The Statesboro-Bulloch Remembrance Coalition will hold “Bulloch Bears Witness: Historical Marker Ceremony” on Thursday, Jan. 11.
According to a release from the Coalition, the event will begin at 6:30 p.m. on the second floor of City Hall in downtown Statesboro and is free to the public.
The evening of prayer, song, and story strives to bring people together to dedicate the new historic marker, unanimously approved by the City Council in February.
One side of the marker memorializes nine men who were lynched in Bulloch County; the other side addresses the legacies of racial terror in Georgia and nationwide. The Jan. 11 event will feature local musicians, poets, community members, church leaders, and advocates who share a commitment to moving the community toward healing and a more just future, according to the release.
“We live in a world shaped by the violence and terror of the late 19th and early 20th century,” says Coalition Co-Chair Chris Caplinger, a history professor at Georgia Southern. “Memorializing the victims of racial violence is a first step toward building a more inclusive community.”
The indoor portion of the event will run from 6:30-7:15 p.m., then move outdoors for a candlelight vigil and a reading of the names of those lynched in Bulloch County between 1886 and 1911. A reception in the City Hall lobby will be held for all attendees afterwards.
According to the release, the Remembrance Coalition is a group of local residents working to memorialize the victims of racial terror lynchings and to foster meaningful dialogue about race and justice today.
The Coalition has partnered with the Equal Justice Initiative, founded by Bryan Stevenson, author of the bestselling book “Just Mercy.” The local group’s work is inspired by the visits of many members to EJI’s National Memorial for Peace and Justice and its Legacy Museum, both in Montgomery, Alabama. The Statesboro-Bulloch Remembrance Coalition is one of about 200 similar local groups nationwide.
“We are building coalition in our community around racial justice,” said Co-Chair Adrianne McCollar, a founding member and Statesboro’s first lady. “I am proud of the steps that we have taken together to heal old wounds. This work is hard because it forces us to look back on some of the most tragic times in our shared history. But it is work worth doing. The installation of the marker with unanimous support from the City of Statesboro Council shows that we are moving our city forward together.”
For more information, contact McCollar or Caplinger at: info@bullocheji.org.