South County Residents Memorializes A Black Man Lynched in 1869

The soil inside the jars is from the place where Thomas Juricks was lynched. The jars will be transported to the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama. Photo taken by Delonte Harrod.

In 1869, when white people lynched Thomas Juricks in Prince George’s County, they wanted that act of injustice toward the Black community to be justice for their community. Lynching was not only used to mutilate his body, but it also acted as another form of a scarlet letter. In the white-led local newspapers, Juricks would be known as another Black man who was justly killed. On April 15, at Harmony Hall Arts Center in Fort Washington, Maryland, activists, community members, and historians gathered to retell Juricks’ story – to reset the record. 

Members of The Prince George’s County Lynching Memorial Project (PGCLMP)  along with the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC) Black History Program hosted a homegoing service, a Black American ritual, for Juricks. Homegoing services allow Black people to collectively grieve and celebrate a deceased community member. This ritual entailed singing from the Frederick Douglas High School choir, poetry, a dance recital by a Suitland High School student, and a drink libation, a ritual that is used to honor the deceased.

“Mr. Juricks’s life mattered to his wife, his children, and friends,” said Mary Craft, a civil rights activist, and volunteer at the PGCLMP. “In [Black] culture, when a person dies we have a wake, and a funeral, recognizing the humanity of that person. For people who were lynched, that did not happen. So our service… is about commemorating his life.”

The service was held at the Harmony Hall Arts Center in Fort Washington, Maryland, near the place where Juricks was lynched, lived, and worked. 

Melanie Townsend Diggs, south area director of the Prince George’s County Memorial Library, said the service felt like a celebration of life. 

“They took us to church today,” said Townsend Diggs. 

Rev. Aaron Tinch said he hopes the service, and those in attendance, had restored the humanity of Juricks.

Juricks was a resident of Buckeystown, Frederick County. He was married to Barbara and they had six children. In 1869, approximately five years after Maryland had reluctantly abolished chattel slavery, the Juricks moved to Prince George’s County and lived on the property of Thomas Adams. He worked on the Schoaff farm as a day laborer. Juricks was wrongly accused of beating Miss Dooly, a white teacher, as she walked to work. The white-only law enforcement, along with other community members, charged Juricks with the beating. A white mob kidnapped Juricks while he was visiting his family before being taken to jail. Two constables had taken him to his home. The mob, according to accounts, bound the constables who accompanied Juricks. They led Juricks to the woods, where a noose from a tree awaited him. They hung him. Afterward, they filled his body with bullets as he swung from a tree. Juricks is the first recorded lynching in Maryland. (You can a more detailed account here). 

Christopher Haley, ​​director of the study of the Legacy of Slavery at Maryland State Archives, said people in the community knew about the lynching of Juricks, and the perpetrators had no reason to hide what they did. 

“They believed they were protecting the dignity of [Dooly],” said Haley.

Maryland Delegate Glenn and County Councilmember Jolene Ivey, Del. Joseline A. Pena-Melnyk, and Councilmember Sydney J. Harrison attended the event.

“While the story of Thomas Juricks is a painful part of Prince George’s County’s history, his story is one that deserves to be told and demands our full attention,” said Council Member Ivey, a member of the Prince George’s County Lynching Memorial Project, in a press release. “As we honor the life that was tragically taken, it is my hope that our time of reflection will be used as a springboard into even greater levels of service and commitment to the pursuit of racial justice in Prince George’s County.”   

Part of Harrison’s speech was thanking the members, who are volunteers, of the Prince George’s County Memorial Lynching Project for unearthing the story of Juricks and being responsible for organizing the event that bought South County residents together. He also thanked Councilmember Ivey for making other members aware of the project. 

“You have made sure we understood the history of the county,” he said. “ Thank you for your service.” 

Harrison grew up in the Fort Washington area. Harrison said he played soccer at a nearby school where Juricks was lynched. As a young boy, he said, he rode his bike up and down the road where near the lynching site, and had never known such a horrific murder had taken place there. He learned about it within the last three years.

“This is a reminder that we are here standing [because] our ancestors have paved a way for us to stand,” he said. “We have a moral obligation to continue the work of equity and equality. Council member Ivey you have my commitment. Community members you have my commitment that we do all that we can…as elected leaders to create that place and space where inclusion, equity and equality exists.”

Del. Pena-Melnyk said Marylanders have to know the past in order to understand the future. 

It is important not to forget,” said Pena-Melnyk, who crafted HB 307, which led to the creation of the Maryland Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a first in the nation. “It is important to say their names, to honor them, and to have a call to action.” 

“How are you going to live your life?” Pena-Melnyk asked the crowd. “How are you going to make a difference in your community? What kind of legacy are you going to leave?” 

Pena-Melnyk said that she is working on issues within the healthcare industry: the high maternal mortality among Black women and getting biased training for healthcare providers.  

The homegoing concluded with attendees putting the soil of the lynching location into several jars. That soil will be transported to the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama, where other soils from lynching sites are stored. 

Collecting the dirt where victims were lynched is another ritual in honoring victims of racial terror. In an Equal Justice Initiative video, played during the service, researchers were shown collecting dirt, and as they did so one researcher prays to a deity that the person may finally have rest. Alongside this idea of rest is also the mystery of how the dirt is a witness to the injustice. “ The dirt speaks,” she said.

Townsend Diggs believes that the service brought closure to Juricks’ life. She participated in putting some of his soil in a jar. Perhaps, she said, quoting a researcher from the EJI video, “his DNA can receive the rest he deserves.” 

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