel for this webinar event.
The event will highlight the following:
1) Importance of oral history and remembering the trauma of racial terror despite efforts (historical and current)to erase that history.
2) Intersectionality of the African American and Native American experiences in Prince George’s County.
3) Contemporary ways that people are remembering and honoring the victims of racial terror today (such as through Community Remembrance Projects)
Note: The date was incorrect on any earlier version of the flyer.
The 1869 lynching of Thomas Juricks became more tangible for members of the PG County Lynching Memorial Project during a January tour of four Piscataway sites connected to this horrific chapter of the county’s history.
A mob wearing handkerchiefs with eyeholes cut out lynched Juricks, who was awaiting trial after being accused on flimsy evidence of raping a white woman. He worked on a farm in Piscataway and lived nearby with his family.
During the tour led by PGCLMP member Blair Bowie, we learned more about what is believed to be the county’s first lynching, identified possible locations for a soil collection community remembrance project, considered ways to involve the local communities (Clinton and Fort Washington) and discussed areas for further research.
The tour included:
Old Piscataway Town, the closest town to Juricks’ home (Clinton)
Likely site of Thomas Juricks’ home, site roughly marked in 1878 (Fort Washington)
Hatton’s Hill, location of a Black schoolhouse and area where Juricks is reported to be buried (Fort Washington)
Chapel Hill, a thriving post Civil War African American farming community that established a Freedman’s Bureau school and meeting house. (Fort Washington)
Members of the PGCLMP were joined by representatives of The Accokeek Foundation and other interested county residents.
The Kojo Nnamdi show on December 1 featured local filmmaker Jay Mallin’s documentary about the three known lynchings in Montgomery Count, MD. The conversation offers an insight for the work of the Prince George’s County Lynching Memorial and how telling and naming our history in our county and country can help us move forward.
