Memorial of Fairness
In sacred remembrance of those who gave their lives fighting for justice, equality, and human dignity
"Their light continues to guide us toward a more just world"
Octavius Catto
Civil rights activist and educator murdered on Election Day in Philadelphia while advocating for Black voting rights.
Learn MoreBenjamin Randolph
South Carolina state senator and newspaper editor assassinated by the Ku Klux Klan.
Learn MoreJames Hinds
U.S. Congressman from Arkansas assassinated by the Ku Klux Klan while campaigning for civil rights.
Learn MoreCharles Caldwell
Mississippi state senator and civil rights leader assassinated on Christmas Day by white supremacists.
Learn MoreSolomon G. W. Dill
South Carolina legislator murdered by the Ku Klux Klan for his political activism.
Learn MoreRichard Burke
Alabama legislator killed by the Ku Klux Klan during Reconstruction.
Learn MoreGeorge W. Ashburn
White Republican organizer murdered by the Ku Klux Klan in Georgia for supporting Black civil rights.
Learn MoreWyatt Outlaw
Town commissioner and civil rights leader lynched by the Ku Klux Klan in North Carolina.
Learn MoreJohn W. Stephens
North Carolina state senator murdered by the Ku Klux Klan in the county courthouse.
Learn MoreJim Williams
South Carolina militia captain lynched by the Ku Klux Klan for organizing Black self-defense.
Learn MoreElias Hill
Baptist minister and teacher beaten nearly to death by the Ku Klux Klan, died from injuries.
Learn MoreAlexander Page
Freedman killed by the Ku Klux Klan in South Carolina for registering to vote.
Learn MoreSamuel Flegler
White Republican killed by the Ku Klux Klan in South Carolina for supporting Black voting rights.
Learn MoreColfax Massacre Victims
Approximately 150 Black men killed in Louisiana by white supremacists in one of the worst instances of racial violence in U.S. history.
Learn MoreHamburg Massacre Victims
Six Black militiamen executed by white supremacists in South Carolina during a political dispute.
Learn MoreCoushatta Massacre Victims
Six white Republican officeholders and five to twenty Black witnesses murdered in Louisiana.
Learn MoreOpelousas Massacre Victims
Between 27 and 300 Black people killed by white Democrats in Louisiana to suppress Republican voting.
Learn MoreCamilla Massacre Victims
At least nine Black people killed by white supremacists at a Republican political rally in Georgia.
Learn MoreEutaw Massacre Victims
Four Black men killed by white Democrats at a Republican rally in Alabama.
Learn MoreMeridian Race Riot Victims
Approximately 30 Black people killed in Mississippi during white supremacist violence.
Learn MoreKirk-Holden War Victims
Multiple Black and white Republicans killed by the Ku Klux Klan in North Carolina.
Learn MoreVicksburg Massacre Victims
Approximately 300 Black people killed in Mississippi by white supremacists.
Learn MoreClinton Massacre Victims
Approximately 50 Black people killed in Mississippi during a political rally.
Learn MoreYazoo City Massacre Victims
Multiple Black Republicans killed in Mississippi by white supremacists.
Learn MoreEllenton Massacre Victims
Between 15 and 100 Black people killed in South Carolina by white rifle clubs.
Learn MoreNew Orleans Massacre Victims
48 people, mostly Black, killed by white mobs and police at a Republican convention in Louisiana.
Learn MoreMemphis Massacre Victims
46 Black people killed and over 70 wounded by white mobs and police in Tennessee.
Learn MorePulaski Riot Victims
Multiple Black people killed in Tennessee by early Ku Klux Klan members.
Learn MoreSt. Landry Massacre Victims
Between 200 and 300 Black people killed in Louisiana by white supremacists.
Learn MoreLaurens County Massacre Victims
At least 13 Black people killed by the Ku Klux Klan in South Carolina.
Learn MoreJesse Washington
Teenage farmhand lynched and burned alive by a mob of thousands in Waco, Texas, in what became known as the 'Waco Horror.'
Learn MoreMary Turner
Pregnant woman lynched by a mob in Georgia for publicly denouncing her husband's lynching. She and her unborn child were killed.
Learn MoreLaura Nelson
Mother lynched alongside her teenage son from a bridge in Okemah, Oklahoma, after being accused of killing a deputy.
