125th Anniversary of Lynching of Joseph McCoy

Thursday, April 21, 2022

City of Alexandria invites the community to join in the remembrance of Joseph McCoy, a teenage Black resident who was killed by a lynch mob at the corner of Lee and Cameron streets 125 years ago. All are invited to attend a community reflection on Saturday, April 23, at 3 p.m. in Market Square (301 King St.).

The ceremony will remember McCoy, affirm responsibility for these acts of racial terror, and continue our work to reconcile our past with our present. A procession from Market Square to the corner of Cameron and Lee will conclude the service.

The community is also encouraged to visit the In Memoriam webpage to learn more about McCoy, pay their respects at the site where the lynching took place, and view the remembrance marker as part of the Alexandria Community Remembrance Project. https://www.alexandriava.gov/cultural-history/in-memoriam-2022-joseph-mccoy-april-23-1897

McCoy’s death was one of two documented lynchings in Alexandria, out of 11 that occurred in Northern Virginia, and among the 100 documented lynchings that occurred in the Commonwealth between 1882 and 1968.

Working with the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) Community Remembrance Project, ACRP will receive a steel pillar that memorializes McCoy and Benjamin Thomas, who was lynched in 1899. ACRP will use the pillar to create a permanent space for remembrance in the city.