At the Chatham County Board of Commissioners meeting last month, the board honored the legacy of Eugene Daniel, a Black teenager who was killed by a white mob in Pittsboro.
The board unanimously voted to formally apologize for the role of public officials in the lynching of Daniel on the 100th anniversary of the tragic event.
Chatham County Commissioner Karen Howard told 97.9 The Hill it was personally important to her that the board pass this resolution.
“It touched me deeply personally,” Howard said. “There was a silencing of that story. family members didn’t know how he had died.”
Howard said she learned about the history of Daniel through a libation ceremony earlier this year. She said learning those details, even a century later, was gut-wrenching.
Daniel was 16 years old when he was lynched on September 18, 1921. He was unlawfully taken from the Chatham County Jail and lynched by a mob of county residents, including elected officials at the time.
Daniel was beaten and executed despite no corroborated evidence, no trial and an unsubstantiated allegation. Chatham County officials at the time did not investigate the perpetrators of this attack.
“Even in death, Eugene Daniel was denied his basic rights,” Howard said.
Death certificate of Eugene Daniel from 1921. (Photo courtesy of UNC’s Red Record Project)
There is now substantial evidence pointing to complicity of the Chatham County Sheriff, jailkeeper, coroner and some of the county commissioners in the murder of Daniel.
In the resolution honoring Daniel, the current Chatham County Board of Commissioners said the officials at the time failed to fulfill their oaths of office. They issued a formal apology for the “heinous” role of county officials in the death of Daniel.
Howard said while the apology is overdue, it is part of a reckoning happening across the country.
“I want us to think about the level of terror that existed in the African-American community,” Howard said. “This was a Sunday morning, at the crack of dawn. The families that came to view that body probably went to church afterwards. Those are the great grandparents of people living here today.”
Howard said if the county does not have difficult conversations about topics of race and historical inequality, then the community will remain stuck in place.
Commissioner Jim Crawford said the resolution was a step in the right direction, but Chatham County still has a long way to go.
“This very room was used in the day after the lynching to gather all the young African-Americans and give them a talking to,” Crawford said. “These halls, this place, was drawn into the whole affair. We need to as an institution acknowledge that this happened.”
Crawford said he hopes the county can move toward healing.
Vice Chair of the Board of Commissioners, Diana Hales said this is the start of reconciliation in Chatham County.
“This is a way forward,” Hales said. “We were all, and we still are complicit. It helps for us to acknowledge that and start the repair.”
Howard said she was proud of the progressive action Chatham is taking in its reconciliation efforts because it reflects the values of its citizens.
“It’s important that we lift all of our stories,” Howard said. “If we only tell the stories of certain people, only tell the good and pretty stories, we don’t really honor who we are.”
On the anniversary of the event, the Chatham County Community Remembrance Coalition held a soil collection ceremony to honor Daniel and recognize his surviving family members.
For the full resolution honoring Eugene Daniel, click here.
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