BGuthrie Photos: MD -- Rockville -- Rockville Memorial Library -- Exhibit: It Happened in Rockville: Remembering Two Lynchings

MD -- Rockville -- Rockville Memorial Library -- Exhibit: It Happened in Rockville: Remembering Two Lynchings:

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Description of Pictures: "It Happened in Rockville: Remembering Two Lynchings" Exhibit to be Displayed at Rockville Memorial Library
By Laurie White
Post date: January 24, 2022
The Montgomery County Lynching Memorial Project (MoCoLMP) “It Happened in Rockville: Remembering Two Lynching” exhibit is coming to the Rockville Memorial Library, located at 21 Maryland Avenue, Rockville. The exhibit will run from Feb. 1 – Feb. 28 during library hours.
The exhibit, launched in collaboration with Peerless Rockville and Montgomery History, seeks to memorialize and honor two men who were lynched in Rockville -- Mr. John Diggs-Dorsey in 1880 and Mr. Sidney Randolph in 1896 -- as well as a third man, Mr. George Peck, lynched in Poolesville in 1880. The exhibit is part of a larger initiative to educate and engage our community in acknowledging the history and legacy of lynching and racial terrorism in Montgomery County.
“We are very honored to host this exhibit,” said MCPL Director Anita Vassallo. “This is the first time the exhibit will be openly available to the public. Its initial viewing was at the Red Brick Courthouse by appointment only.”
Working closely with the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama, and the Maryland Lynching Memorial Project, MoCoLMP is part of a larger effort to advance the cause of reconciliation in Maryland, advocating for public acknowledgement of these murders and working to honor and dignify the lives of the victims. As highlighted in a proclamation by the Montgomery County Council on Sept. 26, 2021, this exhibit “reminds us of our responsibility to understand our history and to work to repair and heal the damage of the past by acting in the present.”
For more information, please contact Rachel Rappaport at rachel.rappaport@montgomerycountymd.gov or the Montgomery County Lynching Memorial Project at mocolynchingmemorial@gmail.com

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. LIBLYN_220223_006.JPG: IT HAPPENED IN ROCKVILLE REMEMBERING TWO LYNCHINGS According to the 1860 Census, there were nearly 8,000 enslaved men, women, and children living in Montgomery County, Maryland, nearly one-third of the population at that time. By November 1, 1864, the Maryland Constitution of 1864 took effect, freeing some 87,000 enslaved men, women and children in the state. The Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) defines "Lynchings (as) violent and public acts of torture that traumatized Black people throughout the country and were largely tolerated by state and federal officials. These lynchings were terrorism." EJI has documented nearly 6,500 racial terror lynchings in the U.S. between 1865 and 1950. At least 41 of those documented lynchings took place in Maryland. This exhibit, "IT HAPPENED IN ROCKVILLE, Remembering Two Lynchings," seeks to reveal this forgotten and nearly-erased history that occurred in our county. The lynchings of Mr. John Diggs- Dorsey in 1880, and Mr. Sidney Randolph in 1896, took place in Rockville. One other lynching happened in Poolesville in 1880: Mr. George Peck. "IT HAPPENED IN ROCKVILLE" traces the paths of the two lynchings that both began at the Old Montgomery County Jail-where the Montgomery County Council Building stands today. The Remembrance Walk on September 26, 2021, passed the same locations in Rockville that Mr. John Diggs-Dorsey (on July 27, 1880) and Mr. Sidney Randolph (on July 4, 1896) passed on the way to their deaths, "at the hands of parties unknown." This exhibit documents those locations through site markers and photographs. The Soil Collection Ceremony took place in Welsh Park at the close of the Remembrance Walk. Welsh Park represents the convergence of two farms where each Rockville lynching occurred. County citizens collected soil from those lynching sites to finally memorialize Mr. John Diggs-Dorsey and Mr. Sidney Randolph. This exhibit is intended to reveal the history of these fatal miscarriages of justice that happened here in Montgomery County, to remember the victims, and to promote reconciliation and healing. The thoughtful act of remembering can assist in enabling equitable judicial and policing reforms today as we move toward equal justice within the "Free State of Maryland." ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The Montgomery County Lynching Memorial Project appreciates the invitation to present this exhibit at the Rockville Memorial Library. We especially thank Rachel Rappaport, its Assistant Manager and Library System Representative to the County Racial Equity Office, and Dale Pastor, a Liaison with the Ask-a-Librarian Service, for their able assistance. We also wish to thank the Equal Justice Initiative, Peerless Rockville and Montgomery History, along with the Montgomery County Remembrance and Reconciliation Commission, the Montgomery County Office of Human Rights, the City of Rockville, Jerusalem-Mt. Pleasant UMC, the Haiti Cemetery Association and numerous community members who supported this endeavor. We also wish to express our gratitude to those individuals whose efforts preceded ours and who provided their expertise, historical research, and preservation of vital historic records. Alphabetically we wish to thank: Miriam Bunow, Ralph Buglass, Charlotte Crutchfield, Sarah Hedlund, Jay Mallin, Eileen McGuckian, Nancy Pickard and Kathy Rogers. JOIN MOCOLMP To join the Montgomery County Lynching Memorial Project's listserv or to get involved in its ongoing work in Montgomery County, Maryland, email MOCOLMP at: mocolynchingmemorial@gmail.com
2. LIBLYN_220223_008.JPG: It Happened in Rockville Remembering Two Lynchings Mr. John Diggs-Dorsey, Age 23, Near West's Farm on July 27, 1880 Mr. Sidney Randolph, Age mid-20s, Anderson Farm on July 4, 1896
3. LIBLYN_220223_021.JPG: IT HAPPENED IN ROCKVILLE TWO LYNCHINGS AND THE REMEMBRANCE WALK SITE 1 THE OLD COUNTY JAIL The Montgomery County Jail was located in Rockville on what is now Maryland Ave., approximately where the County Council building stands today. Here seen c. 1935 just before its demolition. Vigilante mobs kidnapped both Mr. John Diggs-Dorsey and Mr. Sidney Randolph from the jail, and murdered them by lynching. MR. JOHN DIGGS-DORSEY, accused of assaulting Mrs. Linnie Tschiffely, was in the jail in Rockville. On July 27, 1880, at 4 a.m., fifty men appeared and carried out an attack on the facility with the plan to lynch Mr. Diggs-Dorsey. MR. SIDNEY RANDOLPH, accused of the murder of Sadie Buxton and awaiting indictment, was in his jail cell the morning of July 4, 1896. After forcing the jailer to relinquish the keys, a group of masked men dragged Mr. Randolph from his cell and lynched him.
4. LIBLYN_220223_031.JPG: IT HAPPENED IN ROCKVILLE TWO LYNCHINGS AND THE REMEMBRANCE WALK SITE 2 RED BRICK COURTHOUSE Built in 1891, the Red Brick Courthouse was the third courthouse to stand in this location. The only courthouse in the county until 1931, the site was at the center of government functions until the early 2000s. It now houses the collection of Peerless Rockville. DRAGGED FROM THE JAIL AND LYNCHED WITHOUT BEING GIVEN THEIR DAY IN COURT, Mr. John Diggs-Dorsey and Mr. Sidney Randolph were denied due process under the law. In 1896, Magistrate Charles LYNCHERS GO UNPUNISHED M. Jones summoned a coroner's jury which visited the crime scene where Mr. Randolph was lynched, then reconvened at the Red Brick Courthouse. AN INQUEST WAS A FACT-FINDING PROCESS, usually conducted by the coroner who traditionally selected prominent men from the community to hear evidence. In the Randolph case, members of the jury were Benjamin Riggs (foreman), Samuel Soper, George Emmerich, Thomas McCollough, Thomas W. Stonestreet, Samuel A. Matlack, F. Cushman Braddock, William R. Pumphrey, Joseph O. Moulden, Wallace E. Ricketts, Lawrence Flack, Charles Ogden, and Thomas Mills.
