Levi Harrington was lynched on April 3, 1882, in the West Bottoms of Kansas City, Missouri.
That may seem like a long time ago, but after 136 years, the aftermath of racial terror lynchings reverberates today. That’s why lynchings — and Harrington — are being remembered in Kansas City with a new memorial.
The story of Levi Harrington provides a compelling example of how racial terror lynchings were routinely carried out prior to Jim Crow.
Harrington, a black man in his 30s at the time of his lynching, was a married father of five who worked as a porter and laborer, according to Geri Sanders, an archivist with the Black Archives of Mid-America who is researching the Harrington story. Check out the full story.
By Michelle Tyrene Johnson, KCUR
