Alachua County invites the community to a Soil Collection Ceremony hosted by the Gainesville Subcommittee of the Alachua County Community Remembrance Project in partnership with the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI). The Ceremony is on Saturday, February 20, 2021, at noon at the Alachua County Administration Building (12 S.E. 1st Street, Gainesville). Due to COVID-19, participants will be observing CDC guidelines of wearing masks and observing social distancing. In-person attendance will be limited.
The event illuminates the traumatic era of racial terror lynchings and honors the lives of Gainesville victims.
Speaking about the Soil Collection Project, EJI states, “After slavery was formally abolished, lynching emerged as a vicious tool of social control to reestablish white supremacy and suppress Black civil and human rights. EJI’s Community Remembrance Project partners with community coalitions to memorialize documented victims of racial violence throughout history and foster meaningful dialogue about race and justice today. The Community Soil Collection Project gathers soil at lynching sites for display in haunting exhibits bearing victims’ names.”
For more information, contact Alachua County Communications Director Mark Sexton at 352-264-6979 or
msexton@alachuacounty.us.