At the Hunt County courthouse in Greenville today, a ceremony will honor the life of Ted Smith. In 1908, Smith was lynched in a racially motivated act of mob violence. Smith was black and was accused of sexually assaulting a white woman. Smith was burned to death by a mob of about 2,500 people who had dragged him out of the Hunt County courthouse. The incident happened on July 28, 1908.
Today’s ceremony is scheduled for noon on the south lawn of the Hunt County courthouse. The Alabama-based organization Equal Justice Initiative will collect soil from the lawn for at the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery.
Next Friday, on the date of Smith’s death, a memorial of life ceremony will be held in his memory inside Judge Andy Bench’s 196th District Courtroom.