Lynching Marker Back on Supervisors’ Agenda Tuesday

The Lafayette County Board of Supervisors will be considering whether to approve a marker that notes the seven known instances of lynching in the county during its regular meeting Tuesday morning.

In December, the Board tabled the discussion on the marker to give Supervisor David Rikard time to meet with the Lynching Memorialization in Lafayette County Project committee after he objected to one of the names being included on the marker.

Rikard said the man was allegedly caught in the act of killing a woman and almost killing the woman’s daughter, according to an old newspaper clipping.

The Committee said the man was killed before a trial could be done to determine his guilt and that the marker wasn’t about claiming the accused were “saints,” but that they were denied their day in court because they were lynched.

In 2019, the Board approved the project on the condition that the Mississippi Department of Archives and History approved the placement since the Courthouse is a historic site. The Board also asked the group to tweak some of the wording on the marker. Both conditions had been met when the Committee approached the Supervisors seeking approval.

Also on Tuesday, the Board will consider an amendment to the animal control ordinance requiring removal of dog waste and requiring a leash on animals on Lafayette County property inside the municipal limits of the city of Oxford.

The Board of Supervisors will meet at 9 a.m. Tuesday at the Lafayette County Chancery Building.

The Supervisors generally meet on the first and third Monday of the Monday; however, this month’s meeting was rescheduled for Tuesday due to the MLK Day holiday.