The city will gather Thursday, April 23, to remember Joseph McCoy, an Alexandria native who was lynched in the early morning hours of that date in 1897, at a free evening program hosted by the Alexandria Community Remembrance Project.
The secular event will begin at 7 p.m. at Roberts Memorial United Methodist Church, 606 S. Washington St., with a reception starting at 6:30 p.m. It marks the second time the historic Black church, which served as the home church for the McCoy family, will host the annual remembrance.
The Rev. Dr. Rodney Sadler, a widely published scholar who leads the Center for Social Justice and Reconciliation at Union Presbyterian Seminary in Charlotte, North Carolina, will deliver the keynote address, titled “Governed by Fear and Hate: The Tools of the Supremacist State.” Sadler plans to examine the historic use of violence by those entrusted with authority and power…