JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A local non-profit on Sunday memorialized the life of a man who was lynched in Jacksonville in 1925.
The group 904Ward said the man was killed after a woman said he assaulted her.
The 904Ward CEO said their records don’t say where it happened they chose a place of public significance — the Confederate Monument at Springfield Park — for the memorial.
There have been many protests to have the statue at the park removed and organizers said they felt that is where they should go.
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This soil collection ceremony Sunday remembered the life of an unidentified man who was killed after a woman says he assaulted her to hide an affair.
904Ward says records show it happened on Feb. 8, 1925. Organizers said it was during the height of anti-Black hysteria in Jacksonville.
When local newspapers reported on the assault, mobs of white men shot into Black families’ homes.
“The white man reportedly hired another man to dress in black face to assault the woman in a park. After being questioned by the police the attacker confessed. Despite crimes and the confession, there is no evidence that either the white man was held accountable or anyone in the mob was prosecuted,” said Melanie Patz, Jacksonville Community Remembrance Project Co-Chair.
The group has already held six soil collection ceremonies and plans to hold two more.
The group is working to document and detail all the known lynchings in Duval County.