Local community members working with EJI dedicated a historical marker in Hamilton County, Tennessee, last week memorializing Ed Johnson, a young Black man lynched by a mob in 1906.
The Bessie Smith Cultural Center and its president, Paula Wilkes, hosted the February 26 marker dedication ceremony in downtown Chattanooga, Tennessee, alongside Eric Atkins from the Unity Group. Founded in 1983, the Bessie Smith Cultural Center has become well known in the Chattanooga community as an educational institution that also holds local events with the goal of preserving and celebrating African American history and culture through art, education, research, and entertainment.
Eric Atkins has been active within the community in preserving history in the hopes of promoting education in marginalized communities. He collaborated with EJI to conduct a soil collection honoring Ed Johnson and other lynching victims in Chattanooga in 2017.
During the ceremony, the Rev. Ernest Reid from the Second Missionary Baptist Church led attendees in prayer, honoring the past and hoping for unity in the future.
“By naming what happened here, we honor Ed Johnson’s humanity and affirm that remembrance is a necessary step toward justice and healing,” Paula Wilkes told the attendees. “May this marker remind us not only of the past we must confront, but of the responsibility we carry forward.”
Community Remembrance Project Team Member Brandon McRae gave remarks on behalf of EJI, thanking the local community for their work on the project and for coming together. Alexa LeBoefu, county economic and community development director, and Carmen Elliot, a representative for Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly, both spoke about the positive impact that sharing our history has on the community and their desire to continue educational efforts.
Mr. Atkins gave remarks about the growth of the project from its initial inception and its impact on the community. “This has been five and a half years in the making,” he said.”We have to love together, we have to pray together, we have to stand together. Together is the only way we are at our best as a community.”
The Lynching of Ed Johnson
On March 19, 1906, a white mob brutally lynched Ed Johnson, a young Black man, on the Walnut Street Bridge in downtown Chattanooga. Mr. Johnson was killed after he was accused of assaulting a white woman and wrongfully convicted by an all-white jury in a trial lasting only three days.
After the conviction, Mr. Johnson’s case was taken up by Black attorneys Noah Parden and Styles Hutchins. In an unprecedented act, they successfully petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court for a stay of execution. Thirteen witnesses had stated that at the time of the assault, Mr. Johnson was across town from where it took place, and the victim had been unable to confidently identify Mr. Johnson as her assailant.
In defiance of the nation’s highest court, at 8 pm on March 19, a mob of around 25 white men gathered around the jail where Mr. Johnson was being held and used hammers and axes to break in and seize him. Though a large mob had attempted in January to abduct Mr. Johnson from the county jail, the sheriff claimed that he had “no intimation” that an attack on the jail would be made. The mob overpowered him and the only guard on duty. Members of the mob, which grew to at least 75 people, yelled “Kill him now!” and “Cut his heart out right here!” They took Mr. Johnson to the Walnut Street Bridge, where he was hanged and repeatedly shot.
In the aftermath, Mr. Parden and Mr. Hutchins were forced to abandon their law practice and flee Chattanooga to escape further mob violence.
Lynching in America
Between 1865 and 1950, over 6,500 Black people were victims of mob violence and lynching across the United States. Almost 25% of lynchings involved allegations of inappropriate behavior between a Black man and a white woman that was often characterized as “assault.”
In this era, the mere accusation of sexual impropriety regularly fueled violent mobs and ended in lynching. White people’s preoccupation and fear of sexual contact between Black men and white women was animated by the pervasive presumption that Black men were violent and sexually aggressive.
As a result, accusations of “assault” extended to any action that could be interpreted as a Black man seeking contact with a white woman. These accusations were often based on merely looking at or accidentally bumping into a white woman; smiling, winking, or getting too close; or even being disagreeable.
In this era, it was common for lynch mobs to seize their victims from jails, prisons, courtrooms, or out of police hands. Police almost never used force to resist white lynch mobs intent on killing Black people. In some cases, police officials were even found to be complicit or active participants in lynchings.
Ed Johnson was one of at least five documented victims of racial terror lynching killed in Hamilton County between 1865 and 1950, and one of more than 375 victims killed in the state of Tennessee.
Community Remembrance Project
The Community Remembrance Project is part of our campaign to recognize the victims of lynching by collecting soil from lynching sites, erecting historical markers, and developing the Legacy Sites in Montgomery.
EJI believes that by reckoning with the truth of racial violence, communities can begin a necessary conversation that advances healing and reconciliation.