Learn MoreL.D. Nelson
Teenage boy lynched alongside his mother Laura Nelson from a bridge in Okemah, Oklahoma.
Learn MoreSam Hose
Farmhand tortured, mutilated, and burned alive by a mob of 2,000 people in Georgia. His body parts were sold as souvenirs.
Learn MoreElias Clayton
Circus worker lynched by a mob in Duluth, Minnesota, along with two other Black men.
Learn MoreElmer Jackson
Circus worker lynched by a mob in Duluth, Minnesota, along with two other Black men.
Learn MoreIsaac McGhie
Circus worker lynched by a mob in Duluth, Minnesota, along with two other Black men.
Learn MoreAnthony Crawford
Wealthy Black farmer lynched in South Carolina after a dispute with a white merchant over cotton seed prices.
Learn MoreClaude Neal
Tortured and lynched by a mob in Florida in one of the most brutal lynchings of the era, with advance newspaper publicity.
Learn MoreRubin Stacy
Homeless man lynched in Florida. A famous photograph shows white spectators, including children, posing with his body.
Learn MoreThomas Shipp
Lynched alongside Abram Smith in Marion, Indiana. The photograph of their bodies inspired the song 'Strange Fruit.'
Learn MoreAbram Smith
Lynched alongside Thomas Shipp in Marion, Indiana. The photograph of their bodies inspired the song 'Strange Fruit.'
Learn MoreWill Brown
Lynched by a mob of thousands in Omaha, Nebraska. His body was dragged through streets, burned, and mutilated.
Learn MoreHenry Lowry
Burned alive in front of a crowd of 500 people in Arkansas after being accused of killing a white man.
Learn MoreGeorge Armwood
Dragged from jail and lynched by a mob in Maryland. His body was hanged, burned, and dragged through the streets.
Learn MoreLige Daniels
Burned alive in Center, Texas, by a mob after being accused of attacking a white woman.
Learn MoreEll Persons
Burned alive in Memphis, Tennessee, by a mob of thousands. His body parts were distributed as souvenirs.
Learn MoreRoosevelt Townes
Lynched alongside Robert McDaniels in Duck Hill, Mississippi, after being tortured with blowtorches.
Learn MoreRobert McDaniels
Lynched alongside Roosevelt Townes in Duck Hill, Mississippi, after being tortured with blowtorches.
Learn MoreWillie Earle
Dragged from jail and lynched by a mob of taxi drivers in South Carolina. His killers were acquitted by an all-white jury.
Learn MoreMack Charles Parker
Dragged from jail and lynched in Mississippi. One of the last documented lynchings in the United States.
Learn MoreEd Johnson
Lynched in Chattanooga, Tennessee, despite a stay of execution from the U.S. Supreme Court. Led to landmark Supreme Court case.
Learn MoreLeo Frank
Jewish factory manager lynched in Georgia after his death sentence was commuted. Case sparked the founding of the ADL.
Learn MoreZachariah Walker
Lynched in Coatesville, Pennsylvania, and burned alive in front of a crowd of thousands.
Learn MoreFrazier B. Baker
Black postmaster murdered along with his infant daughter by a white mob in South Carolina for accepting the position.
Learn MoreJulia Baker
Infant daughter of postmaster Frazier B. Baker, killed alongside her father by a white mob.
Learn MoreElmore Bolling
Lynched in Lowndes County, Alabama, for allegedly stealing a saddle from a white man.
Learn MoreJohn Carter
Lynched in Little Rock, Arkansas, after being dragged from a hospital bed by a mob.
Learn MoreRichard Puckett
Lynched in Labelle, Florida, by a mob after being accused of assaulting a white woman.
Learn MoreCelso Barios
Mexican immigrant lynched in Texas during a period of anti-Mexican violence along the border.
Learn MoreAntonio Gómez
14-year-old Mexican boy lynched in Texas, sparking international outrage and diplomatic tensions with Mexico.
Learn MoreEmmett Till
14-year-old African American boy brutally murdered in Mississippi, becoming a catalyst for the civil rights movement.
Learn MoreMedgar Evers
NAACP field secretary and civil rights activist assassinated outside his home in Jackson, Mississippi.
