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Fauquier inscriptions pictured at new lynching memorial
Wanda Foust was looking at titles on Amazon.com when she found my book, The Last Lynching in Northern Virginia. “I had never heard about this case, so it certainly sparked my interest,” she wrote in an email. Soon she was reading this blog and saw the appeal I made for photos from the new lynching memorial…
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A surprise invitation from the Fauquier History Museum
When a friend learned that I had been invited to appear at the Fauquier History Museum at the Old Jail, he wrote to say, “That is long overdue!” I appreciated his email and shared in his frustration. But my reaction to the invitation was more complicated. I was grateful, for sure. I’m happy to travel…
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Thompson’s name included on new lynching memorial
The caller on Sunday night said that I should turn on the TV and watch 60 Minutes. “Their second segment is about lynching,” she said. The caller was Martha Powers, who in February invited me to speak to her group in Fairfax County, the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at George Mason University. I told Martha…
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His great-grandfather witnessed a lynching. Could I help?
In his email to me, The Rev. Peter Getz said that his great-grandfather had witnessed a lynching in Farmville, Va. But later, when he wrote about the incident, he did not date the entry or provide many details. Getz asked if I could help. “I would like to share the account with you in hopes that…
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Look for me now in three parts on YouTube
Thanks to John Owens, a librarian at Lord Fairfax Community College in Warrenton, for filming my presentation there. Actually it was Jeremy Owens, John’s brother, who manned the camera for the Feb. 24 talk. So thanks to both. I wanted a recording of one of my talks, but I wanted something more than what you’d…
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Are you sure it was the last lynching?
The comment from an English teacher at Lord Fairfax Community College was one I had heard before. It went something like this: “This wasn’t the last lynching in Northern Virginia. There was another one that came later.” John Owens, a librarian at Lord Fairfax, reported the comment to me. John said that a teacher at…
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I was the evening’s entertainment but also a proud papa
Last Tuesday was the kind of day that resides in memory long after it’s lived. I went north that day to talk about The Last Lynching at All Souls Church in Washington. What made the evening memorable, however, was that my son Andrew Hall introduced me. One of the sponsors for the program thought that Andrew, a…
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The new year begins with an appearance in Washington
I was delighted to be invited to appear this month at the All Souls Church Unitarian in Washington. My son Andrew lives in Washington and has been a member of the church for several years. He thought that The Last Lynching in Northern Virginia and the talk I give about lynching in Virginia would fit…
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Family learns of grandad’s role in Thompson story
Pam Androsky remembers the day she was riding with her father on Fiery Run Road in northern Fauquier County. When they passed what was then the Borden Farm and is today the Marriott Ranch, he pointed to the mountain and said, “That’s where they found a colored man hanging from an apple tree.” George Kenney…
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These are a few of my favorite things
Here are three things that this writer is happy about: The story about my book by Pam Kamphuis, editor of the Piedmont Virginian magazine. Pam asked me to write about Fauquier County’s reaction to publication of The Last Lynching in Northern Virginia. I did, and last week she posted that piece on the magazine’s website.…
Author & Lecturer
Jim Hall 