EJI Lynching Memorial and George Taylor
A man named George Taylor was lynched in 1918 in Rolesville North Carolina. His lynching is the only reported one in Wake County, but it had gone unsolved for basically a century. We decided to solve the mystery. The circumstances surrounding George Taylor’s arrest were a bit cloudy.
On Tuesday, November 5, 1918, around 7:30 p.m, a crowd of 300 people gathered around to watch the death of George Taylor two miles Southeast of Rolesville. Accused of assaulting a white woman, George Taylor was found and arrested in Nash County and was taken from the prison by blue hooded KKK members. The officers who were guarding him were not able to protect him. The members hung George Taylor upside down, waited for a mob to form, and filled him with over 200 bullets, which were later rifled out of his body and used as souvenirs. No one could tell us where specifically he was murdered.
The Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) lynching memorial is in Alabama. It is a museum housing columns for every documented lynching in the country. They also send matching columns to the sites of the killings in memory of those who were murdered. There is an application and a jar of dirt from the location, that needs to be submitted to acquire that column. Because no one knew where exactly George Taylor was lynched, we could not fulfill the application. Because of this we did lots of investigation and ended up getting community members from all over Rolesville to contribute some soil from their land. We also worked with many students from other schools. The citizens promise was crafted and signed by everyone in this group.
Citizens Promise:
I pledge…
… To remember all those who have been victims of any injustice.
… To choose to create an opportunity for reconciliation in our community.
… To promise to no longer remain silent or passive in the face of White Supremacy, racial hatred, or any social injustice.
Here is our previous website to inform about this project: (There is a great timeline for this project) https://sites.google.com/exploris.org/1918georgetaylorlynching/100th-anniversary?authuser=0
The museum features a column to honor lynching victims 
A group of students visited the museum
Design For Change
Design For Change (DFC) is an organization that empowers youth activists to make a difference and improve their community. We submitted an application for our projects, and we were given the opportunity to attend the first-ever Children’s Global summit for student DFC ambassadors from all over the world. It took place in Rome in late November of 2019. This was an amazing opportunity for us to learn about other service projects around the world.
