PRINCESS ANNE, Md.- The Maryland Lynching Truth and Reconciliation Commission is hosting a public hearing Saturday to discuss the four known lynchings in Somerset County. The event will be held at 9 a.m. at University of Maryland Eastern Shore in Princess Anne.
"We will be discussing the history of racial terror on the Eastern Shore, particularly in Somerset County, and this includes, as far as we know, the lynching of four individuals," says Marshall F. Stevenson, Jr., dean and professor of history at UMES. "These were very violent acts...and many Americans don't know about this part of American history, and some would want to deny it and not deal with it. But it's very important to acknowledge it, try and get to a place today where we can sit down and create some restorative justice, and out of that, talk seriously about how we heal the racial climate in our country today."
The four known people lynched are Issac Kemp in 1894, William Andrews in 1897, James Reed in 1907, and George Armwood in 1933.
The Maryland Lynching Truth and Reconciliation Commission has hosted similar public hearings in Wicomico, Anne Arundel and Baltimore counties. The commission will bring the evidence to the state and make recommendations to achieve racial healing.
"We will compile all of this, have additional meetings and then put together a final report in which we will take these recommendations to the governor and state officials," said Stevenson. "I think it's important to have these conversations because we certainly have racial problems in our country today. And there is a level of continuity between the history of race in this country particularly racial violence against African Americans, and some of the stuff that we see today."
The link to watch the public hearing over a live stream can be found here.