Learn MoreAddie Mae Collins
Killed in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama.
Learn MoreDenise McNair
Youngest victim of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama.
Learn MoreCarole Robertson
Killed in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama.
Learn MoreCynthia Wesley
Killed in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama.
Learn MoreDr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Baptist minister and civil rights leader assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, while supporting striking sanitation workers.
Learn MoreMalcolm X
Muslim minister and human rights activist assassinated while speaking at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City.
Learn MoreFred Hampton
Black Panther Party chairman killed by Chicago police during a raid on his apartment while he slept.
Learn MoreJames Chaney
Civil rights worker murdered by the Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi during Freedom Summer.
Learn MoreAndrew Goodman
Civil rights worker murdered by the Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi during Freedom Summer.
Learn MoreMichael Schwerner
Civil rights worker murdered by the Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi during Freedom Summer.
Learn MoreViola Liuzzo
White civil rights activist murdered by the Ku Klux Klan in Alabama after the Selma to Montgomery marches.
Learn MoreJimmie Lee Jackson
Civil rights activist shot by Alabama state trooper during a peaceful voting rights demonstration. His death inspired the Selma to Montgomery marches.
Learn MoreRev. James Reeb
White Unitarian minister beaten to death by white segregationists in Selma, Alabama.
Learn MoreVernon Dahmer
Civil rights leader and NAACP member killed when the Ku Klux Klan firebombed his home in Mississippi.
Learn MoreHarry T. Moore
NAACP organizer killed along with his wife when the Ku Klux Klan bombed their home in Florida.
Learn MoreHarriette Moore
Civil rights activist killed along with her husband Harry when the Ku Klux Klan bombed their home.
Learn MoreHerbert Lee
Farmer and voting rights activist murdered by a white state legislator in Mississippi.
Learn MoreLouis Allen
Witness to Herbert Lee's murder, killed by white supremacists before he could testify.
Learn MoreLamar Smith
Voting rights activist shot to death on the courthouse lawn in Mississippi in broad daylight.
Learn MoreGeorge W. Lee
Minister and civil rights activist murdered in Mississippi for registering to vote.
Learn MoreVirgil Lamar Ware
13-year-old boy shot and killed by white teenagers in Birmingham on the same day as the church bombing.
Learn MoreJohnny Robinson
16-year-old boy shot in the back by police in Birmingham on the same day as the church bombing.
Learn MoreOneal Moore
One of the first Black deputy sheriffs in Louisiana, murdered by white supremacists.
Learn MoreSamuel Younge Jr.
Student activist and Navy veteran murdered in Alabama for trying to use a whites-only restroom.
Learn MoreBen Chester White
Caretaker murdered by the Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi in an attempt to lure Martin Luther King Jr.
Learn MoreJonathan Daniels
Episcopal seminarian shot and killed by a deputy sheriff while protecting a Black teenager in Alabama.
Learn MoreWillie Brewster
Factory worker shot and killed by the Ku Klux Klan while driving home from work in Alabama.
Learn MoreBruce Klunder
White minister killed while protesting school segregation in Cleveland, Ohio.
Learn MoreGeorge Floyd
Killed by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, sparking global protests against police brutality and systemic racism.
Learn MoreBreonna Taylor
Emergency medical technician shot and killed by Louisville police during a no-knock warrant raid on her apartment.
Learn MoreHarvey Milk
First openly gay elected official in California, assassinated along with San Francisco Mayor George Moscone.
Learn MoreMatthew Shepard
University of Wyoming student murdered in a hate crime that became a catalyst for LGBTQ+ rights legislation.
Learn MoreTrayvon Martin
Unarmed teenager shot and killed by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman in Sanford, Florida.
Learn MoreTamir Rice
12-year-old boy shot and killed by Cleveland police while playing with a toy gun in a public park.
Learn MoreEric Garner
Killed by NYPD officer using a prohibited chokehold during an arrest for allegedly selling loose cigarettes.
Learn MorePhilando Castile
Shot and killed by police officer during a traffic stop in Falcon Heights, Minnesota, while reaching for his license.
Learn MoreSandra Bland
Found dead in a Texas jail cell three days after a controversial traffic stop and arrest.
