Newberry Residents Break Code of Silence Over Lynching Past

 Newberry Six

   In the shadows of this cemetery east of Newberry are traces of a horrific story, the 1916 lynching of six black men and women. A mob hanged the "Newberry Six" for their association with a 7th person... Boisy Long. He was on the run that August day, accused of stealing hogs and killing a deputy.

     Descendants of Boisy Long gathered with Newberry residents Thursday night to break the code of silence. Historian, Janis Owens, was also present at the event to provide her knowledge on the tragic event through her research.  She said the 1916 crowd may have been 200-strong at the lynch hammock, bringing nooses prepared at Dudley Farm.

"They touched the ropes and they all had an oath and were all complicit in it and then it was absolutely lock down it was a huge secret that sometimes people would allude to." 

     Angel Hunt a descendant of Boisy Long said the past can be horrifying, and she hopes people will open their hearts and minds upon the open conversation.

"I'm glad its being brought up again and not being dust under the rug even though it did take 100 years." 

 

     102 years later, the current Newberry Mayor, Jordan Marlowe, said the local history should not be hidden. He hopes that if any new information is revealed through the research done by historians he hopes to work with Alachua County Public Schools. He said he'd work with the schools in updating history books so when Jim crow era practices are taught teachers can use local events.

      For those open to reconciliation, the stories endure like the trees. Kenneth Hunt hopes revealing untold stories from the past will help open new paths for the future.

"I would like this community to continue to bind together and we can be a model for other cities or other places that are struggling with racial injustices.