A Journey to the Rubin Stacy Monument on a hot, stormy Monday

By Mary Russ Milligan

I never would have imagined that a monument to something as horrific as lynching would have had such an inspiring impression on my life.

If you have been following or seen any of my earlier articles regarding the lynching of Rubin Stacy in Fort Lauderdale in 1935, you know that I have devoted a lot of time and energy to learning more about Rubin as a person. During my research, I have gathered news articles, photos, and documents. I have recorded interviews with members of his family, his friends, and acquaintances. I have visited his hometown and other places where he grew up and lived.

Yet, I have never felt as close to the memory of Stacy than I felt when I visited the monument to him at the National Memorial for Peace and Justice which was built by the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) in Montgomery, Alabama.

The Corten steel monument with Rubin’s name engraved on it, is only one of 800 six-foot displays that was created to “symbolize thousands of racial terror lynching victims in the United States.” The monuments are organized by the states and counties where these acts of terrorism took place.

But wait. I am getting ahead of my story. Bear with me as I start at the beginning, and share a journey I took on July 19, 2021, to commemorate the death of Rubin Stacy.

  After confirming with local organizations that there were no activities to remember the 1935-lynching, I made a decision to take a trip to see the EJI memorial in Montgomery. I had checked with the City of Fort Lauderdale, Broward County, and the Community Remembrance Coalition, all of which have Rubin Stacy projects in the works, but nothing was being planned locally for this July 19.

Earlier, the family of Rubin Stacy had told me how grateful they were to Bryan Stevenson of EJI and its partners for their hard work to document and share the truth about how America treated people of color. I also learned much about EJI in my research, collaboration meetings with the Community Remembrance Project, and a Rubin Stacy soil collection project that was spearheaded by Roberto Fernandez when he was with the now defunct Broward County Historical Society and students from Boyd Anderson High School.

With the various things I had learned about EJI, I was on a hunt to discover a list of items. I was joined in the hunt by Tommy Harris Bowers, who sponsored the trip, and Curtis Mozie, who joined us shortly after our arrival. Mozie is a civil rights advocate and an artist.

The hunt began with a mobile app search for directions to EJI. To our surprise we ended up at a law firm. EJI was founded as a private, 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization by Bryan Stevenson in 1989. The firm provides legal assistance to innocent death row prisoners, confront abuse of the incarcerated and the mentally ill, and aid children prosecuted as adults.

In addition to the law firm, EJI is actively engaged in a campaign to recognize the victims of lynching by collecting soil from lynching sites, erecting historical markers, and creating a national memorial that acknowledges the horrors of racial injustice.

When we got to the law firm, one of its staff members directed us to one of the firms two memorial sites, the Legacy Museum. The museum sits on a one-block site on the backside of the EJI building. The site used to be one of the most prominent slave auction spaces in America. The museum is steps away from an Alabama dock and rail station where thousands of Black people were trafficked during the 19th century. Now, it is in a business district within walking distance of a beautiful Riverfront attraction area.

At the museum, our discovery hunt began in earnest. Tommy unsuccessfully searched for Rubin Stacy articles. Curtis Mozie looked for the soil collection from the Woodlawn Cemetery project headed by Roberto Fernandez. We later learned that the Fort Lauderdale soil is not on display now, but is being considered in plans for a future site. However, my search was successful. My task was to find documentation on Rubin Stacy on the touchscreen archives.

In the center of the Museum was a circular state of the arts touchscreen map which included information from every state and county of victims that were lynched in America. Most of my time was dedicated to this area, recording information into my cell phone since photos were not allowed.

In front of the touchscreen map was a statue of a mother and her baby in remembrance of children that were taken from their families during the slave trade. To my left were a wall of jars with soil collections.

Throughout the museum were documentaries on touchscreens surrounded by comfortable seating. The museum uses interactive media, sculptures, video graphics and exhibits to immerse visitors in the sights and sounds of the domestic slave trade, racial terrorism, the Jim Crow South, and the world’s largest prison system. Compelling visual and data rich exhibits provide a one-of-a-kind opportunity to investigate America’s history of racial injustice and its legacy. The displays draw dynamic connections across generations of Americans impacted by the tragic history of racial injustice.

I watched the story of Anthony Ray Hinton and Walter McMillian. I also watch a movie called “Just Mercy,” a story of justice and redemption.

As I was exiting the museum, tears of pain and hope rushed into my eyes and heart, as I looked at stories of children and others who were unjustly treated in the prison system.

Even after an hour and a half we did not get to see all of the museum. We still wanted to talk to members of the EJI staff, and to visit the National Memorial for Peace and Justice.

The national memorial is a six-acre outdoor exhibit unlike any I have ever seen before. At the center of the site and the highest level, are 800 monuments.  Each of the six-foot monuments are high above our heads. As we walk through the monuments, we can read the names of each county where lynching occurred. The names of the victims also were on the front of the monument. The monuments are grouped by state and county.

As we leave the monument area, a waterfall flows over historic quotes on the west wall, and a sacred box is displayed in front of the wall.

Then when you pass through the uncovered area, there is another monument area where six-foot Corten steel monuments lie on top of the ground like open graves.

Unlike the overhead monuments, we could touch and examine the monuments in this area.

This sacred memorial garden gave me a real feeling of connecting with Rubin Stacy, the only name on the monument for Broward County, Florida. I said a prayer at the head of the Rubin Stacy monument.

I spoke these words, “a change has come and you made a difference. Well done Rubin Stacy, rest in peace, justice was done.”

Tommy Bowers left the trip saying that he was fascinated that the visit had made a lasting impression on him. Curtis Mozie said that he felt more impacted than the average person because one of his family members was listed at the memorial. When he saw the monument for Early County Georgia he read the name of Louis Henderson, a victim of lynching in 1899. Henderson’s name was among 26 names in Early County. “This is the county where I was born,” he said while embracing the monument.

I left the memorial grounds with my heart filled with love and passion. My passion was to work and support the brilliant minds that made this creative journey into the reality of justice a success. As I assessed what would be needed to bring the six-foot Corten steel monument to Broward County, I realized that we have not completed the five major requirements of the EJI Community Remembrance Project. EJI will release the monuments to counties that prove they will respect them.

We all agreed, the teachings of EJI need to be included in all levels of our education system from primary to college. Yes, even our elementary school students face the same challenges.

Broward has completed two of the requirements. We have collected the soil and we have approved a street naming. However, there are three requirements that we have not completed to help advance a new era of truth and justice, as called for by the EJI Community Remembrance Project.

We must show EJI that Broward County:

  • Helps raise local consciousness of racial history,
  • Helps foster dialogue about the connection to contemporary issues, and
  • Develop a community identity that prioritizes historical truth-telling and repair.

These are goals not only for our local government agencies and a single coalition. Our churches and organizations need to get up and be a part of this history making project.

We all need to work to bring this nationally recognized monument to Broward County.

Special thanks to Kiara Boone and other EJI staff members who took the time to accommodate the Rubin Stacy team on a hot, stormy Monday, when they were supposed to be closed. Kiara Boone sat with us after we completed the tour at both museums. Questions and concerns were shared, and pictures were taken as we departed.

 

About Carma Henry 24481 Articles
Carma Lynn Henry Westside Gazette Newspaper 545 N.W. 7th Terrace, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33311 Office: (954) 525-1489 Fax: (954) 525-1861

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