Phillips’ book key to Johnson memorial
The unveiling of the memorial to Ed Johnson’s lynching on the Walnut Street Bridge in 1906 was a dark day in Chattanooga history. A white, male jury convicted him before the trial began, alleging the rape of a white woman. Read “Contempt of Court,” co-authored by the late Leroy Phillips, a masterpiece of 30 years of research.
I heard the tragic story of Johnson more than 50 years ago. My friend Leroy came to my classes at Brainerd High School in the 1970s. After discussing the Constitution, he brought us up to date on his research. Every year my students got a “plate full of racial injustice” from a man who truly believed in equal justice for all people.
I read LaFrederick Thirkill learned about this atrocity in a newspaper in 1999. The newspaper pictures Leroy kneeling at the headstone of Ed Johnson. He took me to the grave in 1985. Leroy’s attempt to clean up Pleasant Gardens Cemetery never materialized. He was pleased Mr. Thirkill and Vaughn Moore were more successful. It’s sad Leroy’s not alive. He would be overwhelmed. Many people made this possible, but without Leroy it might never have happened.
Wilbourne C. Markham Sr.