GRAND FORKS, N.D. (AP) - A decades-long effort to hold a memorial for a Black man who was killed by a mob of white residents nearly 140 years ago after he was accused of sexually assaulting two white women, will take place this month.
Maura Ferguson and Susan Caraher led the recent effort to get a bronze plaque installed along the Red River in Grand Forks for Charles Thurber, the Minnesota Public Radio News reported. But they were not the first to recognize that the city needed to address its painful history.
Audra Mehl’s sophomore English class in 1996 also asked the mayor and city council to put up a memorial marker for Thurber. But before anything could happen, the historic flood of 1997 forced the city to evacuate. Discussions about a memorial came up again in 2015 after Michael Brown was killed by a Missouri police officer in 2014, but those plans also fell through.
It was 1882 when a white mob broke Thurber out of courthouse jail, dragged him several blocks and hung him from a railroad bridge near the Red River. A crowd of about 2,000 watched and cheered, according to newspaper reports.
Thurber said he was innocent and that he had consensual relationship with one of the women. At least one of them later recanted allegations against him, according to reports. There was no investigation.
After George Floyd was killed by police in Minneapolis, Ferguson felt like it was the right time to hold a memorial for Thurber.
“I was up late one night watching live footage of the riots in Minneapolis, and my mind kind of drifted back to Charles Thurber and what happened here. And I thought, if there’s ever a time to finish this, it’s now,” Ferguson said.
A city official said the project could move forward if Ferguson could raise $3,000. Ferguson said they received more than that within 22 hours.
“Having a plaque and being able to memorialize this tragic event offers people a point of reflection,” said Caraher, who is the coordinator for Grand Forks Historic Preservation Commission.
The additional money will go towards scholarships for high school students engaged in anti-racism work.
Mehl, who now works for a software company in Fargo, plans on attending the memorial.
“I felt like crying,” Mehl said of hearing about the service. “I had goosebumps, and I felt guilty that I hadn’t been the one to do anything more about it.”
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