The Prince George’s County Lynching Memorial Project is pleased to announce a Racial Justice Essay and Creative Arts Contest open to Prince George’s County students in grades 9-12. Scholarships totaling $5,000 or more will be awarded to winning participants.
Submissions will be received by February 28, 2026. Entries must be original creative works that shed light on an historical or present-day racial injustice.
Maryland has taken an important step toward facing a history that has too often been ignored or minimized.
On December 9, 2025, the Maryland Lynching Truth and Reconciliation Commission (MLTRC) submitted its final report to the Maryland General Assembly — the culmination of more than six years of research, community testimony, and collective reckoning with the racial terror lynchings that occurred across our state between 1854 and 1933.
This work is historic. The MLTRC is the first state-led effort in the nation dedicated specifically to investigating racial terror lynchings, documenting what happened, honoring the lives lost, and identifying pathways to meaningful repair.
Recommendations for repair and reconciliation
The final report offers 84 recommendations designed to move Maryland toward healing, responsibility, and systemic change. These include proposals in areas such as:
Public acknowledgement and apology
Material reparations
Criminal legal reform
Education and curriculum development
Community healing and memorialization
Mental health and trauma-informed supports
Ongoing structures to carry this work forward
Importantly, the Commission recognizes that harm extended far beyond individual families. Entire communities lived under threat, and generations experienced the consequences — lost opportunities, displacement, silence, and grief.
Looking forward
PGCLMP stands in solidarity with the communities, descendants, scholars, faith leaders, and organizers who have carried this work — often long before the Commission existed. We honor the families and communities who spoke painful truths, and we recognize the deep courage required to confront this history.
We encourage our community to read the report, engage in dialogue, and consider how each of us — individually and collectively — can help turn truth into action.
The Prince George’s County Lynching Memorial Project is honored and excited to congratulate the ten winners of our 2024 Racial Justice Essay and Creative Arts contest. Prince George’s County high school public, private, or homeschooled students were invited to submit an essay, creative writing, or visual artwork that addressed an historical or current racial justice issue. Over 80 entries were received from seven high schools across the county.
Jaelynn Walker smiles with her artwork and award.
Janelle Bassole challenges the audience with her essay.
Emmanuella Umoh’s impassioned presentation.
The students were celebrated at an awards program attended by their families, friends, teachers, and community members held at the Greenbelt Community Center on June 15, 2024. Students presented their inspiring essays, creative writing, and artwork to audience applause. Winners received certificates, commendations from local elected officials, and scholarships ranging from $1000 for first place to $100 for honorable mention.
Greenbelt Mayor Emmett Jordan welcoming the audience
We thank the Greenbelt Black History & Culture Committee, Greenbelt Recreation Department, and the City of Greenbelt for sponsoring our awards ceremony and Greenbelt Access Television for recording the ceremony.
We are especially grateful for the donations from community individuals and organizations that made the scholarships possible. We commend every student who entered their justice reflections in our contest.
We share the full list of 2024 contest winners here:
Creative Writing
Name
Award
Title
School
Shana McFadden
1st Place
“Oh Innocent Emmett”
Suitland High School
Marli Jones
2nd Place
“The Pipeline”
Frederick Douglass High School
Mikayla Hollis
3rd Place
“The School to Prison Pipeline”
Eleanor Roosevelt High School
Essay
Name
Award
Title
School
Janelle Bassole
1st Place
“A Practice Built Off the Back of Suffering”
Laurel High School
Emmanuella Umoh
2nd Place
“The Power of Representation: Illuminating Paths to Racial Justice Through Media”
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 is honored and excited to congratulate the winners of our 2023 Racial Justice Essay and Creative Arts contest. Each of our nine award winners is a Prince George’s County high school public, private, or homeschooled student.
Winners Jessica Kennerly, A’nya Vest, Ismael Mercado Cruz, Tami Ademumo, Amber Ware, Dorothy Quanteh, Bria Pruden and Carissa Nwabueze pose with Greenbelt Mayor Emmet Jordan at the awards ceremony.
The students were celebrated at an awards program attended by their families, friends, teachers, and community members held at the Greenbelt Community Center on June 17, 2023. Students presented their essays, creative writing, and artwork to audience applause. We thank the Greenbelt Black History & Culture Committee, Greenbelt Recreation Department, and the City of Greenbelt for sponsoring our awards ceremony and Greenbelt Access Television for recording the ceremony.
Student winners received certificates and scholarship money for their future educational pursuits. In addition, winners were invited to attend the Hurston/Wright Foundation Summer Writer’s Workshop at Howard University. We are grateful for the donations from community individuals and organizations that made the scholarships possible. We commend all students who entered their justice reflections in our contest.
PGCLMP Co-Secretary Lula Beatty calls the names of the four documented lynching victims.Bria Pruden, a student from Suitland High School, and the 3rd place visual arts contest entry.First place essay contest winner Tami Ademumo of Frederick Douglass High SchoolAudience members listen to Sherri Arnold
A full list of this year’s winners can be found below.
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.
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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.
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 Prince George’s County Lynching Memorial Project will be hosting a tour of Piscataway sites associated with the 1869 lynching of Thomas Juricks, on Sunday, August 8, 2021, beginning at 3 p.m.
The tour has been developed by our Community Remembrance Project Committee, with one of our volunteer members using historical records and maps to identify sites associated with Mr. Juricks’s life as well as the horrific events of that day. The tour will be conducted via carpool, with vehicles traveling to the various sites and attendees gathering on roadsides to hear and discuss the history.
The tour is FREE and open to the public. We would especially love to have some of our neighbors in Piscataway and surrounding communities join us, share their stories, learn about our work, and connect with us.
We will meet at the Fort Washington Forest Community Center and leave promptly at 3 p.m., so arrive around 2:45 if possible. The tour will go until 4:30 p.m. and be followed by an optional social gathering.
We are also planning a community remembrance project for Mr. Juricks and welcome community members to be involved in all stages of that process. Contact us for more information, to give suggestions or to ask questions.
In honor of Juneteenth, the Prince George’s County Lynching Memorial Project will NOT be meeting this month. Look for our next meeting in July.
To encourage all to take advantage of Juneteenth events, please see the options below.
Juneteenth Public Events
In person: City of Greenbelt activities Friday night June 18th and Saturday 19th(see flyer), co-sponsored by Greenbelt Black History and Culture Committee (co-chaired by PGC LMP members Dr. Lois Rosado and Leeann Irwin).
On-Line: Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society-Prince George’s County, Maryland Chapter (AAHGS-PGCM) Juneteenth | AAHGS | PG County
2020 was a year no one saw coming. Everyone has had their own struggles as well as joys, but the end of the year is also a time to reflect on what we’ve accomplished together!
We set up an organizational and leadership structure with committees and clear goals.
We created a mission statement and a logo.
We held a successful common read of “On the Courthouse Lawn” by Sherrilyn Ifill to learn more about history and the modern ripple effects of lynchings and to reach out into the community.
We participated in and promoted a socially distant candlelight vigil for George Floyd.
We began planning for our first soil collection ceremony.
We utilized technology to create resource lists, maps and other tools to help in our work and generally deepened our research into the history of lynchings in our county.
We set up a website and social media presence.
We promoted and took part in the 3rd annual Lynching in Maryland Conference, as well as spreading the word about other Maryland Lynching Memorial Project events.
We met new people who share common goals of making our communities better.
If you have anything to add to our list of accomplishments, post them in the comments below. Here’s to a new year and the new things to come for PGCLMP in 2021.
