­­For Immediate Release: April 19, 2022

The City of Alexandria invites the community to join in the remembrance of Joseph McCoy, a teenage Black resident who was killed by a lynch mob at the corner of Lee and Cameron streets 125 years ago. All are invited to attend a community reflection on Saturday, April 23, at 3 p.m. in Market Square (301 King St.).

At the remembrance event, community members will recognize the 1897 lynching of Joseph McCoy and the terror it spread throughout the African American community. The ceremony will remember McCoy, affirm responsibility for these acts of racial terror, and continue our work to reconcile our past with our present. In doing so, we recall the words of poet Maya Angelou: “History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.” A procession from Market Square to the corner of Cameron and Lee will conclude the service.

The community is also encouraged to visit the In Memoriam webpage to learn more about McCoy, pay their respects at the site where the lynching took place, and view the remembrance marker as part of the Alexandria Community Remembrance Project. City Hall, the old Station House Door, the lamp post, and George Washington Masonic Memorial will be illuminated in purple, the color of mourning, throughout the weekend to provide belated accountability, reconciliation, honor, and respect for McCoy. 

McCoy’s death was one of two documented lynchings in Alexandria, out of 11 that occurred in Northern Virginia, and among the 100 documented lynchings that occurred in the Commonwealth between 1882 and 1968.

The Alexandria Community Remembrance Project (ACRP) is a citywide initiative dedicated to helping Alexandrians understand its history of racial hate crimes. ACRP conducts research, education, programs and events that remember McCoy and explore the long-term impact on Alexandria’s African American community. Working with the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) Community Remembrance Project, ACRP will receive a steel pillar that memorializes McCoy and Benjamin Thomas, who was lynched in 1899. ACRP will use the pillar to create a permanent space for remembrance in the city.

Visit alexandriava.gov/Historic for more information about the Alexandria Community Remembrance Project, upcoming programming, the history of lynching in Alexandria, and to sign up for the monthly newsletter and read frequently asked questions.

For inquiries from the news media only, contact Andrea Blackford, Editorial Communications Manager, at andrea.blackford@alexandriava.gov or 703.746.3959.

For reasonable disability accommodation, contact Nicole.Quinn@alexandriava.gov or 703.746.4554, Virginia Relay 711.

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This news release is available at alexandriava.gov/go/3565.