By: Roy Douglas Malonson
On Saturday June 20, Harris County Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis revealed future plans for Remembrance Park which will span three downtown city blocks. The site will be dedicated to chronicling the legacy of enslavement, racial injustice, and freedom movements. Following the program, the audience gathered outside to wit- ness the unveiling ceremony of lynching mark- ers for four Black men lynched in Harris County: John Walton, (1890) Burl Smith, (1917) John White (1919) and Robert Powell (1928).
A marker titled “Racial Violence in Harris County was also unveiled. The markers were erected in the Harris County Jury Assembly Plaza at the intersection of San Jacinto Street and Congress Street. Their placement was intentional-near the courthouse where these four lynching victims never received their day in court. The unveiling was a component of the EJI Community Remembrance Project, a grass roots initiative of Civil Rights Attorney Bryan Stevenson.
The organization located in Montgomery, Alabama, “supports efforts to locally memorialize documented victims of racial violence and to educate communities about the history of racial in- justice.” The term “lynched” (or a racial terror lynching) refers to the unlawful and extrajudicial killing of individuals by White mobs, intended to enforce racial subordination and segregation. https://eji.org/projects/ community-remembrance- project/
In the fall of 2017, professional genealogist and historical researcher Debra Blacklock-Sloan heard about the EJI County Community Remembrance Project (EJI CRP) and organized a grass roots CRP here in Harris County with five friends. She attended the unveiling ceremony along with Dale Rasmus, Sandra Rhea, Norma, and John Bradley descendants of lynching victim Robert Powell. Rhea’s first cousin Rosalyn Shaw, who lives in Los Angeles, Cali- fornia, initiated an ancestry research project to learn more about their family’s history. During her research, she uncovered the story of Robert Powell’s 1928 lynch- ing and shared this discovery with her cousins in Houston, Texas. Rhea, Reverend William Clayton Powell, and Blacklock-Sloan shared many conversations in the last eight years about Robert Powell and the Harris County Remembrance Project. Sadly, William died in 2023, but Blacklock-Sloan recalled he was proud that his relative hadn’t been forgotten.
Rhea also told Blacklock-Sloan that Alice Powell was her great-grandmother. Robert Powell was her grandmother’s nephew, and a member of their close family lineage. She stated “Learning the truth about what happened to Robert has been both heartbreaking and deeply meaningful. Thanks to Rosalyn’s dedication to preserving our family’s his- tory, we were able to honor Robert’s memory and ensure that his story is remembered for future generations.”
Norma Bradley another Powell descendant said that “When Debra Blacklock-Sloan contacted me and my cousin Clayton Pow-
ell about Robert Powell, I learned that Clayton was Robert Powell’s nephew. Clayton was the son of Albert Powell, who was Robert Powell’s brother.
Before Debra’s call, I did not know this. Discovering that close family connection was deeply exciting. I had never imagined we were so closely connected to Robert Powell. He was my grandmother’s nephew, and she shared with me the history of his lynching when I was 12 years old. Seventy-two years later, Debra’s call helped me connect the dots in my family tree.”
During the recognition ceremony honoring those who were lynched in Harris County, I learned more about lynching. Thanks to Commissioner Rodney Ellis who said, “As a civil rights advocate, there were times when I saw “strange fruit” hanging from trees and wondered not what kind of tree it was, but what happened to the person who had been hanged there? Learning Robert Powell’s story brought me a measure of peace because I finally understood the painful truth behind his death- he was a Black man in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Just because. Ain’t you shame America”?
