Truth Telling & Reconciliation in Wake County, NC

Thank you for reading about the Wake County Community Remembrance Coalition (WCCRC).

Our goal is to raise $3,000 by March 1, 2024 to create and maintain a WCCRC website that will share student-led research of the confirmed lynching of George Taylor in 1918 in Wake County + to share the truth telling and reconciliation efforts taking place in Wake County in collaboration with the Equal Justice Initiative's (EJI) Community Remembrance Project.

You are invited to learn more, to support this goal in any amount or way you can, and to share this invitation broadly with others. Thank you.

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Wake County Community Remembrance Coalition

2017- 2023

“Truth and reconciliation is sequential”--Bryan Stevenson

In the fall of 2017, three Wake County educators and their students began researching the 1918 lynching of George Taylor. Their work would lead to an ongoing collaboration with the Equal Justice Initiative and the formation of the Wake County Community Remembrance Coalition.

In an effort to actualize “truth and reconciliation” in our community, the Wake County Community Remembrance Coalition has focused its efforts on the following fronts:

The History of Racial Terror in Wake County

We are creating a Racial Terror Digital Archive through Preservica housed in the Wake County Public Library System. We have a standing group of citizen historians, teachers, a Rolesville town commissioner, the Wake County archivist, members from the Wake County Historical Society, Rolesville Historical Society, and Little House Museum Director. This group meets monthly to verify, document, and organize new findings in the Preservica online data-sharing platform.

At this time, EJI has recognized one confirmed lynching case in Wake County--the Nov. 5, 1918 murder of George Taylor. Our ongoing work on the Taylor case has revealed other cases of white supremacist violence in our community. In the spirit of Ida B. Wells, we are dedicated to “shining the light of truth” on these cases as well.

One such case is that of Mr. Lynn Council. In 1952, he was falsely accused of a robbery by the Apex Sheriff and the Wake County Sheriff. While in police custody, he was assaulted and taken to a nearby wooded area where he was repeatedly hoisted off the ground by a noose around his neck in a threatened hanging. In 2019, he brought his story to our group and we facilitated truth telling via local news outlets and reconciliation actions by the Apex Police Department and the Wake County Sheriff's Office.

One challenge is this work has unearthed previously untold stories of racial terror. As a group, we are working to create systems that are trauma sensitive, honor the family’s autonomy in truth telling, and respect confidentiality. This work has been organic, and requires continual sensitivity as we learn how to internalize new stories.

Equal Justice Initiative - Wake County Remembrance Project

Soil Collection Project - In December of 2018, students delivered to EJI the Community Remembrance Project our soil for George Taylor. The year leading up to that pilgrimage to Montgomery saw the students conducting research, participating in community planning events, and eventually producing the “Citizen’s Promise” and completing a unique collection of soil from across our entire community.

450 citizens signed the aforementioned “Citizen’s Promise”--a pledge to remember all those who have been victims of any injustice; to choose to create an opportunity for reconciliation in our community; and to promise to no longer remain silent or passive in the face of white supremacy, racial hatred, or any social injustice.

EJI Historical Marker

In May of 2023 the mayor of Rolesville created a diverse committee of civic leaders, pastors, the Rolesville Historical Society, Little House Museum, and business leaders to engage the town in support of the installation of the EJI Historical Marker for George Taylor. The group drafted the text for the marker, identified a location for the marker, and secured permits. This work included authorization from Rolesville Parks and Recreation Commission and Town of Rolesville Commissioners (Nov. 8, 2023). The group also has secured letters of support from churches, community groups, The Little House Museum, and the Rolesville Chamber of Commerce. The EJI Historical Marker request has been submitted to EJI, with plans to install the marker at the town’s first Juneteenth Celebration in 2024.

EJI Essay Contest

The WCCRC has proudly partnered with the Dudley Flood Center to facilitate our community’s EJI Racial Justice Essay Contest. The Dudley Flood Center is an educational advocacy organization in our state whose namesake, Dr. Dudley Flood, was instrumental in integrating public schools in North Carolina after Brown v. Board of Ed. Our essay contest will partner student researchers with volunteers from the WCCRC and the Flood Center who will help guide the students through the writing process. The essay contest will launch in December 2023. Selected writers will be celebrated at the installation of our EJI Historical Marker in June 2024.

