Page 129 - Middle Georgia State University - Knighted 2019

“Warren Powell, 14, was lynched in East Point, Georgia, in 1889 for ‘frightening’
a white girl.”
“Fred Rochelle, 16, was burned alive in a public spectacle lynching before
thousands in Polk County, Florida, in 1901.”
“David Walker, his wife, and their four children were lynched in Hickman,
Kentucky, in 1908 after Mr. Walker was accused of using inappropriate language
with a white woman.”
“Fred Alexander, a military veteran, was lynched before thousands of spectators
in Leavenworth Kansas, in 1901.”1
How, with instances such as these, can we as a people claim to be the protectors of liberty
or a nation founded on Christianity? It raises the question: when, exactly, was America
great?
Prior to the journey through the city and up the hill, we as a class visited the
Legacy Museum. These exhibits mixed personal interaction with blunt facts and images.
The museum began with tracing Montgomery’s history and involvement in the
transatlantic slave trade. We were then ushered into a dark corridor lined with small cells,
each of which holds a hologram of a different person about to be sold into slavery. While
each of the ghostly holograms had a story to tell, none were matched by the soulful
singing of the first woman in the first cell. The pain and power of her voice touched me
much. African-American hymns and songs proved to be, at least for me, one of the most
influential and impactful elements of relating the tribulations of slavery. Tears burned my

1 All quotes are from The National Memorial for Peace and Justice exhibit.

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