Clayton, Jackson, McGhie Remembered 104 Years After Lynchings

DULUTH, Minn. –It’s been a day of remembrance in honor of three young black men lynched in downtown Duluth 104 years ago.  On Thursday, people gathered at the corner of 1st Street and 2nd Avenue East to commemorate the tragic event and to look toward a better future.

Dozens gathered at Clayton Jackson McGhie Memorial in downtown Duluth to remember and honor the three men whose full-size likenesses are enshrined in a wall there.   After being arrested for a crime they didn’t commit, a lynch mob dragged the three from jail on Superior Street. They were taken to a spot kitty corner from where the memorial stands today and were hanged from a light post.

Speakers reminded those in attendance that even now, more than a century later, a great deal of work remains to be done to improve race relationships here and throughout the country.

Kim Green, the head of the Clayton Jackson McGhie Memorial said, “The atrocity that happened in the community in a little over 100 years ago, and I want people to know that we come back every year for this day of temperance because a lot of people believe, the black people in the community believe it can happen again and that history can repeat itself.”

“We are gathered at this spot once again to remember the lives that were taken way too soon,” said Carl Crawford, Equity and Inclusion Specialist for St. Louis County. “Earlier at the hands of cowards. Elias Clayton, Elmer Jackson, and Isaac McGhie. This is the bloodstain of American history.”

The winner of the Clayton Jackson McGhie Memorial essay contest for a $4,000 scholarship was Alexis Midske. She wrote about her mother’s trauma she experienced when she was in a Native American boarding school in the late 60s.

The event also featured two Denfeld High School students who did their part through spoken word and music to remember the three men whose lives were taken.