Many of us recognize those haunting words from “Strange Fruit,” performed by Nina Simone, a song that exposed the terror of lynching in America, especially here in the South. This fundraiser will support the creation of a commemorative marker honoring Elizabeth Lawrence as part of the Black Cherry Tree Project Initiative.The Black Cherry Tree Project seeks to memorialize victims of racial terror in Jefferson County, Alabama, beginning with the thirty-three African Americans who were lynched between the mid-1800s and the mid-1900s. In remembrance of their lives, black cherry trees have been planted near each location where these tragic acts occurred. Among those memorialized stands the name of one woman — Elizabeth Lawrence, a schoolteacher and mother who was lynched in Jefferson County in 1933 after confronting a group of white children who harassed her on her walk home from work. Her tree stands in Debardeleben Park, in Bessemer, AL.
The cost to create and install her marker is $5,000. We’re asking each member to contribute at least $33 — one dollar for each confirmed lynching victim in Jefferson County. Of course, you are welcome to give more.