Community members will gather this week to mark the one-year anniversary of the violent U.S. Capitol insurrection.
The Lawrence/Douglas County Community Remembrance Project Coalition will sponsor “A Silent Vigil for Democracy” at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 6. Organizers ask participants to meet at the South Park gazebo and to bring with them a candle or flashlight.
A partner with the Equal Justice Initiative, the group has sponsored several events focusing on local history and working toward reconciliation for racial violence and injustice.
The 1882 mob lynching on the Kansas River bridge of three Black men – Isaac King, George Robertson and Pete Vinegar – and the imprisonment of Vinegar’s teenage daughter, Margaret “Sis” Vinegar, was remembered by the coalition on its 139th anniversary in June 2021. In October 2021, the coalition honored the victims with a ceremony that included the collection of soil from the river bank and placed in jars for the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama.
The coalition also recognized winners of an essay contest and has planned informational programs leading up to Juneteenth 2022, including the dedication of a historical marker documenting the 1882 lynching.
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Tricia Masenthin (she/her), equity reporter, can be reached at tmasenthin (at) lawrencekstimes (dot) com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
More coverage: Lawrence/Douglas County Community Remembrance Project
Molly Adams/Lawrence Times
Lawrence City Commission approves marker honoring Margaret ‘Sis’ Vinegar
The Lawrence City Commission voted Tuesday to approve a plan to place a historical marker in honor of Margaret “Sis” Vinegar, a young Black woman who, at age 14 in 1882, survived a sexual assault by a white man but died in prison at age 20 after being wrongly convicted of the man’s murder.
Historic Resources Commission approves marker honoring Margaret ‘Sis’ Vinegar
A city board on Thursday voted in favor of a plan to place a historical marker in honor of Margaret “Sis” Vinegar, a young Black woman who, at age 14 in 1882, survived a sexual assault by a white man but died in prison at age 20 after being wrongly convicted of the man’s murder.
Lawrence Historic Resources Commission to consider marker in honor of Margaret ‘Sis’ Vinegar
A city board on Thursday will consider a plan to place a historical marker in honor of Margaret “Sis” Vinegar, a young Black woman who, at age 14 in 1882, survived a sexual assault by a white man but died in prison at age 20 after being wrongly convicted of the man’s murder.
