Remember, lament, heal.

The purpose of the Madison County Remembrance Project is to advance truth and reconciliation by confronting the legacy of lynching and its impact on the individual lives it touched in our county. “Our nation’s history of racial injustice casts a shadow across the American landscape,” Equal Justice Initiative Director Bryan Stevenson explains. “This shadow cannot be lifted until we shine the light of truth on the destructive violence that shaped our nation, traumatized people of color, and compromised our commitment to the rule of law and to equal justice.”

This group is working in collaboration with EJI and our local community to ultimately bring the historical memorial marker to Madison County, Alabama.

We believe that when our community joins forces to confront the reality of racial violence in Madison County we can all begin to heal and feel a sense of belonging. There are 10 documented victims of racial terror lynchings in Madison County.

Soil collections give us the space and time to come together and recognize each documented victim in our county. Families in our community can still remember racial terror lynchings - or the stories of them. Each collection is an opportunity to start conversations. Some families remember the terror; some families remember the shame. We have seen conversations that offer a chance for healing, on all sides.