"This day frees me. I had declared that I would never walk on that [Walnut Street] bridge again, because it seemed like nobody cared about what happened there."
Rep. JoAnne Favors reads over a resolution before a ceremony to honor Ed Johnson at Bessie Smith Hall on Friday, April 22, 2016, in Chattanooga, Tenn. The Tennessee House passed the resolution to honor Johnson, who was lynched at the Walnut Street Bridge in 1906.Steps toward racial reconciliation and healing were taken at the Bessie Smith Cultural Center on Friday as blacks and whites celebrated Tennessee House Joint Resolution 701 recognizing Ed Johnson, a man hanged from the Walnut Street Bridge in 1906.
Some 50 people, including representatives from the Mercy Junction Peace and Justice Center, the NAACP, Chattanooga Connected and the Chattanooga Police Department attended the Ed Johnson Commemoration Ceremony near the 110th anniversary of the lynching.
“This day frees me,” said Hamilton County Commissioner Greg Beck. “I had declared that I would never walk on that [Walnut Street] bridge again, because it seemed like nobody cared about what happened there.”
Beck said he was grateful to be a part of the ceremony Friday.