Headlines
Lynching Marker to be Dedicated Saturday in Oxford
By Alyssa Schnugg
News Editor
alyssa.schnugg@hottytoddy.com
This is a rendering of a future marker memorializing the life and death of Elwood Higginbottom who was lynched in 1935 near the corner of Molly Barr Road and North Lamar Boulevard.
More than 83 years since Lafayette County resident Elwood Higginbottom was lynched by an angry mob, his life and death will be memorialized on a plaque that will be placed Saturday in the same area he was killed.
The dedication and unveiling of the marker for Higginbottom will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday at Second Baptist Church, 611 Jackson Ave. E., in Oxford.
Participants in the ceremony will include several members of the Elwood Higginbottom family, according to April Grayson, with the William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation.
“We’re expecting about 60 family members, including his son, EW, and many grandchildren, great-grandchildren and a great-nephew,” Grayson said.
Other guests include representatives of the Equal Justice Initiative, Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project, William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation, plus the UM Gospel Choir and others.
The event will begin with a 90-minute program of speakers, music by Effie Burt and several of Higginbottom’s family members, as well as the symbolic unveiling of the marker. A free community meal will follow the program.
Following the ceremony, the city of Oxford will install the marker on the southwest corner of the intersection of Molly Barr Road and North Lamar Boulevard, which is near the location of where the lynching occurred on Sept. 17, 1935.
“These kinds of events are a moving opportunity for the community to reckon with painful history in a way that brings us together, deepens relationships, and provides healing,” Grayson said. “Our community is showing real leadership in this area, and we are getting many calls from other communities hoping to follow our model.”
The plaque was paid for by the Equal Justice Initiative.
For information prior to or on the day of the ceremony, contact Jon Scott, member of the Lynching Memorialization in Lafayette County Steering Committee, at 662-380-2341 or dortchscott@gmail.com.
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Carol
October 26, 2018 at 10:36 am
What did he do?
Loretta
October 27, 2018 at 4:48 pm
He shot a white man who had broken into his home.
It’s great that Hotty Toddy ran this story even misspelling Mr. Higginbotham’s name.
It should be noted that as many as 200 Oxonians participated in the lynching. It is extremely likely that some families of those who participated still live here and know some of those who murdered Mr. Higginbotham.
No one, living or dead, has ever been identified as a participant.
Oxford hides some dark secrets.
Carol
October 27, 2018 at 6:06 pm
Thanks for the information.
While it is good that the story is reported, in typical hotty toddy fashion, they leave a lot of relevant information out.
Happens all the time. They are our resident p c publication.