Two events are scheduled in Greenville next month, to honor a victim of racial violence in the city.
The soil collection ceremony and memorial service in recognition of the 1908 death of Ted Smith will be the third events conducted in Hunt County via a collaboration with the Equal Justice Initiative and The Corporation for Cultural Diversity of Greenville.
Similar events were conducted in 2022 in honor of Thomas Peddy and George Lindley.
The soil collection ceremony for Smith is scheduled at noon, July 21, outdoors on the Washington Street side of the Hunt County Courthouse.
A memorial service for Smith will be conducted inside the courthouse in the 196th District Court at noon Friday, July 28.
Smith, on the morning of July 28, 1908, was dragged by a mob out of the Hunt County jail and set on fire as an estimated 2,500 people watched.
A soil collection ceremony was conducted in July 2022 at the Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church in Wolfe City for George Lindley, a victim of racial violence who was murdered in Wolfe City on July 26, 1889.
According to information from newspaper accounts, defendants charged with Lindley’s death testified Lindley was among a group of Black workers who “had displaced the white laborers on the brickyards at Wolfe City.” Lindley was chosen to be taken from his bed one night in order to whip him in an attempt to frighten off the remaining workers.
But as Lindley was being dragged away, he broke free from his captors, resulting in his being shot and killed. The newspaper articles do not details what happened to the perpetrators of the killing.
A soil collection ceremony was conducted in January 2022 at the corner of Jordan and Stuart streets in Greenville for Thomas Peddy, a victim of racial violence who was lynched in downtown Greenville on Jan. 11, 1885.
Peddy’s death was reported to have occurred after he was alleged to have raped a white woman.
Peddy was killed when a mob of more than 200 people captured him before any charges were filed or before an investigation of the incident was started.
The Equal Justice Initiative’s Community Remembrance Project partners with community coalitions to memorialize documented victims of racial violence throughout history and foster meaningful dialogue about race and justice today. The Community Soil Collection Project gathers soil at lynching sites for display in exhibits bearing victims’ names.
Additional information is available at the Equal Justice Initiative website at eji.org