5. LIBLYN_220223_043.JPG: IT HAPPENED IN ROCKVILLE TWO LYNCHINGS AND THE REMEMBRANCE WALK SITE 3 ROCKVILLE, 1880-1896 The population of the county seat, Rockville, was less than 700 in 1880, rising to about 1,100 in 1896. Rockville was a village when Mr. John Diggs- Dorsey was lynched in 1880, and at the time of Mr. Sidney Randolph's lynching in 1896. With the population covering a small geographic area, the violence of lynching was intended to be visible, to spread fear and enforce white supremacy. Both mobs and both victims likely passed this intersection at W. Jefferson and Van Buren Streets, then proceeded to Darnestown Road, now Montgomery Ave. THE BODIES OF LYNCHING VICTIMS, MR. DIGGS-DORSEY AND MR. RANDOLPH, were both claimed by Pumphrey's Funeral establishment and buried in unmarked graves at the Alms House, together with the bodies of other unknown, unclaimed or indigent people. The Alms House, or Montgomery County Poor Farm, was established south of Rockville in 1789 to provide for the County's indigent. The Alms House site is the current location of the Montgomery County Correctional Facility.
6. LIBLYN_220223_051.JPG: G.M. Hopkins map of 1879 IT HAPPENED IN ROCKVILLE TWO LYNCHINGS AND THE REMEMBRANCE WALK SITE 4 This 1879 house at Forest and Montgomery Avenues, marked the edge of Rockville in 1880; the land beyond was known as West's farm. THE WEST FARM Early on July 27, 1880, Mr. John Diggs-Dorsey was lynched on or near the West Farm; his still-hanging body attracting a large crowd after daybreak. After subduing the Sheriff and breaking into the jail, the lynching party dragged Mr. John Diggs- Dorsey out of his cell, and forced him, still in shackles, to walk quickly to the vicinity of the West Farm, on the north side of the road, beyond current day Forest Avenue. They were met by a man on horseback, pre- arranged. The horseman asked those present to form a circle and swear an oath of secrecy: to not reveal the identities of those present, to protect themselves and their families. JULIUS WEST (1818-1860) Mr. West died before the Rockville lynchings. In his will, West left "all my lands and negroes" after the death of his widow, to the Trustees of the Rockville Academy. Rockville Academy, the oldest school in Rockville, had been operating since 1814, for White boys only.
7. LIBLYN_220223_061.JPG: IT HAPPENED IN ROCKVILLE TWO LYNCHINGS AND THE REMEMBRANCE WALK SITE 5 BEALL-DAWSON HOUSE Built c. 1815, for Upton Beall and his family. From a prominent Georgetown family, Beall was the Clerk of the Court for Montgomery County. The building is now home to Montgomery History. UPTON BEALL PASSED AWAY IN 1827, LEAVING HIS FAMILY IN DEBT. At an auction to settle the debt, his wife Jane and their three daughters- Matilda, Jane, and Margaret-bought back what they could, of their personal property. The purchases included household items, farming equipment, and 13 enslaved people. The Beall Sisters never married and remained in the mansion their entire lives. They continued to prosper through farming and from a mill on their land. By 1860, they had 330 acres of land, 52 people enslaved and three slave houses. For additional income, some of the enslaved were hired out to others. Margaret Beall was paid $4,478.50 under the 1862 D.C. Compensated Emancipation Act, the settlement value for the people she had enslaved. From 1870-1900, Beall divided and parceled out some of the land she owned. Several of Beall's formerly enslaved purchased lots that now comprise "Haiti" (pronounced Hay-tie). It is Rockville's oldest surviving Black community.
