HomeMy WebLinkAboutRES-2022-051-Resolution Apologizing for Past Racial Terror Lynching RES - 2022 - 051
ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
RESOLUTION APOLOGIZING FOR PAST RACIAL TERROR LYNCHING
WHEREAS , racial terror lynching was known widely to occur across the United States in the aftermath of
the Civil War and from Reconstruction through the middle of the twentieth century; and
WHEREAS , lynching became a practice predominantly inflicted upon Black or African American men,
women and children by white individuals , vigilante mobs and law enforcement officers — to instill fear and
to thwart the social, economic and political advancement of Black people ; and
WHEREAS , on August 7 , 1869 , Daniel Morrow and Jefferson Morrow, African American farmworkers near
Hillsborough, were accused of barn burning and insulting women, and lynched by a mob that left a note
identifying themselves as the Ku Klux Klan; and
WHEREAS , on September 12 , 1869 , Wright Woods , alleged to have made certain remarks to a white girl,
was abducted by four white men, killed and found in Little River with a note attached to his foot that read,
if the law will not protect virtue, the rope will" ; and
WHEREAS , on December 2 , 1869 , Cyrus Guy, allegedly having made a snide remark to a white woman,
was taken by a mob and left hanging from a tree at the intersection of Faucette Mill Road and Lebanon
Road as a sign for other "mulattos " in the area to know their place; and
WHEREAS , on or about October 30 , 1898 , Manly McCauley, an 18 -year-old Black man, was seized by a
mob of white men, accused of eloping with a married white woman, and lynched from a dogwood tree near
current day Hatch Road and Old Greensboro Road, and the four men tried for the lynching were acquitted;
and
WHEREAS , in denial of their constitutional rights to a fair trial , and without the opportunity to present
their defense , the afore-mentioned men were brutally executed; and
WHEREAS no evidence exists to indicate that elected officials of Orange County — i . e . , sheriff,
commissioners , or judges — did anything to prevent these lynchings , or to prosecute those who performed,
aided or abetted these actions , or were otherwise complicit in this racial terror , and
WHEREAS , in contravention of their responsibilities to protect and serve all the people of Orange County,
the aforementioned public servants violated their oaths of office;
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Orange County Board of Commissioners does hereby
acknowledge that criminal acts of racial terror lynching were committed against numerous named and
unnamed individuals , including Daniel Morrow , Jefferson Morrow , Cyrus Guy, Wright Woods and Manly
McCauley; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Orange County Board of Commissioners now apologizes to all
victims of racial terror lynching in Orange County perpetrated or condoned by past Orange County elected
officials ; and
BE IT MOREOVER RESOLVED that the Orange County Board of County Commissioners herewith
expresses our deepest sympathies to the families and descendants for all women and men who were
murdered by racial terror lynching, and for the of their dignity and basic human rights .
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This the 20th day of September , 2022 .
17
52 Renee A . rice, Chair
Orange County Board of Commissioners