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Facing Our History to Heal Our Community: The Lynching Sites Project

The Lynching Sites Project of Memphis honors victims of racial terror, memorializes 35 lives lost, and fosters truth, healing, and justice.

Community Spotlight

Published: February 26, 2026

Confronting History to Build a More Just Future

We’re spotlighting an important community effort for whom we manage a fund at the Community Foundation — the Lynching Sites Project of Memphis. This organization is committed to uncovering and telling the whole, accurate history of racial terror lynchings in Shelby County — believing that only through truth can healing and justice begin.  

Inspired by the work of Bryan Stevenson and the Equal Justice Initiative to memorialize thousands of lynchings across America, the project team researches victims, identifies historically significant sites, and installs markers to honor those who were killed in acts of racial violence. In Shelby County, that includes the deaths of 35 men killed in 23 different incidents. 

A map of Memphis and surrounding areas shows locations marked for the Lynching Sites Project as part of Facing Our History, with red icons labeled by nearby city names like Germantown, Southaven, and West Memphis.

This work fosters courageous conversations across our community, builds relationships rooted in understanding, and invites all of us to face painful chapters of history together so we can grow toward racial equality and justice.  

To learn more or support this ongoing work of remembrance and reconciliation, visit lynchingsitesmem.org. 

Support the Lynching Sites Project Fund

Support the work of The Lynching Sites Project – a group of Memphians who want to find and memorialize the lynching sites in Shelby County and the surrounding area.

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