PRINCESS ANNE - The George Armwood Remembrance Coalition has organized programs in October 2011 to pay tribute to the memory of the late George Armwood, who was lynched in Princess Anne, Maryland on October 18th1933. Armwood, an uneducated farm worker, was accused of assaulting a white woman, and then was denied due process, brutalized, lynched, and set on fire by a mob. The events, which were witnessed by perhaps 2,000 residents, white and black, went almost unreported on the Eastern Shore, but received national attention and profoundly affected descendants and the community. A table display will be available for review on Saturday October 15th during the Old Princess Anne Days Celebration.
2011 marks the 78th anniversary of Armwood's death and the 100th anniversary of his birth. Today, there exists misunderstanding and misinformation about the events that unfolded at that time, and the coalition's goal is to foster education, understanding, reconciliation and healing.
WHAT: A special George Armwood Remembrance discussion will be held on the beautiful campus of the University of Maryland - Eastern Shore. The program will feature a panel discussion to provide information about Armwood's life and death, as well as how residents of Princess Anne and the county of Somerset can heal and continue to improve racial relations.
WHO: Discussion will feature a distinguished panel of speakers:
Carl Snowden - Moderator - Office of Civil Rights, Maryland Attorney General's Office
Daniel Powell - Somerset County State's Attorney
Sherrilyn Ifill - Attorney and author, "On the Courthouse Lawn: Confronting the Legacy of Lynching in the Twenty-first Century"
Michael Mitchell - Son of Clarence Mitchell, the late Civil Rights leader and early writer for the Baltimore Afro-American newspaper
John R. Wennersten - Professor Emeritus UMES and author "Maryland's Eastern Shore: A Journey in Time and Place"
Fraser Smith - Former Baltimore Sun writer and author, "Here Lies Jim Crow: Civil Rights in Maryland"
Pastor Craig Mathies - First African American Commissioner, Somerset County
Meredith Ramsay - Political scientist and author, "Community, Culture, and Economic Development: The Social Roots of Local Action"
Joseph Moore - Former State's Attorney, Worcester County, author, "Murder on Maryland's Eastern Shore: Race, Politics and the Case of Orphan Jones"
Jessica Maddox - Relative of the late George Armwood
Eldon Hayman - Brother of sister who crafted a letter of her recollection of the lynching
Eric Yodelbauer - Local historian - Somerset County Resident
WHEN: Saturday, October 22nd - 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM
WHERE: University of Maryland - Eastern Shore, Theatre in the Student Services Building, Princess Anne, Maryland.
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