Charlotte Harris Lynched, 6 March 1878

Charlotte Harris Lynched, 6 March 1878 is a Virginia historical marker in Harrisonburg County, dedicated 2020.

Harrisonburg County · dedicated 2020 · on courthouse lawn, S. Main St. at Court Square

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About a dozen disguised people took Charlotte Harris from the custody of jailers in eastern Rockingham County on the night of 6 March 1878 and hanged her from a tree approximately 13 miles southeast of here. This is the only documented lynching of an African American woman in Virginia, and it received nationwide attention. A grand jury that met here failed to identify any of the lynchers. Harris had been accused of inciting a young African American man to burn the barn of a white farmer. This man was later acquitted on all charges. More than 4,000 lynchings took place in the United States between 1877 and 1950; more than 100 people, primarily African American men, were lynched in Virginia.

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