BWAP 2025: Remembering America ~ Kyle Digman

Like others in the Pres House community, I am from Minnesota. I grew up there, went to school there, learned American history there, and learned about the Civil Rights Movement there. It could seem like Minnesota and Alabama do not have much in common. But as I walked toward the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, Minnesota was on my mind.

It was the last day of our trip and we had one final stop. The National Memorial for Peace and Justice is also known as the Lynching Memorial. It features metal rectangular boxes suspended from the ceiling, each inscribed with the name of a county and state. Beneath this inscription are the names of victims of racial terror lynchings in that county, along with the date of the lynching; often, though, parts of the name and the date were unknown. There are 805 boxes in total; some with just one name, others with many.

I was looking for one box in particular. Going into this trip, I was aware of the lynchings that took place on June 15th, 1920 in Duluth, MN. I had passed the location in Duluth – now marked with a memorial – multiple times. So before we got to the memorial, I decided it was important to me to find the marker. But as I began to walk through the memorial, I realized how hard that was going to be.

I walked and read; row by row, section by section, carefully reading the names of the counties, states, and victims. Over time, reading got harder. The setting sun was in my eyes, and it was hard to remember which box I was on. Confronted with this representation and memorial of the most horrible moments in American history, I kept asking myself, “Why? How?” Each box was uniquely upsetting, but I wanted to find the memorial from Minnesota because it was a place I knew well and a story I needed to know.

I made it through most of the memorial when I finally located the box. Inscribed on the top was “St. Louis County, Minnesota.” In the middle are the names of three victims.

ELMER JACKSON
06.15.1920

ISAAC MCGHIE
06.15.1920

ELIAS CLAYTON
06.15.1920

I found what I was looking for, but I had no answers to my questions. I only had more. What does it mean to remember these men? What does it mean to remember those whose stories were never able to be told? Why? Why, God, did any of this happen?

Over the fence and across the street from the memorial was a house. In the yard, directly facing the memorial, was a sign: “Trump 2024: Take America Back.” The juxtaposition of the memorials and the sign has remained with me. Which America would we go back to? The one where Elmer, Isaac, and Elias were lynched in my home state?

The memorial in Duluth features a quote:

“An event has happened, upon which it is difficult to speak and impossible to stay silent.”

Many of us who grew up in the North – especially white people – believe that the history of racial violence is not our history; that it is something that happened far away from us and was done by people who are nothing like us. But each name inscribed on a box in the memorial is an event about which we must continue speaking, because it is our history, too. It is our responsibility to keep the stories of men like Elmer, Isaac, and Elias alive so we are not taken back into the past, but instead move forward toward a world where peace and justice reign.

Kyle Digman (he/him) is a junior studying biology and global health.

Learn more about the lynchings of Elmer Jackson, Isaac McGhie, and Elias Clayton, which took place in Duluth, MN on June 15, 1920.

Photo: Metal boxes at the National Memorial for Peace and Justice.