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RES - 2022 - 051
<br /> ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
<br /> RESOLUTION APOLOGIZING FOR PAST RACIAL TERROR LYNCHING
<br /> WHEREAS , racial terror lynching was known widely to occur across the United States in the aftermath of
<br /> the Civil War and from Reconstruction through the middle of the twentieth century; and
<br /> WHEREAS , lynching became a practice predominantly inflicted upon Black or African American men,
<br /> women and children by white individuals , vigilante mobs and law enforcement officers — to instill fear and
<br /> to thwart the social, economic and political advancement of Black people ; and
<br /> WHEREAS , on August 7 , 1869 , Daniel Morrow and Jefferson Morrow, African American farmworkers near
<br /> Hillsborough, were accused of barn burning and insulting women, and lynched by a mob that left a note
<br /> identifying themselves as the Ku Klux Klan; and
<br /> WHEREAS , on September 12 , 1869 , Wright Woods , alleged to have made certain remarks to a white girl,
<br /> was abducted by four white men, killed and found in Little River with a note attached to his foot that read,
<br /> if the law will not protect virtue, the rope will" ; and
<br /> WHEREAS , on December 2 , 1869 , Cyrus Guy, allegedly having made a snide remark to a white woman,
<br /> was taken by a mob and left hanging from a tree at the intersection of Faucette Mill Road and Lebanon
<br /> Road as a sign for other "mulattos " in the area to know their place; and
<br /> WHEREAS , on or about October 30 , 1898 , Manly McCauley, an 18 -year-old Black man, was seized by a
<br /> mob of white men, accused of eloping with a married white woman, and lynched from a dogwood tree near
<br /> current day Hatch Road and Old Greensboro Road, and the four men tried for the lynching were acquitted;
<br /> and
<br /> WHEREAS , in denial of their constitutional rights to a fair trial , and without the opportunity to present
<br /> their defense , the afore-mentioned men were brutally executed; and
<br /> WHEREAS no evidence exists to indicate that elected officials of Orange County — i . e . , sheriff,
<br /> commissioners , or judges — did anything to prevent these lynchings , or to prosecute those who performed,
<br /> aided or abetted these actions , or were otherwise complicit in this racial terror , and
<br /> WHEREAS , in contravention of their responsibilities to protect and serve all the people of Orange County,
<br /> the aforementioned public servants violated their oaths of office;
<br /> NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Orange County Board of Commissioners does hereby
<br /> acknowledge that criminal acts of racial terror lynching were committed against numerous named and
<br /> unnamed individuals , including Daniel Morrow , Jefferson Morrow , Cyrus Guy, Wright Woods and Manly
<br /> McCauley; and
<br /> BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Orange County Board of Commissioners now apologizes to all
<br /> victims of racial terror lynching in Orange County perpetrated or condoned by past Orange County elected
<br /> officials ; and
<br /> BE IT MOREOVER RESOLVED that the Orange County Board of County Commissioners herewith
<br /> expresses our deepest sympathies to the families and descendants for all women and men who were
<br /> murdered by racial terror lynching, and for the of their dignity and basic human rights .
<br /> Ij&A
<br /> This the 20th day of September , 2022 .
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<br /> 52 Renee A . rice, Chair
<br /> Orange County Board of Commissioners
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