Ed Johnson Memorial

Marker Text: Ed Johnson was one of 4,400 known black victims of lynching between 1877 and 1950. In the decade following emancipation, the terror of lynching became a primary means of enforcing white supremacy in Southern communities. Black men and women knew that they were always in danger of white mob violence.

Lynchings were characterized by extreme brutality. Victims were often burned alive or mutilated, with white spectators taking severed body parts home as souvenirs. Lynch mobs typically included people from all levels of white society, ranging from poor laborers to wealthy businessmen and politicians.

Beginning in the 1890s, the courageous black journalist and activist Ida B. Wells launched a nationwide movement against lynching. She was eventually joined in her efforts by prominent organizations including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the American Civil Liberties Union. While the antilynching movement succeeded in reducing white mob violence, lynchings continued into the 1960s.

Hamilton County is known to be the site of 5 of Tennessee’s 214 confirmed lynchings. The sculptures on the hillside below pay homage to these men.