An Eastern Kentucky organization is remembering and honoring lynched Black people who would’ve otherwise been erased from history. 

The Eastern Kentucky Remembrance Project (EKRP), a coalition of residents who are interracial and intergenerational, has united over the past four years to commemorate the lives and deaths of slain Black people. One life in particular, Fred Shannon, is getting commemorated through EKRP’s programs. At the age of 28 in October 1924, Shannon was killed by a mob of nearly 200 masked residents in Wayland, Kentucky. 

Shannon, a local musician, was unjustly accused of killing a white man in connection with a financial dispute. He was being held at a local prison when the mob broke in, took him out into the street, and shot him at least 18 times.

For decades, Shannon's lynching and the homicides of other Black men in the region were largely overlooked, relegated to the annals of history, but EKRP is aiming to change that. 

The group effectively installed a remembrance marker for Shannon in May. EKRP was able to locate a relative of Shannon who will be visiting the site within the next year. Research is currently ongoing to identify additional markers to commemorate the victims of lynching in eastern Kentucky, thereby perpetuating the centuries-old custom.

Since its establishment in 2021, the EKRP has moved to commemorate Black individuals who were lynched in the region by erecting plaques and other markers. A Black cemetery in the vicinity is also cleaned up by the organization as part of its annual Decoration Day celebration.

In a 2021 press release regarding the group's establishment, an EKRP rep said, "It is imperative that we confront this history."

Shannon's memorial service was conducted five years later.

Despite concerted efforts to erase the memory of these individuals, the organization says it will continue its work and “reckon with the history of racial violence and slavery.”