Elegy for Mary Turner: An Illustrated Account of a Lynching by Rachel Marie-Crane Williams

Elegy for Mary Turner: An Illustrated Account of a Lynching by Rachel Marie-Crane Williams-57 pages

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I very recently learned about the lynching of Hayes and Mary Turner. It is a profoundly sad and infuriating moment from history. The author powerfully illustrates the history of the lynchings following the murder of Hampton Smith. He was a local farmer who employed many blacks who owed court debts for various small crimes. He was a cruel man and treated his employees like indentured servants. One of his employees had had enough of him and murdered him. A lynching mob was formed of local white men and proceeded to go on a rampage. The mob lynched several black men and one black woman in retaliation for Hampton Smith's murder. One of the black men was Hayes Turner who had worked for Smith, but there was no evidence tying him to the murder. They lynched him despite the absence of evidence. Hayes' wife called out the mob's actions the next day (May 20, 1918). In retaliation, the mob decided to make an example of her and decided to lynch her, too, that same night. She was brutally murdered (I won't go into gory detail. I encourage you to read the book.) and so was her baby (she was 8 months pregnant). The NAACP spearheaded an investigation and was given names of those in the mob. However, no one was ever charged or arrested in connection with the lynchings. A tablet was erected to memorialize Mary Turner in 2020, but it was vandalized, so they took it down and put a cross there instead. 

I have a degree in Historic Preservation and a keen interest in history (especially American History during the Civil War and Reconstruction Era). I am very aware that lynchings like this took place, but I only recently learned of this specific instance, as mentioned earlier. I am appalled and infuriated by these events and even more appalled that most (if not all) lynching victims never got justice. In many (if not all) cases no one was ever charged for these murders. Thousands of mostly blacks were lynched from the 1880s to the mid 20th Century. This is a short, but powerful book on a harrowing story from May, 1918 in Georgia.