Who is the Equal Justice Initiative?

• The Equal Justice Initiative was founded in Montgomery, AL in 1989 by Bryan Stevenson. Stevenson is a public interest lawyer and bestselling author of Just Mercy, a story of justice, mercy, and redemption. 
• In April 2018, the Equal Justice Initiative opened up two museums. The first was the Legacy Museum, which chronicles the link between slavery and mass incarceration with the belief that slavery didn’t end in 1865, it just evolved. The second was the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, a dedication to the thousands of African American victims of lynchings.
• The Equal Justice Initiative has documented nearly 6,500 African American victims of lynching between 1865-1950. At least one lynching of African American occurred in Oregon.

What is the Community Remembrance Project?

• The Community Remembrance Project aims to work in the communities where the lynchings of African Americans took place to find healing and reconciliation through a sober reflection on history. The first phase of the Community Remembrance Project is a soil collection ceremony. Two jars of soil are collected. One jar of soil is sent back to Montgomery to be displayed at the Legacy Museum and the other jar of soil is meant to be turned into an exhibit in the community. The second phase of the Community Remembrance Project is the installation of an Equal Justice Initiative historical marker. The historical marker is two-sided. One side tells the story of lynching in America as a whole and the other side tells the story of the local victim(s).

What is the Oregon Remembrance Project?

• The Oregon Remembrance Project was founded in 2018 by Taylor Stewart to help communities in Oregon confront and repair instances of historical injustice. The Oregon Remembrance Project works to link historical racism to present day inequities in Oregon.

Who/What is the Alonzo Tucker Task Force?

• The City of Coos Bay, the Coos History Museum, the Oregon Remembrance Project, and community members along the Southern Oregon Coast have partnered together to memorialize Alonzo Tucker. The Alonzo Tucker Task Force has decided to work with the Equal Justice Initiative to complete the Community Remembrance Project. On February 29, 2020 a soil collection ceremony for Alonzo Tucker was held in Coos Bay. On June 19, 2021 an Equal Justice Initiative historical marker remembering Alonzo Tucker will be placed in Coos Bay as part of the Coos History Museum’s inaugural Juneteenth celebration.

Who is/was Alonzo Tucker?

• Alonzo Tucker was Oregon’s only documented African American victim of lynching. He was a 28-year-old African American man from California who was accused of sexually assaulting a White woman. A 1971 article in The World interviewed three men who were boys at the time of the lynching and all three men believe Alonzo Tucker was lynched over a consensual relationship. Learn more about Alonzo Tucker at the Coos History Museum.

Why do we need a historical marker about the lynching of Alonzo Tucker in Coos Bay/Coos County/Oregon?

• The Alonzo Tucker Task Force has decided to complete the second phase of the Community Remembrance Project and join the dozens of other communities across the United States that have made this history a part of their community. The stories we choose to hold in our geographic memory reflect our desire to never forget. By giving voice to Alonzo Tucker’s story in such a permanent way, we hope to provide him a semblance of justice. This historical marker represents a memorial to Alonzo Tucker, the thousands of documented African American victims of lynching, and all the unknown names of African American lynching victims in Oregon and across the United States.
• “The public narrative a nation creates about what is important is reflected in memorials and monuments. Who is honored, what is remembered, what is memorialized tells a story about a society that can’t be reflected in other ways.” – Bryan Stevenson (EJI)

Why is the historical marker being placed at the Coos History Museum?

• The site of the lynching, the Marshfield Bridge, is now a high school soccer field. The Coos History Museum’s location on Front Street holds historical significance as Front Street was where Alonzo Tucker was shot. As the keeper of local history, the Alonzo Tucker Task Force felt the Coos History Museum was an appropriate space to remember this story.

Shouldn’t we move on from the Tucker tragedy and this unpleasant historical event? Aren’t there more important events to share in our local history? Won’t this give Coos Bay/Coos County a bad reputation? 