Learn MoreElijah McClain
Died after being placed in a chokehold by Aurora, Colorado police and injected with ketamine by paramedics.
Learn MoreBotham Jean
Shot and killed in his own apartment by off-duty Dallas police officer Amber Guyger who claimed she mistook his apartment for her own.
Learn MoreAtatiana Jefferson
Shot and killed through her bedroom window by Fort Worth police officer responding to a welfare check.
Learn MoreAhmaud Arbery
Chased and murdered by three white men while jogging in a Georgia neighborhood.
Learn MoreClementa C. Pinckney
South Carolina state senator and pastor killed in the Charleston church shooting at Emanuel AME Church.
Learn MoreCynthia Marie Graham Hurd
Librarian killed in the Charleston church shooting at Emanuel AME Church.
Learn MoreSusie Jackson
Killed in the Charleston church shooting at Emanuel AME Church.
Learn MoreEthel Lee Lance
Sexton killed in the Charleston church shooting at Emanuel AME Church.
Learn MoreDepayne Middleton-Doctor
Admissions coordinator killed in the Charleston church shooting at Emanuel AME Church.
Learn MoreTywanza Sanders
Barber and aspiring poet killed in the Charleston church shooting at Emanuel AME Church.
Learn MoreDaniel Simmons
Reverend killed in the Charleston church shooting at Emanuel AME Church.
Learn MoreSharonda Coleman-Singleton
Pastor and speech therapist killed in the Charleston church shooting at Emanuel AME Church.
Learn MoreMyra Thompson
Bible study teacher killed in the Charleston church shooting at Emanuel AME Church.
Learn MoreMichael Brown
Unarmed teenager shot and killed by police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, sparking nationwide protests.
Learn MoreFreddie Gray
Died from spinal injuries sustained while in Baltimore police custody, sparking protests and unrest.
Learn MoreWalter Scott
Shot in the back eight times by a police officer while running away in South Carolina.
Learn MoreAlton Sterling
Shot and killed by police officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, while selling CDs outside a store.
Learn MoreStephon Clark
Shot and killed by police in his grandmother's backyard in Sacramento, California.
Learn MoreLaquan McDonald
Shot 16 times by a Chicago police officer. Video of the shooting sparked protests and reforms.
Learn MoreRekia Boyd
Shot and killed by an off-duty Chicago police detective who fired into a group of people.
Learn MoreAiyana Jones
7-year-old girl shot and killed by Detroit police during a raid on her home.
Learn MoreFor Those We Could Not Name
We acknowledge that this memorial cannot contain every name, every story, every sacrifice.
Throughout history, countless individuals have stood against injustice, fought for equality, and gave their lives for positive change. Many of their names were never recorded. Many of their stories were deliberately erased. Many died in anonymity, their courage known only to those who witnessed it.
This memorial honors all those unnamed heroes who:
- Died resisting slavery and fighting for freedom
- Were lynched for asserting their humanity and dignity
- Sacrificed their lives in the struggle for civil rights
- Stood against corruption and paid the ultimate price
- Fought for labor rights, women's rights, LGBTQ+ rights, and human rights
- Challenged tyranny and defended democracy
"Though we may not know your names, we carry forward your legacy. Your sacrifice was not in vain."
If you know of someone who should be honored here, please use the "Suggest Someone to Honor" button above to share their story with us.
About This Memorial
This memorial honors individuals who died fighting for rights or were assassinated for their beliefs, color, or standing against injustice. We understand that we cannot include everyone who has sacrificed for justice, but we strive to remember and honor as many as possible.
All information is sourced from credible historical records and maintained with the utmost respect for those memorialized. This is an educational resource, not original research.
If you notice incorrect information or believe someone should be added to this memorial, please use the buttons above to contact us with their story and credible sources.
Image sourced from public domain. If you are the copyright holder and wish for this image to be removed, please contact us.
"Icarus laughed when he fell"
This line reimagines the myth of Icarus, suggesting he embraced his fate and found joy in the act of falling — because it proved he had soared.
Those honored in this memorial did not fall in vain. They soared toward justice, toward equality, toward a more perfect union. Their courage lifted humanity higher, even as they paid the ultimate price.
Their legacy is not the fall, but the flight toward a more just world.