Remembrance Walk

100 Maryland Avenue,Rockville MD 20850

26 September, 2021

Description

As part of Remembrance Weekend, the Montgomery County Lynching Memorial Project invites you to a Remembrance Pilgrimage Walk in Rockville. ABOUT: As part of Remembrance Weekend, the Montgomery County Lynching Memorial Project (MoCoLMP) invites you to a Remembrance Pilgrimage Walk and Soil Collection Ceremony on September 26, 2021, to memorialize two men who were lynched in Rockville, Maryland. Mr. John Diggs-Dorsey was dragged from the county jail and lynched in 1880. Mr. Sidney Randolph, a native of Georgia in his mid-twenties, was lynched in 1896. By reckoning with the truth of the racial violence that has shaped our communities, we seek to advance healing and reconciliation. - PROGRAM: The Remembrance Pilgrimage Walk, from noon to 2:45, will begin at the site of the old county jail (now the County Council Building), at 100 Maryland Avenue in Rockville, where both men were held. It will continue past locations that were then central to a vibrant African-American community, to the sites where Mr. Diggs-Dorsey and Mr. Randolph were lynched. Parts of the walk will follow the approximate routes taken by the lynch mobs and then conclude at Welsh Park for the Soil Collection Ceremony. The Walk is limited to 100 people, and registration is required by September 22. - CONSIDERATIONS: Please wear comfortable walking shoes and bring refillable water bottles and a snack. We are planning a brief rest-stop at the Beall-Dawson House at the walk's midpoint. At the end of the walk, we will provide sandwiches and an hour rest and time to reflect, led by Coming to the Table. This will be followed by the Soil Collection Ceremony at 4:00. You can register for that event here, through registration is not required for the Soil Collection Ceremony. - SAFETY: Face masks/coverings are not required but are recommended for anyone who is not fully vaccinated. We will continue to follow guidance from Montgomery County about gathering protocol during the pandemic. Our event will be held weather permitting. In case of a cancellation or change to the event, we will email Eventbrite ticket holders. - ACCESSIBILITY: We welcome all members of our community and hope that you will share with us any access needs you have. We will provide ASL interpretation upon request. Please let us know when you register if ASL interpretation would be helpful to you. Shady Grove and Rockville WMATA / Metro stations will be closed on the day of our event. We will have a shuttle bus, routes and stops to be determined. Details will be sent to those who register through Eventbrite. - TO LEARN MORE: Much effort and care has gone into preserving and documenting this painful legacy. Please visit this site to learn more. - ABOUT THE ORGANIZERS: The Montgomery County Lynching Memorial Project, affiliated with the Maryland Lynching Memorial Project, seeks to educate and engage the community about the history and legacy of lynching and racial terrorism in Montgomery County, Maryland. This is the second soil collection ceremony in Montgomery County to memorialize the three known victims of terror lynching in the county. For more information, click here. MoCoLMP is a designated Community Remembrance Project of the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama. EJI is committed to ending mass incarceration and excessive punishment in the United States, to challenging racial and economic injustice, and to protecting basic human rights for the most vulnerable people in American society. EJI representatives will be at the Soil Collection Ceremony which follows the walk and will bring jars of the soil we collect in remembrance of Mr. Diggs-Dorsey and Mr. Randolph to The Legacy Museum: From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration in Alabama. For more information, click here.