Students seek to memorialize 1918 Rolesville lynching“The lynching, as far as can be remem-bered,...
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7A Thursday, July 19, 2018 — The Wake Forest Weekly, The Rolesville Weekly, The Franklin Weekly BY NEVA YINGER ROLESVILLE — The summer of 1919 is often referred to as The Red Summer, due to the uptick in deaths and injuries caused by racial violence as soldiers, black and white, returned from serving overseas in WWI, in a military more integrated than American soci- ety at large. Wake County’s Red Summer came a year early, when George Taylor, the only docu- mented lynching victim in Wake County, was murdered just outside of Rolesville Nov. 5, 1918. Students and educators from The Exploris School and Middle Creek High School have been working since September to uncover what can be known about the story of Taylor’s death and memorialize him. They met at the Little House Museum & Gallery in Rolesville June 28 to clarify their goals and compare notes. Drawing on News & Observer and other newspaper articles published at the time, they found that Taylor was arrested for the Oct. 30, 1918 rape of Ruby Rogers, who lived near Rolesville. Rogers was allegedly assaulted by a black man who entered her home while her husband was away, threatened to cut her throat if she called for help, knocked her un- conscious and raped her. After three other men were arrested and released, Rogers identified Taylor as her as- sailant, reluctantly. Initially she said it wasn’t him, but then after either asking him to repeat phrases her attacker had used or hearing him speaking in the yard (contemporary sources conflict), she said it had been Taylor after all. Recently deputized residents of Rolesville and the surrounding area began taking Taylor to Raleigh to process his arrest, but four hood- ed men stopped their car and took Taylor by force to a nearby ravine. A mob of over 300 formed, twice the population of Rolesville at the time. Taylor was taken to a crossroads about two miles southeast of Rolesville, in sight of the Rogers house where the alleged assault occurred. His body was found the next morning, hanging by the feet from a tree, gashed and pierced with more than 200 bullet holes. Many of the bullets were missing, apparently taken as souvenirs. The News & Observer re- ported that Taylor had been tortured prior to his death, and further mutilated afterward. “The lynching, as far as can be remem- bered, is the first that ever occurred in Wake County,” the News & Observer noted. Solicitor Herbert E. Norris, a notable figure in Wake County history, conducted a probe into the incident, but failed to produce any suspects. He examined about 30 witnesses, according to the News & Observer, but they didn’t reveal anything. John R. Shillady, Secretary of the Na- tional Association for the Advancement of Colored People, wired Norris to encourage him, and admonished Governor Thomas W. Bickett to put “the full support of his office” behind Norris. “Nothing can do more to maintain confi- dence in law and legal institutions in Amer- ica than indictment, fair trial, and adequate punishment of lynchers,” said Shillady. But the indictments, fair trials and ade- quate punishments were not to be had. “One man couldn’t possibly do a thing like that without being found out and brought to trial, yet a number of men can get by without much danger of apprehen- sion,” observed a piece in the Durham Morning Herald. Despite scouring newspaper articles and deeds and records, and interviewing a de- scendant of Rogers as well as Mary Perry, a longstanding member of the African-Amer- ican community in Rolesville (see a source listing at tiny.cc/taylor1918), the students don’t claim to have found the answers. Shannon Hardy, Exploris eighth grade instructor, emphasizes that many details of the events remain mysterious. It’s unclear why Rogers was reluctant to identify Tay- lor and then changed her mind, or even if Rogers, who apparently suffered from brain- related ailments and made claims of other assaults later in life, was really attacked, say Hardy and Rolesville Little House Museum & Gallery Director Terry Marcellin-Little. The State Bureau of Investigation has not responded to letters requesting Rogers’ case file. Newspapers from the time hint that the governor’s inquiry into the lynching was a political formality rather than a genuine investigation, but it’s hard to say for certain what took place with the scant information available. “It’s almost like a ghost story,” says Ju- lianna Roseland, an Exploris student. Matt Scialdone, who teaches at Mid- dle Creek, says that the foggy details don’t obscure the core issue, the violation of Taylor’s civil rights. “There’s the desire to prove right and