"Lynching Locations Proposed As New National Park Sites"

"In the spring of 1917 a crowd of 3,000 people gathered to watch in Memphis as a lynch mob burned and decapitated Ell Persons, a Black man who was awaiting trial after he was beaten into confessing to raping and killing a 16-year-old white girl.

Under a bill introduced by Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), the site near the Wolf River and others near the city in Tennessee would be studied as possible additions to the National Park Service.

“Unfortunately, there are many examples of lynching violence in our country’s history,” Cohen said. “Including these sites as part of our national park system is an important step to remember the victims and to learn from the past so that it is never repeated.”"

Rob Hotakainen reports for E&E News June 27, 2022.