Browse Exhibits (38 total)
Henry Davis was lynched in Annapolis, Maryland on December 21, 1906. He had been arrested a week earlier for allegedly assaulting a white woman. The mob broke into the jail where he was being held and forcibly removed him. After being paraded through the streets, he was shot multiple times and hanged. After the lynching, the family of the woman that had been assulated, Ms. Reid, thanked the lynch mob. Postcards were printed showing the mutilated remains of Mr. Davis. Although Maryland Governor Edwin Warfield called for members of the lynch mob to be held accountable for their "lawless acts," no one was ever prosecuted for the racial terror lynching. Mr. Davis was buried in an unmarked grave and his final resting place is unknown.
See all items in the Henry Davis Collection
On July 28th 1907, James Reed was lynched by a mob in Somerset County. Reed was accused of murdering the police chief, John Daugherty, when Daugherty attempted to arrest Reed's business partner.
See all items in the James Reed Collection
George Armwood was lynched after being accused of assaulting Mary Denston. Despite attempts to move Armwood away from potential lynchers, a white mob formed in Salisbury. Pressure from the community led to Armwood's return to Princess Anne, where the mob reassembled. Authorities, including Judge Robert F. Duer and State Attorney John Robins, promised justice, but the mob breached the jail, beat Armwood, and hanged him from a tree. His body was mutilated and burned.
See all items in the George Armwood Collection.
On December 4, 1931 in the wake of the lynching of Matthew Williams, an unidentified Black man was found beaten and murdered in Wicomico county.
See all items in the Unknown Collection.
Thomas Juricks was lynched by a white mob in 1869 after being accused of assaulting a white teacher, Ms. Dooly. A mob kidnapped Juricks and hanged him and then shot him. The lynching of Thomas Juricks is the first recorded lynching in Maryland.
See all items in the Thomas Juricks Collection.
Robert Hughes, also known as William Burns, was lynched on October 6, 1907 for allegedly murdering a white police officer, August Baker. A white mob used a telegraph pole to break the doors of the jail. They removed Burns and shot him.
See all items in the William Burns Collection.
Sidney Randolph was lynched on July 4, 1896 after being accused of attacking the Buxton family. In the attack, the youngest child, Sadie Buxton died. Although detectives from Washington and Baltimore were investigating the case, local residents of Gaithersburg brutally beat him and then hanged him.
See all items in the Sidney Randolph Collection.
David Thomas was lynched after being accused of killing a white man. Thomas pled not guilty and was found guilty and sentenced to 16 years and 7 months in jail. Two days later, a mob broke into the jail and forcibly removed Thomas. They nailed a plank to the jail and hanged Thomas from the plank.
See all items in the David Thomas Collection.
John Fields, an enslaved man, was lynched after being accused of "criminal intimacy" with a young white woman. He was lynched at a farm near Queenstown.
See all items in the John Fields Collection.
Frederick Pearce, an enslaved child, was lynched after being accused of attempted assault of a young white woman. Pearce was seized by local residents and hanged. His enslaver requested compensation from the state for Pearce's death.
See all items in the Frederick Pearce Collection.