8. LIBLYN_220223_074.JPG: IT HAPPENED IN ROCKVILLE TWO LYNCHINGS AND THE REMEMBRANCE WALK SITE 6 JERUSALEM-MT. PLEASANT UMC The Church was erected in about 1858 and rebuilt it in 1892. The Montgomery County chapter of the NAACP was founded here in 1937 and the building housed graduation ceremonies for the Rockville Colored High School through the 1950s. ESTABLISHED IN 1845, THE ROCKVILLE CIRCUIT OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH SERVED 527 BLACK AND 715 WHITE MEMBERS. The original church building was segregated-Whites entered the front door and sat in the main sanctuary while free Blacks and those enslaved were relegated to a gallery upstairs. Communion was offered first to Whites and only when they were finished and had left the church were Blacks offered communion. Some Black church members refused to participate in such an outwardly racist system-rather than attend church, they listened through the windows. Tensions at the church reached a peak immediately preceding and during the Civil War. Proslavery parishioners formed the M.E. Church South in 1863, and after legal disputes, relinquished ownership of this building to the predominantly-Black, anti-slavery segment of the former congregation in 1868. It was renamed Jerusalem M.E. Church in 1881 and merged with Mt. Pleasant United Methodist Church in 1989. THE HEBRONS WERE LONG-TIME MEMBERS OF THE JERUSALEM- MT. PLEASANT CHURCH. Jesse served as treasurer for almost 52 years and Celestine participated in charitable efforts and fundraising events. Jesse was also well known in the community for his love of music. After the Hebrons died in 1997, Jerusalem Church purchased their house, using it for administrative offices.
9. LIBLYN_220223_087.JPG: IT HAPPENED IN ROCKVILLE TWO LYNCHINGS AND THE REMEMBRANCE WALK SITE 7 THE ANDERSON FARM Mr. Sidney Randolph was hanged by his killers from a chestnut tree on farmland owned by the Anderson family, just off the Frederick Road-now Hungerford Drive. He died on the 4th of July, 1896. The site is just south of Montgomery College's Rockville campus and the former Carver High School building. The Anderson brothers-George, James and Edward-were long- time residents of Rockville. In June 1896, GEORGE M. ANDERSON served as an attorney at the inquest into Sadie Buxton's death. Anderson was later part of the search party who followed the wagon tracks through town and discovered Mr. Sidney Randolph's body on farmland owned by his brother, James. A Jury of Inquest was summoned to investigate the lynching of Mr. Randolph. JAMES W. ANDERSON was a member of that jury. He had served decades before as a Captain in the Confederate Army, returning to Rockville after the Civil War and becoming Clerk of the Court in Rockville and a prominent civic leader. DR. EDWARD ANDERSON was the physician who examined Mr. Diggs-Dorsey's body and gave evidence to the jury that cause of death was strangulation.
10. LIBLYN_220223_097.JPG: IT HAPPENED IN ROCKVILLE TWO LYNCHINGS AND THE REMEMBRANCE WALK SITE 8 HAITI COMMUNITY Established in the 1830s by Samuel Martin, a free Black man, the land along Martin's Lane and Middle Lane became Rockville's first African American neighborhood called "Haiti." SEVERAL PEOPLE, FORMERLY ENSLAVED BY MARGARET BEALL, who lived in the Beall-Dawson House on W. Montgomery Ave., purchased land from her, often with existing houses. Those families made up a mixed free and enslaved African American community. Members of these families continued to work for Beall and Dawson heirs well into the 20th Century. Martin's Lane served as the center around which the Haiti Community developed. Many of the families now living on Martin's Lane are direct descendants of those who first settled there in the 19th Century. FOUNDED AROUND OR AFTER 1876, HAITI CEMETERY is the earliest burial ground for black residents in Rockville. An heir of Samuel Martin, born enslaved to the Nichols family, sold cemetery sites to members of local Black churches on an unused portion of garden in the Haiti community. Almost all of the individuals buried at Haiti Cemetery are related. The cemetery is under private ownership and is still in use as a family burial ground.