Steel Monument

After 5 years of advocacy, the WCCRC has finally found a home for George Taylor’s steel monument from the National Memorial for Peace and Justice. After visiting EJI through one of our WCCRC pilgrimages to Montgomery one of our Wake County Commissioners determined it ought to be housed in the new Rolesville Regional library which will be built less than 3 miles from where the lynching occurred. On August 16, 2023, the Wake County Library Commission unanimously passed a resolution to design a space inside the new library to house the monument and a “George Taylor Research Room” where we will preserve artifacts and a cultivated space for truth-telling for current and future generations of Wake County.

Truth Telling in Wake County

“Truth and reconciliation is sequential”--Bryan Stevenson

After completing our initial research of the lynching of George Taylor, students and WCCRC members began a campaign of truth-telling in our community. We took any opportunity to share our findings with our community and to facilitate the difficult conversations that would naturally arise. We believe the mission of truth-telling has been the very necessary first step towards the reconciliation actions that are beginning to manifest in our community.

“Lynching in America” - Virtual Workshops

With Covid making in-person meetings impossible, we spent 2020 & 2021 leading online reading and discussion sessions using EJI’s “Lynching in America” report. High school students led community members in impactful conversations about the content of the report and its implications for our community.

“George Taylor Story” with NC Theater

In the spring of 2021, a group of 7th and 8th graders collaborated with the NC Theater to craft a play and a constitutional rap for George Taylor in the manner of “Hamilton”. The students participated in a series of 10 (virtual) writing workshops and gave a Zoom performance to an audience of over fifty parents, civic leaders, and concerned citizens.

NC History Museum - 2019 Black History Month Celebration

The NC Museum of History kicks off Black History Month each year with a weekend-long celebration. Students hosted and informational booth at that year’s event dedicated to the case of George Taylor’s lynching. Through this event, we shared George Taylor’s story with thousands of attendees from across our state.

Pilgrimages to Montgomery, Alabama

The Wake County Community Remembrance Coalition has led six pilgrimages to Montgomery, Alabama in effort to directly engage community stakeholders in the need for “truth and reconciliation” work in our community. It is impossible to visit the Legacy Museum and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice sites and walk away unfazed. It has been our experience that participants return from our Montgomery pilgrimage programs with a strong desire to move from words to action, from civil discourse to civic engagement.

Pilgrimage participants:

Middle Creek High School, 27 participants, Spring 2018

Middle Creek High and The Exploris School, 41 participants December 2018

Matt Scialdone, Wake County Public School Teacher, December 2018, 2022, 2023

Mikhaila Lambert, UNC-Greensboro, African Diaspora Studies Program, December 2022, 2023

Shannon Hardy, Exploris & Wake County Public School Teacher, December 2018, 2022, 2023

Bettie and James Murchison, Raleigh Organizing Against Racism, December 2022

Yuri Yamamoto, Raleigh Organizing Against Racism, December 2022, March 2023

Jim Smith, Community United Church of Christ, December 2022, March 2023

Ronnie Currin, Mayor of Rolesville, December 2022

Sheilah Sutton,Town of Rolesville Commissioner, December 2022

Dan Alston,Town of Rolesville Commissioner, December 2022

April Sneed, Town of Rolesville Commissioner, December 2022

Doug Price, Wake Ed. Partnership, December 2022

Melissa Florer-Bixler, Pastor Raleigh Mennonite Church, March 2023

Susan Sanford, Prudential Carolinas Realty, March 2023

Vickie Adamson, Wake County Board of Commissioners, March 2023

Don Mial, Wake County Board of Commissioners, March 2023

Matt Roylance, Wake County Deputy Manager, March 2023

Christal Carmichael, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Program Manager, March 2023

Molly Marcotte, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Consultant, March 2023

QuiAnne’ Holmes, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Consultant, March 2023

Michelle Medley, Town of Rolesville Commissioner, March 2023

Derek Versteegen, Historic Rolesville Society, December 2023

Tyler Williams, Pastor Village Church of Rolesville, December 2023

Dr. Deanna Townsend-Smith, Dir. Dudley Flood Center, December 2023

Ashley Kazouh, Dudley Flood Center, December 2023

Bill and Rebecca Poston, Soapstone United Methodist Church, December 2023

Susan Graebe, Soapstone United Methodist Church, December 2023

Louise Fussell, Soapstone United Methodist Church, December 2023

Belle Long, Wake County Historical Society, December 2023

Other citizens who have contributed to the work include: Melani Winters, Joseph Holt, Terry Marcellin-Little, Mayor Eagles (deceased), Gerald Givens, Lynn Council, Katie Taylor Stone, Ann-Michelle Roberts, Phebean Gadison, Lenwood Long, Jr, Hannah Cox, Belle Long, Correy Dowd, and Pam Eagles.