Record. Recognize. Remember.
The Union County Community Remembrance Project seeks to document and recognize the history of lynching and racial terrorism in Union County.
Our vision is to foster ongoing collaborative education, justice, and healing through preservation. (Updated as of 1 Jan 2023)
We are a grassroots community action initiative.
We believe that by engaging in truth-telling about Union’s lynching history, we are recognizing the impact it had on the community, acknowledging the unjust systems that still cause harm today, and seeking to write a different story about Union’s future.
Our past informs our present.
There is both power and healing in telling the truth about our history of racial violence and it is the foundation for our justice-centered approach. As we have many coalition members who are professional historians, we conduct historical research on lynching and white supremacy in Union County and South Carolina. We document the stories of lynching victims, their families, and their communities.
Historical markers are just the beginning.
We exceeded our goal and placed two EJI sponsored historical markers and one State historical marker sponsored by SC Humanities in downtown Union to publicly commemorate victims of racial violence. The impact of this project goes beyond markers however – it demonstrates to the state and the nation that Union County is invested in doing the difficult but necessary work of reckoning with its past in order to create a more equitable future.
"We must truthfully confront our history of racial injustice before we can repair its painful legacy."
— Equal Justice Initiative
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