Projects /
Genealogical Research and Legacy Support
There can be no reconciliation and healing without remembering the past.
The work of acknowledging the family legacy of those left to deal with life after racial terror is an important aspect of the work. We hope to identify surviving family members of those lynched in Bulloch County and connect them with this reconciliation process.
EJI researchers documented 4075 racial terror lynchings of African Americans in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia between 1877 and 1950—at least 800 more lynchings of Black people in these states than previously reported in the most comprehensive work done on lynching to date.
The Genealogical Research and Legacy Support Committee will complete this Community Engagement Project in collaboration with Willow Hill Heritage & Renaissance Center. Email to support or join the Committee.
Willow Hill Heritage & Renaissance Center
4235 Willow Hill Road
Portal, Georgia 30450
P: (912) 800-1467
E: museum@willowhillheritage.org
LISTEN: Tarabu Betserui Kirkland talks about the family legacy of John Harfield, who was lynched in 1919 in Ellisville, MS.
What's Next
Explore EJI's Report on Lynching in America: Confronting the Legacy of Racial Terror
In this soil, there is the sweat of the enslaved. In the soil there is the blood of victims of racial violence and lynching. There are tears in the soil from all those who labored under the indignation and humiliation of segregation. But in the soil there is also the opportunity for new life, a chance to grow something hopeful and healing for the future.
–Bryan Stevenson, EJI Executive Director