Remembrance Event for Benjamin Thomas
Members of the Alexandria Community Remembrance Project held a Remembrance of Benjamin Thomas on August 8, 2024 at 6:30 p.m. at Shiloh Baptist Worship Center on Jamieson Ave.
Note: This was a secular program being held in a worship center due to its historical connection and importance to the story of Benjamin Thomas, who was lynched in Alexandria August 8, 1899.
Featured speaker Rachel Laser, an educator on racism who heads up Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, spoke about the growth of the parents' rights movement, which is made up of organizations considered to be hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center. At the remembrance event Laser gave a speech entitled, “Why the Parental Rights Movement is Anti-Civil Rights."
On Tues. Aug. 8, 1899, Benjamin Thomas, a native Alexandrian who was just 16-years-old was lynched in Alexandria at the corner of Fairfax and King Streets after being dragged a grueling half mile from the jail on Princess and St. Asaph Streets. Accused by his next door neighbor’s seven-year-old daughter of assault and arrested on the child’s testimony alone, Thomas never wavered in his assertion of his innocence. In the aftermath, both Black and white Alexandrians believed he was innocent. News of his murder, after local Black leadership warned authorities of a threat to lynch him, caused work stoppages around the region.
On Mon. Aug. 28, 1899, more than 600 people attended a mass meeting at Shiloh Baptist Church for two reasons, to memorialize Benjamin Thompson and to protest his lynching. At the packed event, leaders from churches in Alexandria and the District, called for an economic boycott of any business associated with those who took part in the mob.
In Remembrance of Benjamin Thomas and the brave actions of Alexandria’s Black community in 1899, ACRP also held a “Mass Meeting.” The community joined us for an hour-long program, of memory, music and listening.
When and Where
Thursday, August 8, 2024, 6:30 p.m. (doors open 6:15 p.m.)
Shiloh Baptist Church
1401 Jamieson Avenue
Lecture
Why the ‘Parental Rights’ Movement Is Anti-Civil Rights
Guest Speaker
Rachel Laser, Americans United for Separation of Church and State
Rachel Laser became president and CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State in February 2018. She is the organization’s first non-Christian and female leader in its 76 year history. Rachel is a lawyer, advocate and strategist who has dedicated her career to making our country more inclusive. In her position at Americans United, Rachel oversees the organization’s work to protect freedom of conscience for all and ensure religion is not used to justify discrimination. Prior to coming to AU, Rachel worked as an educator on white privilege and racism and held positions as deputy director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, director of the Culture Program at Third Way and senior counsel at the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC). Rachel is a graduate of Harvard University and the University of Chicago Law School. She is a former board member of NARAL Pro-Choice America.
Illumination of City Hall and the Lamp Post
City Hall and the Lamp Post where Benjamin Thomas was lynched will be bathed in purple light, the color of mourning. The George Washington Masonic Memorial, which can be seen from many areas in Alexandria, will also don a purple hue in memory of Benjamin Thomas.
The Lynching of Benjamin Thomas: A Narrative
Around midnight on August 8,1899, a 16-year-old African American teenager named Benjamin Thomas was lynched in Alexandria, Virginia. A white terror mob comprised of Alexandria citizens attacked the city jail on St. Asaph Street, and Benjamin Thomas was dragged half a mile to the southwest corner of King and Fairfax streets, opposite Market Square. The full account of this hate crime was methodically researched by the 13-member Research Committee of the Alexandria Community Remembrance Project.
In the News
- ‘Remembering Is Resistance’, Memorial for Benjamin Thomas. Alexandria Gazette Packet, August 22, 2024.
- Benjamin Thomas’ Homegoing: Grieving and protest, Out of the Attic, Alexandria Times, August 8, 2024.
- In Alexandria, residents mourn the 1899 lynching of a Black teen — and vow to protect teaching about race. By Margaret Bethel, WAMU 88.5 American University Radio (Listen, or read the transcript)
Alexandria Community Remembrance Project (ACRP)
ACRP is a city-wide initiative dedicated to helping Alexandria understand its history of racial terror hate crimes. ACRP conducts research, education, programs, and events that remember Joseph McCoy and Benjamin Thomas and explores the long-term impacts upon Alexandria’s African American community. Working with the Equal Justice Initiative Remembrance Project, ACRP will receive a steel pillar that memorializes McCoy and Thomas and with it will create a permanent space for remembrance in Alexandria City. The work of ACRP is an effort to establish a welcoming community bound by equity and inclusion for all people.
Benjamin Thomas and Joseph McCoy are the only two documented Alexandria lynchings so far. McCoy was lynched on April 23, 1897. This year is the 125th anniversary of that event. It was commemorated on that date.
Past Memorials for Benjamin Thomas
View previous In Memoriam pages.
Also see In Memoriam pages for Joseph McCoy.
Read the ACRP Newsletter.