On Tuesday evening, the Montgomery County Lynching Memorial Project debuts its current traveling exhibit at the Maggie Nightingale Library in Poolesville. The reception is scheduled from 6 to 8 p.m.
The exhibit, “It Happened Here” focuses on three lynchings in the county dating back to 1880.
The Lynching Victims
George Peck was lynched in Poolesville in January of 1880 at the hands of an angry mob. Just six months later, John Diggs-Dorsey met the same fate in Rockville. Sidney Randolph was brutally murdered on Independence Day in 1896 only blocks from what is now Rockville Pike.
They were among 6,500 Black people who died by lynching in the United States.
The Lynching Memorial Project
With the motto “Remembering is Resistance,” the volunteer group sponsors walks, talks and exhibits to encourage public acknowledgement and healing through storytelling, art and the laying of public markers.
The Maggie Nightingale Library houses “It Happened Here” through Friday, Oct. 3. On Saturday, the exhibit features a panel discussion about the African American communities in the Agricultural Reserve from 3 to 4:30 p.m.
The library is located at 19633 Fisher Ave. in Poolesville.
To learn more about the Montgomery County Lynching Memorial Project, click here.