wrong, to make a definitive statement … the whodunit part of the story, that’s lost ultimately,” says Scialdone. “There’s that desire to prove that he was innocent, but whether he was innocent or not doesn’t matter, it’s what happened to him.” The goal of the students and the teachers guiding them is not to establish an ironclad account of Taylor’s innocence, but rather to memorialize his murder. The investigating students were eventu- ally able to locate the lynching site, and initially they hoped to collect soil samples from the scene of the crime to display at the newly-opened civil rights museum in Montgomery, Ala. However, though the property own- ers were willing to speak to the students and shared the location of the lynching, they’re reluctant to participate further. The family currently living on the land moved there in the 1930s, and though they have no connection to the murder, they are afraid that revealing the exact location could result in antagonism towards them or vandalism of their property. “They’re concerned people won’t under- stand they weren’t part of this mob scene,” says Hardy. “We’re going to respect their anonymity until they feel safe.” Hardy says that students are currently hoping to collect soil from across the county and take that to the museum, as a means of uniting the area in com- memorating its only recorded lynching. “The whole point of this project is recon- ciliation, so why would we cajole or push the soil sample going if the community’s not ready?” says Hardy. “It’s not just Rolesville’s story, it’s Wake County’s story,” adds Scialdone. The eighth-graders at Exploris have graduated middle school and moved on to other schools, but some are hoping to re- main involved with the project, and Hardy has plans for her next class of students. “My new class I’ll be getting in the fall, our focus is going to be on George Taylor, to find out as much about him as we pos- sibly can,” says Har- dy, noting that even less information has surfaced about Tay- lor than about his murder. “Ultimately, that’s our goal, to make sure this event is not passed over, this man is not forgot- ten.” Though 1918 News & Observer reports mention Taylor working in Rolesville and being married to an unnamed Rolesville resident, the life Taylor led before his gruesome death is a mystery. Hardy points out that while many of the Red Summer fatalities in 1919 are attrib- uted to conflicts arising as African-Ameri- can soldiers returned from the trenches of WWI seeking equality, after serving in a military more integrated than their home- land, it’s unknown if Taylor served in the military. She hopes her students can cast light on his obscure past, so that he’ll be known as more than the mystery man who was lynched in Wake County. Marcellin- Little has attempted to identify descen- dants or relatives in the Rolesville area, but been unsuccessful so far. The students have also advocated for greater emphasis on stories like Taylor’s and other civil rights issues in public school curricula. Several Exploris students addressed the Wake County School Board to encourage them to emphasize racial in- justice more in the classroom. “We must change the way we do things,” they say. “We must teach North Carolina’s whole history so that future generations can begin to heal the wounds carved so deep by racism and inequality.” Roseland says that digging into the circumstances of Taylor’s death has been eye-open- ing for her. “I think it’s re- ally changed my outlook and how I see our history in North Carolina,” she says. “You don’t hear about these things in school — you have to do your own research and look at things yourself, that’s what this project has taught me.” Students seek to memorialize 1918 Rolesville lynching Matt Scialdone, a teacher at Middle Creek, goes over the students’ body of research at Rolesville town hall. The office of Thomas Bickett, above, who was governor of N.C. from 1917-21, conducted an unsuccessful inquiry into Taylor’s death. John Shillady, left, secretary of the NAACP, wired Bickett and the investigating attorney with exhortations to solve the case. “ We must teach North Carolina’s whole history so that future generations can begin to heal the wounds carved so deep by racism and inequality. — Eighth grade Exploris students Students explore the area near the site of George Taylor’s 1918 lynching. Taylor was murdered within earshot of the home where he allegedly assaulted Ruby Rogers a few days prior. Mary Perry, a longtime Rolesville resident, met with students to share oral tradition about Taylor’s murder that passed down through the African-American community. SUBMITTED PHOTOS WIKIMEDIA COMMONS PHOTO PHOTO FROM NAACP COLLECTION, LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.