11. LIBLYN_220223_105.JPG: IT HAPPENED IN ROCKVILLE TWO LYNCHINGS AND THE REMEMBRANCE WALK SITE 9 IN THIS SOIL, THERE IS THE SWEAT OF THE ENSLAVED. IN THE SOIL THERE IS THE BLOOD OF VICTIMS OF RACIAL VIOLENCE AND LYNCHING. THERE ARE TEARS IN THE SOIL FROM ALL THOSE WHO LABORED UNDER THE INDIGNATION AND HUMILIATION OF SEGREGATION. BUT IN THE SOIL THERE IS ALSO THE OPPORTUNITY FOR NEW LIFE, A CHANCE TO GROW SOMETHING HOPEFUL AND HEALING FOR THE FUTURE. -- BRYAN STEVENSON EJI EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR WELSH PARK Mr. John Diggs-Dorsey was lynched on or near the West farm and Mr. Sidney Randolph was lynched at the Anderson farm. Welsh Park is near the convergence of where both of those farms were once located and the site of the September 26, 2021, soil collection ceremony. BETWEEN 1877 AND 1950 MORE THAN 4,000 AFRICAN AMERICANS WERE LYNCHED in the United States. The lynching of African Americans was a form of racial terrorism intended to intimidate and to enforce racial hierarchy and segregation. In Maryland, 41 documented lynchings took place between 1854 and 1933, with at least three in Montgomery County. Founded in 1989 by Bryan Stevenson, the EQUAL JUSTICE INITIATIVE (EJI) is a nonprofit group, based in Montgomery, Alabama. EJI's Community Remembrance Project recognizes the victims of racial terror lynching by collecting soil from lynching sites, and erecting historical markers and a monument in each county where these lynchings occurred. The MONTGOMERY COUNTY LYNCHING MEMORIAL PROJECT (MOCOLMP) seeks to educate and engage the community about the history and legacy of lynching and racial terrorism in Montgomery County, Maryland; to gather soil from the three known lynching sites in the county; and to work with others to procure the installation of historical markers and a monument commemorating these events. As a grassroots organization MoCOLMP partners with the EJI's Community Remembrance Project. The MONTGOMERY COUNTY REMEMBRANCE AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION works with EJI and other stakeholders to help claim and install the County's monument commemorating the three locations in the County where lynchings have been documented.
12. LIBLYN_220223_149.JPG: These jars contain soil gathered at or near the sites where three men were lynched right here in Montgomery County: Mr. George Peck, Poolesville (1880); Mr. John Diggs-Dorsey, Rockville (1880); Mr. Sidney Randolph, Rockville (1896). The soil collection was undertaken by the Montgomery County Lynching Memorial Project and local partners, in collaboration with the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI). The jars presented here create a tangible memorial of the three lynching victims. A jar of soil honoring each man has been sent to EJI's Legacy Museum in Montgomery, Alabama, for its permanent collection. Other jars are kept here in Montgomery County for display and educational purposes. These jars are courtesy of the Montgomery County Office of Human Rights. “IT HAPPENED IN ROCKVILLE, Remembering Two Lynchings" is now on display in the Library Atrium. Enter the Library's Main Entrance Doors to your left.
13. LIBLYN_220223_154.JPG: "Reconciliation with a difficult past cannot be achieved without truthfully confronting history and finding a way forward that is thoughtful and responsible." -- Bryan Stevenson, Director, Equal Justice Initiative
14. LIBLYN_220223_168.JPG: Three Reported Lynchings in Montgomery County There are three documented cases of lynchings in Montgomery County: George Peck, John Diggs-Dorsey and Sidney Randolph. ...
15. LIBLYN_220223_169.JPG: Black History Month Program Montgomery County's Little-Known Rosenwald Schools.
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