Media Contacts:
Stephan Witherspoon (218) 310-3987
Heidi Bakk-Hansen (218) 409-5240
Email: info@claytonjacksonmcghie.org
Clayton Jackson McGhie Memorial, Inc. announces the 2017 Day of Remembrance to reflect, commemorate and restore peace and faith in the Duluth community as a result of the 1920 lynching. Ninety-seven years have passed since the mob-directed tragedy that took the lives of Elias Clayton, Elmer Jackson and Isaac McGhie, three young African American men who were falsely accused, taken by force from the old Duluth jail on East Superior Street, and lynched at the intersection where the CJM Memorial now stands.
The Clayton Jackson McGhie Memorial was dedicated on October 10, 2003, after a group of passionate community members led the effort to gain public and financial support to build it in downtown Duluth. Today the memorial stands as the only one of its kind in the United States. The group evolved into today’s nonprofit Clayton Jackson McGhie Memorial, Inc., which continues the work of fostering racial justice in our community through education, reconciliation, healing. In the past year two new accomplishments stand out: the completion of the first phase of the Duluth African-American Oral History Project and a dozen grants for drivers’ education students in need.
CJMM, Inc. will commemorate the lives of the three men with two gatherings:
Thursday, June 15, at NOON, Clayton Jackson McGhie Memorial, First St & Second Ave E — Day of Remembrance: Standing United for Equity. Gather with us to honor the memory of the three young men who were lynched in 1920. Special guests include the World Beat Drummers, ARE spoken word group members, and scholarship winners. Henry Banks will also be honored with a Founders’ Award.
Thursday, June 15, at 5:30pm, Park Hill Cemetery, 2500 Vermilion Rd — Vigil. Please join us at the gravesites of Elias Clayton, Elmer Jackson and Isaac McGhie for a gathering that includes an open forum for community members to speak and conversation.
