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Local Remembrance Project Moving Ahead

Tom Flanigan

The official history says four African-Americans were lynched in Leon County between 1897 and 1937. Plans to erect a local monument recalling those injustices are now moving ahead.

Members of the Tallahassee Remembrance Project met the evening of Sept. 24 at First Presbyterian Church. Group member Sondra Howard said the monument placement process has been careful and deliberate.

“We’ve been trying to take it slowly and be inclusive and we have many subcommittees that are working on this,” she noted. “It takes a village in this instance.”

Bryon Greene, another group member, thought the city's current focus on overcoming racism and historic inequities may help accelerate the project.

“We have seen that over the years maybe enough time has passed for us to start to engage in a real heart-to-heart conversation to peel back the band-aid and really deal with what’s there,” he commented after the meeting.

The local group has been working with the Equal Justice Institute of Montgomery, Alabama on the Remembrance Project.

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Tom Flanigan has been with WFSU News since 2006, focusing on covering local personalities, issues, and organizations. He began his broadcast career more than 30 years before that and covered news for several radio stations in Florida, Texas, and his home state of Maryland.

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