Capital City Museum

     

    325 Ann Street
    Frankfort, KY  40601
    www.capitalcitymuseum.com
    Hours: Monday – Saturday 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM

    The Singing Bridge: A Photographic Memorial to Lynching Victims
    in the Capital of Kentucky

    Featuring: Rebekah Terry, Patrick J. Mitchel, Marjorie Guyon

    Dates: Fall 2019
    Events: September 27 – Opening Reception/Gallery Hop 5:00 – 7:00 pm

    2019 marks the 400 year anniversary of the first slave ship landing on the shores of what is now the United States of America.
    Across the nation, and in other places around the world, events and ceremonies have been taking place to remember and
    honor millions of human beings who were victimized by the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. Besides this global anniversary,
    2019 is also the 125th anniversary of the lynching of Mr. Marshall Boston and the 110th of Mr. John Maxey in Frankfort.

    Focus On Race Relations: Frankfort
    (FORR: Frankfort) is working with the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) to commemorate these
    two gentlemen, and Franklin County’s other lynching victims and the African American members of the community which these
    acts were meant to terrorize. In Kentucky, we know of
    at least 169 African Americans who were lynched by white mobs.     

    This exhibit takes a look at the known lynching sites and asks both photographers and viewers to think about the attrocities
    that took place at these locations. Remembering is a way of honoring. Because we were not present during these attacks,
    remembering cannot be done without imagining what happened. The very act of visiting the sites is an undertaking in learning
    about the history and beginning to do the hard work of coming to terms with the past. We cannot expect old wounds to heal
    if we refuse to acknowledge them, or if we refuse to listen to the people who are still most hurt by them.
     

    Mr. Boston and Mr. Maxey were both lynched on the Singing Bridge in the center of town, and because of these lynchings
    many people in the African American community know it as the Swinging Bridge. A few hundred feet from the bridge is
    an elementary school playground where there used to be a hanging tree. A 10 minute walk from the tree is another area along
    the railroad tracks where lynchings took place. All of these sites are within a 10 minute walk from the Capital City Museum. 

    The work of facing our painful past is ongoing. We invite Kentuckians to make space in their hearts and minds and lives to learn
    more about this part of our history and to think about how it might still affect people and places and communities today.

     

    This slideshow requires JavaScript.

    Facebook: @Capital-City-Museum