Trees, over thousands of years of existence, have provided fruit and shade for human beings. And at some point, nature’s gift became a place for unnatural use. In the South, and other parts of the U.S., white people used trees as tools to lynch Black people. Recognizing this, Billie Holiday – borrowing a poem from Abel Meeropol, who was Jewish and a teacher – testified about this unjust way of using creation.

“Southern Trees bear a strange fruit; Blood on the leaves and blood at the root; Black bodies swinging in the Southern breeze; Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees,” sang Billie Holiday in the song “Strange Fruit.”

On Nov. 16, from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The Maryland Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the first in the state and the country, will host a public hearing in Leonardtown, Maryland at the St. Mary’s County library on Hayden Farm Lane. Community members from Calvert, Charles, and St. Mary’s counties, and those from the commission will come together to acknowledge the extrajudicial killings of Benjamin Hance, of St. Mary’s County, and Charles Whitley, of Calvert County, and their generational impact. (Charles County has no recorded lynching. However, that doesn’t mean they didn’t occur there).

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The commission was established in 2019. The commission is empowered to research cases of racially motivated lynchings and hold public meetings and regional hearings where a lynching of an African American by a white mob has been documented. The team has 18 commissioners, some of whom were appointed by Gov. Moore. Since its establishment, the commission has held 8 public hearings throughout the state.

“A lot of times we were refugees fleeing terror. That part, I think, needs to be acknowledged and discussed.”

— Michelle Coles, Esq., a commissioner on the Maryland Lynching Truth and Reconciliation Commission and author of “Black Was the Ink,” a young adult historical fiction novel about the Reconstruction Era

These public hearings are not criminal court cases, but an opportunity for the local community to come together to acknowledge its painful history and propose solutions for genuine reconciliation that will ultimately be considered by the Maryland State Legislature. Michelle Coles, Esq.– a commissioner on the Maryland Lynching Truth and Reconciliation Commission and author of “Black Was the Ink,” a young adult historical fiction novel about the Reconstruction Era – said the public hearings can be a space that provides a path for reconciliation. Ideally, the hearings are used to bring descendants of those lynched and those who lynched and enslaved Black people together.

“So that’s why this is a truth and reconciliation commission,” explained Coles, a former U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Attorney. “The truth part is taking place in these county hearings, where we invite members of the public…in this space to share their truth. That's a part of the healing. But, the second piece that we're working on is reconciliation, and [we ask]: ‘What does it take to address the harm that has come from a culture where it was acceptable to lynch African Americans for hundreds of years?’”

Rev. Diane Teichart, co-chair of The Prince George’s County Lynching Memorial Project, who has attended public hearings and operates as a liaison to the state commission, said the commission has partnered with trauma-informed practitioners. They’re there to help those who may encounter a rough time due to testimony and to facilitate healing conversations between attendees.

There is another beneficial aspect to these public hearings. Coles said the hearings can also help Black people to piece together fragmented family histories. Family members may discover their descendants aren’t from the city and state they’ve lived in for decades. They also may find they have distant relatives.

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“A lot of time has passed and many of these stories don't get passed down because they are so painful and traumatic,” explained Coles. “Often, in our communities, it could be fear, right? It could be the intimidation factor. Or it could be heartbreak. People wanted to find a way to move past it. A lot of times, a lynching could be the impetus for why a family fled or moved from what had been their home for centuries. Now they’ve moved to Baltimore or… New York. They get away from the people in the places that hurt them. So we make an effort to find those descendants so we can invite them to come to the hearings.”

In this context, Coles said, perhaps, when talking about the Black migration from the South to the North we often reframe it as a story about opportunity. That’s not the whole story.

“No,” she explained. “A lot of times we were refugees fleeing terror. That part, I think, needs to be acknowledged and discussed.”