Lynching In Leon County/Lynching in America - Florida Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

LYNCHINGS IN LEON COUNTY
In Tallahassee, Florida, between 1897 and 1937, racial terror lynchings of African Americans by white mobs created a legacy of violence, intimidation, and injustice that has not been fully acknowledged. At least four racial terror lynchings took place in Leon County, traumatizing the entire Black community. These lawless acts of violence were carried out after African Americans were accused of misconduct or crimes, often without evidence, denying them the right to an impartial investigation and fair trial. Instead, white mobs frequently pulled lynching victims from jails, often facing little to no resistance from law enforcement officers who were legally required to protect the Black people in their custody. In 1897, a white mob abducted Pierce Taylor from the county jail and hanged him from an oak tree before repeatedly shooting his lifeless body. In 1909, after Mick Morris was condemned to die in an unreliable trial that lasted less than a day, a white mob dragged Mr. Morris from the jail and lynched him. More than two decades later, in 1937, a white mob kidnapped two Black teenage boys, Richard Hawkins and Ernest Ponder, from the jail, and shot and killed them before dumping their bodies into a grove of oak trees along the Jacksonville highway. A note found next to the bodies of Richard and Ernest read: "This is the beginning, who is next." Not one was ever held accountable for committing these acts of racial terror.

LYNCHING IN AMERICA
Between 1877 and 1950, thousands of African Americans were victims of mob violence and lynching across the United States. Following the Civil War, white Southerners fiercely resisted equal rights for African Americans and sought to uphold an ideology of white supremacy through intimidation and fatal violence. Lynching emerged as the most public and notorious form of racial terrorism, and state and federal officials largely tolerated these lawless killings of Black women, men, and children by not holding mob participants accountable for their crimes. Many African Americans were lynched for resisting economic exploitation, violating perceived social customs, engaging in interracial relationships, or being accused of crimes, even when there was no evidence tying the accused to any offense. Public spectacle lynchings were often attended by hundreds to thousands of white spectators without fear of legal repercussions, and law enforcement frequently failed to intervene to prevent lynchings. Although the names and stories of many victims may never be known, over 315 racial terror lynchings have been documented in Florida, with at least 4 in Leon County.

Marker Number: None Date: 2020 County: Leon Marker Type: City Sponsored or placed by: Equal Justice Initiative - Tallahassee Community Remembrance Project Website: Not listed

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