Transcript of Students seek to memorialize 1918 Rolesville lynching“The lynching, as far as can be remem-bered,...
7A Thursday, July 19, 2018 — The Wake Forest Weekly, The Rolesville Weekly, The Franklin Weekly
By Neva yiNger
ROLESVILLE — The summer of 1919 is often referred to as The Red Summer, due to the uptick in deaths and injuries caused by racial violence as soldiers, black and white, returned from serving overseas in WWI, in a military more integrated than American soci-ety at large.
Wake County’s Red Summer came a year early, when George Taylor, the only docu-mented lynching victim in Wake County, was murdered just outside of Rolesville Nov. 5, 1918.
Students and educators from The Exploris School and Middle Creek High School have been working since September to uncover what can be known about the story of Taylor’s death and memorialize him. They met at the Little House Museum & Gallery in Rolesville June 28 to clarify their goals and compare notes.
Drawing on News & Observer and other newspaper articles published at the time, they found that Taylor was arrested for the Oct. 30, 1918 rape of Ruby Rogers, who lived near Rolesville. Rogers was allegedly assaulted by a black man who entered her home while her husband was away, threatened to cut her throat if she called for help, knocked her un-conscious and raped her.
After three other men were arrested and released, Rogers identified Taylor as her as-sailant, reluctantly. Initially she said it wasn’t him, but then after either asking him to repeat phrases her attacker had used or hearing him speaking in the yard (contemporary sources conflict), she said it had been Taylor after all.
Recently deputized residents of Rolesville and the surrounding area began taking Taylor to Raleigh to process his arrest, but four hood-ed men stopped their car and took Taylor by force to a nearby ravine. A mob of over 300 formed, twice the population of Rolesville at the time. Taylor was taken to a crossroads about two miles southeast of Rolesville, in sight of the Rogers house where the alleged assault occurred.
His body was found the next morning, hanging by the feet from a tree, gashed and pierced with more than 200 bullet holes. Many of the bullets were missing, apparently taken as souvenirs. The News & Observer re-ported that Taylor had been tortured prior to his death, and further mutilated afterward.
“The lynching, as far as can be remem-bered, is the first that ever occurred in Wake County,” the News & Observer noted.
Solicitor Herbert E. Norris, a notable figure in Wake County history, conducted a probe into the incident, but failed to produce any suspects. He examined about 30 witnesses, according to the News & Observer, but they didn’t reveal anything.
John R. Shillady, Secretary of the Na-tional Association for the Advancement of Colored People, wired Norris to encourage him, and admonished Governor Thomas W. Bickett to put “the full support of his office” behind Norris.
“Nothing can do more to maintain confi-dence in law and legal institutions in Amer-ica than indictment, fair trial, and adequate punishment of lynchers,” said Shillady.
But the indictments, fair trials and ade-quate punishments were not to be had.
“One man couldn’t possibly do a thing like that without being found out and brought to trial, yet a number of men can get by without much danger of apprehen-sion,” observed a piece in the Durham Morning Herald.
Despite scouring newspaper articles and deeds and records, and interviewing a de-scendant of Rogers as well as Mary Perry, a longstanding member of the African-Amer-ican community in Rolesville (see a source listing at tiny.cc/taylor1918), the students don’t claim to have found the answers.
Shannon Hardy, Exploris eighth grade instructor, emphasizes that many details of the events remain mysterious. It’s unclear why Rogers was reluctant to identify Tay-lor and then changed her mind, or even if Rogers, who apparently suffered from brain-related ailments and made claims of other assaults later in life, was really attacked, say Hardy and Rolesville Little House Museum & Gallery Director Terry Marcellin-Little. The State Bureau of Investigation has not responded to letters requesting Rogers’ case file.
Newspapers from the time hint that the governor’s inquiry into the lynching was a political formality rather than a genuine investigation, but it’s hard to say for certain what took place with the scant information available.
“It’s almost like a ghost story,” says Ju-lianna Roseland, an Exploris student.
Matt Scialdone, who teaches at Mid-dle Creek, says that the foggy details don’t obscure the core issue, the violation of Taylor’s civil rights.
