Anderson remembrance group brings soil from lynching sites to Memorial Center in Montgomery

Ken Ruinard, Anderson Independent Mail
·2 min read

In the summer of 2020, a group of six people in Anderson County formed the Anderson Area Remembrance and Reconciliation Initiative.

Last week, Stuart Sprague, one of the six steering committee founders of the Anderson group, loaded up the back of his car with labeled, gallon jars of soil collected from each of the five documented Anderson lynching sites. The soil is now stored at the Peace & Justice Memorial Center in Montgomery, Alabama, which stores jars of soil from lynching sites around the United States.

There were more than 4,400 lynchings in the US between 1877 and 1950, according to the Equal Justice Initiative group.

The five men represented from Anderson County are: Ed Sullivan, of Williamston town area (1894); Elbert Harris of Iva (1898); John Laddison of Rock Mill area (1901); Reuben Elrod of Brushy Creek (1903) and Willis Jackson of Honea Path (1911).

Soil has been collected at the former Anderson lynching sites since the summer of 2020.

"The victims of Anderson County are represented," Sprague said at a ceremony at the Legacy Museum. "Today is about remembrance. We will remember these five men. Tomorrow is about reconciliation ... building a loving community Martin Luther King, Jr. talked about."

Sprague led a group of 30 people from Anderson to Montgomery, including Bobby Rettew, Anderson University Assistant Professor of Communication. Rettew instructs a Documentary Journalism class with students working on a documentary about the group.

Terence Roberts, left, Mayor of Anderson, and John Miller, Jr., right, both with the Anderson Area Remembrance & Reconciliation Initiative visit a marker for Anderson County, South Carolina at the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama March 17, 2023. Names on the metal sculpture are Ed Sullivan, of Williamston town area 1894, Elbert Harris of Iva in 1898, John Laddison of Rock Milll area in 1901, Reuben Elrod of Brushy Creek in 1903, and Willis Jackson of Honea Path in 1911. The group later group leader, presented Jennifer Harris, Senior Project Manager at the Equal Justice Initiative office, five jars of collected soil collected from Anderson County, S.C. lynching sites of the men listed.

While no video or photos are allowed inside the museum, a special ceremony nearby allowed the group to add to the large display and collection of history, which Anderson University students Morgan Lane, Jordan Huffman, Raylyn Ligion and Destiny Donald filmed at a nearby center for the ceremony.

Anderson Mayor, Terence Roberts, AnMed Health Chief Diversity Officer, Juana Slade, and Anderson Vice President for Diversity, Community and Inclusion, Dr. James Noble, along with a host of community members, joined the ceremony.

This article originally appeared on Anderson Independent Mail: Anderson remembrance brings soil from lynching sites to Montgomery