Racial Terror Lynchings in America/Lynching of Samuel Smith

Marker Text: The last known or recorded lynching in Davidson County took place in 1924 near this site. Around midnight on December 14, 1924, a mob of at least six armed, white, masked men entered Nashville General Hospital and abducted Samuel Smith, age 15. The men quickly identified Smith, who was in police custody and chained to his bed. Nurse Amy Weagle attempted to hide the chain in an effort to thwart the abduction. In the early hours of December 15, the mob drove Smith to Frank Hill Road. Now Old Burkett Road, near the site of the alleged robbery and shooting that led to his arrest. The mob stripped Smith of his pajamas, hung him from a tree with a thin rope, and shot him multiple times. Despite a grand jury investigation, public outcry and a reward offer in local newspapers, no one was ever arrested, charged or held accountable for the murder of Samuel Smith. This act of racial terror was meant not only to punish Smith for his alleged crimes, but to intimidate the local African American community and reinforce the racial hierarchy through violence. Though passed down for generations in the community, this story has now been spoken of openly in an effort toward reconciliation.