“There’s the desire to prove right and wrong, to make a definitive statement … the whodunit part of the story, that’s lost ultimately,” says Scialdone. “There’s that desire to prove that he was innocent, but whether he was innocent or not doesn’t matter, it’s what happened to him.”
The goal of the students and the teachers guiding them is not to establish an ironclad account of Taylor’s innocence, but rather to
memorialize his murder.The investigating students were eventu-
ally able to locate the lynching site, and initially they hoped to collect soil samples from the scene of the crime to display at the newly-opened civil rights museum in Montgomery, Ala.
However, though the property own-ers were willing to speak to the students and shared the location of the lynching, they’re reluctant to participate further. The family currently living on the land moved there in the 1930s, and though they have no connection to the murder, they are afraid that revealing the exact location could result in antagonism towards them or vandalism of their property.
“They’re concerned people won’t under-stand they weren’t part of this mob scene,” says Hardy. “We’re going to respect their anonymity until they feel safe.”
Hardy says that students are currently hoping to collect soil from across the county and take that to the museum, as a means of uniting the area in com-memorating its only recorded lynching. “The whole point of this project is recon-ciliation, so why would we cajole or push the soil sample going if the community’s not ready?” says Hardy.
“It’s not just Rolesville’s story, it’s Wake County’s story,” adds Scialdone.
The eighth-graders at Exploris have graduated middle school and moved on to other schools, but some are hoping to re-main involved with the project, and Hardy has plans for her next class of students.
“My new class I’ll be getting in the fall, our focus is going to be on George Taylor, to find out as much about him as we pos-sibly can,” says Har-dy, noting that even less information has surfaced about Tay-lor than about his murder.
“Ultimately, that’s our goal, to make sure this event is not passed over, this man is not forgot-ten.”
Though 1918 News & Observer reports mention Taylor working in Rolesville and being married to an unnamed Rolesville resident, the life Taylor led before his gruesome death is a mystery.
Hardy points out that while many of the Red Summer fatalities in 1919 are attrib-uted to conflicts arising as African-Ameri-can soldiers returned from the trenches of WWI seeking equality, after serving in a military more integrated than their home-land, it’s unknown if Taylor served in the
military. She hopes her students can cast light on his obscure past, so that he’ll be known as more than the mystery man who was lynched in Wake County. Marcellin-Little has attempted to identify descen-dants or relatives in the Rolesville area, but been unsuccessful so far.
The students have also advocated for greater emphasis on stories like Taylor’s and other civil rights issues in public school curricula. Several Exploris students addressed the Wake County School Board to encourage them to emphasize racial in-justice more in the classroom.
“We must change the way we do things,” they say. “We must teach North Carolina’s whole history so that future generations can begin to heal the wounds carved so deep by racism and inequality.”
Roseland says that digging into the circumstances of Taylor’s death has been eye-open-ing for her.
“I think it’s re-ally changed my outlook and how I see our history in North Carolina,” she says. “You don’t hear about these things in school — you have to do your own research and look at things yourself, that’s what this project has taught me.”
Students seek to memorialize 1918 Rolesville lynching
Matt Scialdone, a teacher at Middle Creek, goes over the students’ body of research at Rolesville town hall.
The office of Thomas Bickett, above, who was
governor of N.C. from 1917-21, conducted an unsuccessful inquiry
into Taylor’s death. John Shillady, left, secretary of the NAACP, wired Bickett
and the investigating attorney with exhortations
to solve the case.
“ We must teach North Carolina’s
whole history so that future generations can begin to heal the wounds carved so deep by racism and inequality.
— Eighth grade Exploris students
Students explore the area near the site of George Taylor’s 1918 lynching. Taylor was murdered within earshot of the home where he allegedly assaulted Ruby Rogers a few days prior.
Mary Perry, a longtime Rolesville resident, met with students to share oral tradition about Taylor’s murder that passed down through the African-American community.
SUBMITTED PHOTOS
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS PHOTO
PHOTO FROM NAACP COLLECTION, LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.
