Charlotte Harris Lynched, 6 March 1878
Historical highway marker A-131 · Harrisonburg
About a dozen disguised people took Charlotte Harris from the custody of jailers in eastern Rockingham County on the night of 6 March 1878 and hanged her from a tree approximately 13 miles southeast of here. This is the only documented lynching of an African American woman in Virginia, and it received nationwide attention. A grand jury that met here failed to identify any of the lynchers. Harris had been accused of inciting a young African American man to burn the barn of a white farmer. This man was later acquitted on all charges. More than 4,000 lynchings took place in the United States between 1877 and 1950; more than 100 people, primarily African American men, were lynched in Virginia.
Department of Historic Resources, 2020
Nearby on Abodery
- Jess' Quick Lunch Building, 40 m
- People's Bank, 40 m
- First National Bank of Harrisonburg, 40 m
- 16 S Main St, 40 m
- 30 S Main St, 40 m