“‘Black’ History is American history.”
A sign with those words is raised up to the sky, by one of the community members holding it during the vigil for Wyatt Outlaw. Ernest Lewis Jr., musician and Elon law alum, looks up and reads the sign out loud. A small crowd of community members turn back and erupt in applause.
Feb. 26 marks the 155th anniversary of Wyatt Outlaw’s murder where he was lynched right on the corner of Elm St. in Graham. On Feb. 23, the Alamance County Community Remembrance Coalition hosted its 6th annual vigil in honor of Outlaw and the victims of two other lynchings that took place within the county, William Puryear and John Jeffress. At these events, attendees have the opportunity to place the soil where each lynching took place into a jar and the coalition then keep it in the African-American Cultural Art and History Center in remembrance of these tragedies.
Containers of dirt collected from the lynching site of Wyatt Outlaw are available for members of Alamance County to fill up a jar to remember his efforts against violence and racism on Feb. 23 behind the Alamance County Courthouse.
The Rev. Walter Allison stood firm in front of the steps of the Graham courthouse and began reciting Martin Luther King Jr.
“We are many different people,” Allison said. “We come from many different places. Have many different cultures, open our hearts so that we may be bold in finding the riches of inclusion and the treasures of diversity among us, we pray in faith.”
And everybody in the crowd said, “Amen.”
Lewis then sang “This Little Light of Mine” and the crowd joined him in harmony.
Loy Campbell unfolded a stapled packet of papers with shaking hands. She approached the center of the crescent moon shaped crowd. She’s a member of the coalition, and every year a member reads aloud about Outlaw’s life and then his murder.
Outlaw was born a freeman in April of 1816 to a white and wealthy father, Chelsey Faucette and to a Black mother, Jemima Phillips. However, Outlaw was raised by Faucette’s neighbors George and Nancy Outlaw on a tobacco farm. After serving in the Civil War with the Union 2D Colored Cavalry, he returned to Alamance County and became an active member within the community. He helped mentor recently freed slaves and advocated for Black voting rights.
Members of Alamance County hold up candles on Feb. 23 behind the Alamance County Courthouse in Graham on Feb. 23 to remember Wyatt Outlaw.
In 1868, Outlaw was elected into Graham's town council and was named a constable with Henry Holt. However, during this time, white supremecist groups such as the White Brotherhood formed. According to Campbell, these organizations were responsible for assaulting and whipping 52 people in Alamance County. They were also responsible for the murder of two people: Wyatt Outlaw and William Puryear, a witness to Outlaw’s lynching.
The White Brotherhood stormed to Graham “as a show of the brotherhood’s disdain both for the Black law enforcement officers and the rule of law in the town,” Campbell said. Outlaw and Holt shot at the brotherhood as they rode around the courthouse. On Feb. 26, 1870, 70 men dressed in robes and out for blood pushed Outlaw’s mother to the floor, stomped on her face and dragged Outlaw out of his home in the middle of the night. They hitched him up on an elm tree on the southwest side of the courthouse square and hung him after slashing his face and mouth. Around his neck rested a sign saying, “Beware ye traitors both black and white.”
“It becomes a ritual of remembrance for us, and the story hasn't changed,” Campbell said. “Unfortunately, we still need to keep speaking up and learning more, educating people in the community about what has happened.”
A statue of a Confederate soldier in front of the Alamance County Courthouse in Graham on Feb. 23.
On the other side of the courthouse stands a confederate statue which the North Carolina Court of Appeals ruled in March 2024 cannot be removed by Alamance County despite numerous protests and controversies. The lawsuit was filed by the Alamance County NAACP branch back in March in 2021 against five members of the Alamance County Board of community, stating that the statue’s protection is unconstitutional. Elon University President Connie Book, even spoke out for the removal of the statue in 2020.
Despite this, every year community members gather to light candles to remember Outlaw.
“We do these things because we as a community should acknowledge the blood that was spilled,” Lewis said.
Lewis learned about Outlaw when he was in Elon’s law school program. But Samuel Merritt, Outlaw’s great-great-grandson, said he didn’t know much about his own family’s history until the vigils started. Growing up, his family didn’t have many conversations about Outlaw’s lynching.
“I'm learning a lot, although I am a descendant of his, but it's ingratiating, it's emotionally uplifting, and it's encouraging that this is going on,” Merritt said.
For Merritt, he felt uplifted attending the vigil.
A common theme throughout the night was the political administration and Lewis said that the government is trying to “turn back the pages of history.” On Jan. 20, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to end government funded programs relating to diversity, equity and inclusion which has become a constant legal fight since. For example, on Feb. 5 UNC Chapel Hill suspended all DEI related course requirements.
“We need to start strong, but stay small,” Lewis said, who advocated for local change within Graham during the vigil.
Wade Harrison, a lawyer and coalition member, also spoke out about how it’s time for the community to make a difference.
“Out of all the kids that Chelsey Faucette had there, ain’t but one of them that we are standing here honoring tonight and that’s the one that made the most difference,” Harrison said.
Members of Alamance County hold up candles on Feb. 23 behind the Alamance County Courthouse in Graham to remember Wyatt Outlaw.
He said the coalition's objective with the help of the Equal Justice Initiative is to install three permanent monuments dedicated to Wyatt Outlaw, William Puryear and John Jefferess.
“We know the truth,” Harrison said. “We keep coming back year after year, and the story never changes, but we have to learn it anew. We have to remember it anew.”
Outlaw’s body was cut down from the Elm tree by William Albright and taken into the courthouse. The coroner examined his battered flesh and buried him in a coffin paid for by the town of Graham. To this day, the location of his grave remains a mystery, and not even his family knows where he rests.