The Allegany County Lynching Truth and Reconciliation Committee (ACLTRC) has received approval from EJI to proceed with the soil collection, essay contest, and historical marker. Plans are under way to execute each of these projects throughout 2020 and 2021. Allegany County has one racial terror lynching in historic record. The victim’s name was William Burns. While many news articles report that he was 22 at the time of his murder, the coalition has found research where his sister reports his age as 18. The coalition is continuing to uncover more information regarding the circumstances surrounding Mr. Burns’ life and murder.
While ACLTRC received approval from EJI for soil collection over a year ago, the coalition experienced challenges getting permission to collect soil from the land where Mr. Burns was lynched because it was on county property. The County Commission voted in favor of soil collection on July 9th and plans are under way to perform the soil collection. The essay contest is due to take place from September - January 1st and the Historical Marker ceremony, originally slated for November 1st, will take place in 2021. The coalition also plans to claim their county's memorial monument, which is currently on display at the Legacy Museum's national memorial to victims of racial terror lynching in Montgomery, AL.
