On April 30, 1892, a mob of white Nashvillians pulled Ephraim Grizzard out of the city jail. They stripped his clothes off of him, beat him, and then hanged him from the Woodland Street Bridge before opening fire on his body. Just a few days earlier, Ephraim's brother Henry had suffered a similar brutal fate.
These events did not occur in secret. They were perpetrated and witnessed by crowds who did not wear masks on their faces. They were reported in numerous newspapers. But the history of lynching and racial terror in Tennessee and the South in general has often been overlooked. Through a partnership with the Equal Justice Initiative, a local coalition called We Remember Nashville is looking to change that.
Starting today and running through Friday, June 23, We Remember Nashville will hold a Week of Remembrance with events each day aimed at educating about, and reckoning with, that violent, racist history. The week of events coincides with Juneteenth, an annual celebration commemorating the end of slavery. On Wednesday, two historical markers will be installed — one for the Grizzard brothers and another for David Jones and Jo Reed, two other 19th-century lynching victims.
There are 233 reported lynchings in Tennessee from the period between 1877 and 1950.
Brittany Paschall founded We Remember Nashville after a trip to EJI's Legacy Museum and National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Ala.
“It was informational," she tells the Scene. "It was definitely hard. And it was a reminder of the truths that we refuse to tell. And the truths that often go untold.”
All of this week's events are free and open to the public, and Paschall notes that they will have accommodations for people with disabilities.
