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Chatham County remembers Black teen lynched 100 years ago in solemn ceremony

One hundred years ago on Saturday, a Black teenager was lynched and shot to death in Chatham County in an act carried out by an angry mob.

Posted Updated

By
Adam Owens
, WRAL anchor/reporter
CHATHAM COUNTY, N.C. — It happened 100 years ago on Saturday. A Black teenager was lynched and shot to death in Chatham County in an act carried out by an angry mob.

The story was told in local newspapers at the time. On Saturday, the story was told again today in a remembrance ceremony.

It is a dark moment in Chatham County history. The gathering was intended to bring it to light.

For years, Cheryl Taylor did not know the story. And it is part of her family story.

“I came across this by complete accident, doing my family tree,” said Taylor.

Taylor is the great niece of Eugene Daniel.

In 1921, Daniel was 16 years old. A white girl says she woke to a man standing in her bedroom.

Daniel was a suspect. The case never saw a courtroom.

A mob took Daniel from his jail cell in Pittsboro, lynched him and shot him to death.

Chatham County Sheriff Mike Roberson spoke at the ceremony.

“No person should have to go through the terror, the fear and the injustice of being kidnapped and killed by a vigilante mob,” Roberson said.

“It was a story that had never been told in my family. a story that from generation to generation, never got passed down by anyone,” Taylor said.

That's why Taylor made the trip from New Jersey to Apex, where Daniel was buried.

“We think it is important to tell the truth about the history that has been silenced for so long,” said Trey Walk with Equal Justice Initiative. “There was not opportunity to truly reckon with what happened to them.”

The Initiative supports remembrance projects like this one.

Now that Taylor knows the story – it is important to her that others know it as well.

“It means a lot to me.” Taylor said.

None in the mob were held accountable. Chatham County Commissioner Karen Howard says she plans to introduce a resolution apologizing for Daniel’s death on behalf of Chatham County at a meeting on Monday.

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