The Alexandria Community Remembrance Project (ACRP) led Alexandria residents and Alexandria City High School students on a pilgrimage to the Equal Justice Initiative’s National Memorial for Peace and Justice and Legacy Museum, October 6-10, 2022.  As a community, ACRP delivered soil reflecting the lives of Alexandria’s two known lynching victims – Joseph McCoy and Benjamin Thomas -- to EJI on October 7, 2022. The trip included tours with social justice activists and visits to Montgomery and Selma civil rights sites. It was an educational and meaningful experience for the 165 Alexandrians who made the journey.

"They Are All Honored Here"
Remembrance Project Documentary
Titan Media Alexandria

Produced by D. Jalon Reed, Max Rocchio, Ben Delnegro, Alexandria City High School

We are proud to share this film created by ACHS students who went on the pilgrimage with ACRP. The film, reflecting on their journey, won a social justice award from the Virginia Education Association. The Barbara Johns Youth Award for Human Relations and Civil Rights recognizes these students for promoting positive intergroup relations and appreciation of diversity. The student producers describe the making of the film as "a labor of love." They distilled 50 hours of footage into a 37 minute video.

A Pilgrimage to Remember
Poem by Marcia E. Cole

Listen to A Pilgrimage to Remember
Read A Pilgrimage to Remember

Marcia E. Cole has won College Language Association Creative Writing awards in short story, poetry and drama. She is an avid reader and proponent of literacy. She has turned her writing skills to giving voice to those lost in the mist of time and reclaim the stories behind statistics. Her history-based play A Matter of Worth was part of Washington, DC’s first Women’s Voices Festival in 2015 receiving glowing reviews. The work continues.

Ms. Cole created this poem after joining us on the ACRP Pilgrimage.

The ACRP provided participants of the pilgrimage with the opportunity to participate in an oral history recording. These recordings reflect upon the pilgrimage and the soil collection ceremony. Participants also retell memories from their own lives and how they relate to the ACRP. And lastly, these recordings provided participants with an opportunity to consider the future, such as how can we best honor the lives of Joseph McCoy and Benjamin Thomas. Ultimately, these recordings will leave behind an archive of memories and stories for future Alexandrians who can learn more about the transformative work that the participants and the ACRP have done!

The Online Oral History Archive has transcriptions of more than 150 interviews conducted with City residents. Type Pilgrimage in the Search Box to see read these transcriptions.

Munch Travelogue Blogger"s travel guide focuses on what author Shenise experienced during the Alexandria Community Remembrance Project's pilgrimage to the civil rights mecca.  

Shenise writes:

I had the great fortune to be awarded a scholarship from the Alexandria, Virginia Community Remembrance Project to be one of 165 people to participate in this once in a lifetime opportunity. The overall purpose of the Alabama pilgrimage was to honor the lives of Joseph McCoy and Benjamin Thomas who were two young men that were terrorized and lynched in Alexandria, VA. In this travel guide you will get a glimpse of the sites, foods and stories I experienced on my travels from October 6-10, 2022.  Let’s get ready to learn, see and do all things in Montgomery, Alabama.

Alexandria plans pilgrimage to Montgomery, Ala., to honor its lynching victims, by Sarah Enelow-Snyder, The Washington Post, January 2, 2022.

A southward Journey, City plans Alabama pilgrimage to honor lynching victims, by Olivia Anderson, The Alexandria Times, February 3, 2022.

Alexandria Soil Headed to the National Memorial for Peach and Justice, Alexandria Living Magazine, September 18, 2022.

Watch an Instagram Reel from VisitAlexandria, October 14, 2022.

For specific questions, email acrp@alexandriava.gov.