Duluth's 'Week of Remembrance' dedicated to men lynched 95 years ago

Duluth is about to rekindle a conversation about an episode most people don't like to talk about.

A "Week of Remembrance" begins Friday at the city's memorial to Elias Clayton, Elmer Jackson, and Isaac McGhie.

It was 95 years ago when the three African-American circus workers were accused of raping a Duluth woman. They were never put on trial because an angry mob estimated at 10,000 people pulled them from their jail cells and eventually hung them from a lamppost.

As the News Tribune reports, city leaders will speak at the memorial Friday in the first of several events around the theme "Building Trust Within the Community."

Stephan Witherspoon, who serves on the board that oversees the memorial, tells the News Tribune: "We have to talk about the struggle and resilience of African-American people and then how it affects us today because it's a part of the national historical trauma, especially for young black males."

The Duluth Budgeteer has more on this weekend's events.

Learn more about the 1920 lynchings from the collections of the Minnesota Historical Society and from a video produced by Twin Cities Public Television.

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