By Jennifer Gable
ROCKVILLE, Md. — On Veterans Day, a crowd of several hundred people gathered to commemorate two Black men who more than a century ago were dragged by a mob from the county jail in Rockville and lynched.
The Montgomery County Commission on Remembrance & Reconciliation on Nov. 11 unveiled memorial markers formally recognizing the lynchings of John-Diggs Dorsey and Sidney Randolph.
On the morning of July 27, 1880, a mob dragged John Diggs-Dorsey from his cell at the county jail in Rockville, and lynched him on Route 28. A masked mob also dragged Sidney Randolph from his cell and lynched him on July 4, 1896, on Route 355. No one was charged for the murder of either man. The memorial markers are installed in front of the Stella B. Werner County Office Building, the former site of the county jail.
This work is a collaboration of the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism and Capital News Service at the University of Maryland, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Morgan State University, Hampton University, Howard University, Morehouse College, North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University and the University of Arkansas.
