CRRJ Director Gives Keynote at Inaugural Legacies of Lynching Gathering

Professor Margaret Burnham, director of the Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project (CRRJ) gave the keynote address at Legacies of Lynching: An Inaugural Gathering, on Saturday, March 1, 2025.

The day-long convening was organized by the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (UNC-CH) Center for the Study of the American South (CSAS) and Southern Futures (SF) in conjunction with the North Carolina Community Remembrance Coalitions (NCCRC).

Burnham discussed how the United States’ legacy of lynching has impeded our Nation’s efforts to overcome past racial subordination and conflict. She described ten principles or guidelines that, she asserted, are common to the work of remembrance coalitions and similar projects focused on racist terror and historical injustice.

Also present at the event was the nephew of Henry Andrews, a farmer and WWII veteran killed in 1947 by North Carolina’s Warren County Police Chief. The chief alleged that while transporting Andrews to jail he attacked him, leading the chief to fatally shoot Andrews.

CRRJ has worked alongside Andrews’ descendants for the last two years, supporting them in their efforts to uncover the truth about his death. The family, including Henry Andrews’ nephew, James Andrews, expressed their deep gratitude for CRRJ’s work. James Andrews’ daughter, LaTonya Andrews-Hunter, and son-in-law, Demetrius Hunter, have created a podcast called Hushed History, and designed a tour around Warren County with locations central to Henry Gray Andrews’ life and death.

Sara Merlo, CRRJ’s Education Consultant, and North Carolina-resident, also participated in the convening. She shared information on the high school curriculum she has designed, titled Archive in Action, and is set to launch this spring. Her work is centered around the creation of three thematic units — Law Enforcement, Violence and Neglect; Black Soldiers and Veterans; and Lynching and Failure of the Law — which aim to teach students about nine racially motivated, Jim Crow era killings in North Carolina, using primary sources and information housed in the Burnham-Nobles Digital Archive.

“My primary goal was to promote the Archive in Action initiative by distributing flyers at the conference about our instructional materials, and to ask for student participation in our essay contest,” said Merlo. “I successfully distributed materials, and it was an invaluable networking opportunity.”

Awards for the Archive in Action essay contest is $1,500. The winner will be announced in April, 2025.

Henry Andrews Issac Mayo, killed 1947, North Carolina, by police officers, Burnham-Nobles Digital Archive.

Henry Andrews and Issac Mayo: A Reckoning for Black WWII Veterans killed by police officers in 1947

Essays

Henry Andrews and Issac Mayo, both World War II veterans, were shot and killed by police officers, in North Carolina, in 1947. The circumstances remain unclear, as descendants search for answers and fight to have their relatives’ stories remembered.