Black Teen Lynched In 1897 Remembered In Alexandria

ALEXANDRIA, VA — Friday marked the anniversary of a Black teen being killed by a lynch mob in Alexandria, and the city is encouraging residents to join the remembrance.

Joseph McCoy was lynched by a mob at the corner of Lee and Cameron streets on April 23, 1897, according to a city statement. The lynching followed an accusation from Richard Lacy, his employer of 16 years, of sexually assaulting his daughter. McCoy was arrested without a warrant and was held in a cell at the police station, at what is now City Hall. A mob tried to break down the door but were stopped by officers.

The second time the mob tried, they overwhelmed the officers and dragged McCoy to the southeast corner of Cameron and Lee Streets. According to a the city, the mob shot McCoy several times, hit him with an ax, and hanged him at the intersection.

No members of the mob were arrested, and no officials were held accountable for the lynching, according to a historic marker. Several Black men were arrested based on "rumors of retaliation."

Residents are invited to pay their respects to McCoy at the lynching location and a newly installed remembrance marker. City Hall, Carlyle House, and George Washington Masonic Memorial will be illuminated in purple through the weekend as a sign of mourning.

A virtual lecture will also be held by Historian Susan Strasser on Saturday, April 24, at 1 p.m. The first half of the lecture will be about lynching, while the second half will feature a poetry reading by Narcia Cole. The program is free, but registration is required.

According to the Office of Historic Alexandria, there are two documented lynchings that happened in Alexandria. The two lynching victims, McCoy and Benjamin Thomas, are documented on a pillar of the Equal Justice Institute’s National Memorial for Peace and Justice. The memorial has 800 steel monuments, one for each U.S. city or county where a racial terror lynching took place.

The EJI Community Remembrance Project invites cities and counties across the country to claim their monuments and install them. Alexandria’s own EJI Community Remembrance Project aims to bring the pillar with the names of the city's two documented lynching victims from Alabama to Alexandria to place prominent location.

See more information online about the Alexandria Community Remembrance Project, an initiative to help residents history of racial hate crimes in the city.