• We can’t change the past but we can always change our relationship to the past, and we have the power to rewrite the ending to Alonzo Tucker’s story. While an unpleasant event, it has the potential to have a pleasant ending.
• The Alonzo Tucker remembrance does not preclude the remembrance of other local stories and the Coos History Museum is committed to preserving local stories. Alonzo Tucker’s story is just one part of the rich complexity of Coos Bay history. However, this particular story requires a new ending.
• No. Coos Bay will become known for its commendable work to find justice for historical injustice. Coos Bay can serve as an inspiration and example to other communities in Oregon on what it means to confront instances of historical injustice. The soil collection and historical marker are also poised to positively impact Coos Bay tourism.

What is Juneteenth?

• Juneteenth is a portmanteau of the words June and nineteenth. It marks the day that Union troops, including Black soldiers, led by General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas on June 19, 1865, a month after the end of the Civil War and two and half years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed by President Abraham Lincoln.  Texas was the westernmost boundary of the Confederacy and Galveston itself was held by the Confederates for most of the Civil War. General Granger and his troops marched from the Union Headquarters, to the Galveston County Courthouse and to Reedy Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church to announce and post General Order #3 which stated that the 250,000 enslaved people in Texas were free and asserted “absolute equality of personal rights” for the formerly enslaved. 

Why is Juneteenth important?

• Juneteenth is important because it marked the historical moment when enslaved people in Texas were freed.  It also illustrates how uneven our American historiography is–many of us do not learn about this complication of enslavement and emancipation in the United States and it is important that we all understand its implications.  Though General Order #3 announced that enslaved people were free and it articulated that the relationship between the formerly enslaved and enslavers would become a relationship between employer and hired labor, many former enslavers withheld pay from their employees.  Still, African Americans celebrated the day initially as Emancipation Day in many cities across the state.  In some cities, African Americans bought “emancipation grounds” to celebrate the event that now exist as public parks.  Emancipation Park in Houston is one example.  Though these celebrations began in Texas, as the two waves of the Great Migration moved African Americans from Texas to the west coast and east coast as well as to border states such as Louisiana, Arkansas and Oklahoma, this tradition took root in many places around the country.  Juneteenth is a tribute to African American regeneration, resilience and persistence in the face of systemic oppression.

Why are we celebrating Juneteenth in Oregon or on the Southern Oregon Coast, and why now?

• Juneteenth is celebrated across the United States.  All but three states–Hawaii, North Dakota, and South Dakota–recognize Juneteenth as a holiday.  Texas was the first to recognize it in 1980.  All states should recognize this holiday because it was the day that all Americans gained their freedom.  We wouldn’t ask why we celebrate the Fourth of July, even though that day did not recognize Black people’s personhood, much less their freedom.

Why should we care about Juneteenth when Coos County is majority White?

• American history impacts all U.S. citizens regardless of racial, ethnic, gender, sexuality or other cultural differences.  Juneteenth is a significant, yet not widely known aspect of American history.  If we care about American history and most importantly, learning about the implications of the country’s history, all of us should care about it because we are all responsible for reckoning with our history and gaining a deeper understanding of who we are.

Juneteenth

National Juneteenth Observance Foundation

Juneteenth Oregon

OPB: Oregon House Votes to Make Juneteenth a State Holiday

Alonzo Tucker

Equal Justice Initiative: Community Remembrance Project

Oregon Remembrance Project

Black/African American History, Education, and Perspectives

Learning for Justice

Abolitionist Teaching Network

Rethinking Schools

Oregon Black Pioneers

Resources for Children and Families

Juneteenth Children’s Book List

Kid History: What is Juneteenth?

KCBY: Coos History Museum Presents County’s First Annual Juneteenth Celebration

NBC-DFW: What is Juneteenth? A Look Inside the History, Celebration

Oregon’s Adventure Coast: Juneteenth Celebration

Oregon Black Pioneers: Alonzo Tucker EJI Historical Marker Dedication

Oregon Coast Beach Connection: Juneteenth Celebration on S. Oregon Coast Goes Live with People

Oregon Coast Visitors Association: Juneteenth Celebration

The Oregonian – Oregon Live: Opinion: Remembrance as a Step Toward Reconciliation of an Oregon Lynching

Portland State University: Marking Juneteenth with Remembrance

Portland State University – Black Studies: Juneteenth Remembrance

Travel Oregon: 2021 Juneteenth Celebration

The World: Coos History Museum Presents the First Juneteenth Celebration

The World: Museum to Unveil Tucker Memorial on Juneteenth