How Do You Reconcile a Lynching? A Story of Justice and Redemption

The search for an answer to this question transformed Taylor Stewart’s life. During a Civil Rights trip to the American South, Stewart learned about Alonzo Tucker, Oregon’s most widely documented African American victim of lynching. Stewart has now spent the past 7 years working to create a new legacy for Alonzo Tucker—one that ends in justice and redemption. This journey has led Stewart to discover further stories of historical harm that deserve reconciliation. From lynching to the death penalty to sundown towns to Black Exclusionary Laws; from Alonzo Tucker to Jacob Vanderpool to Mulugeta Seraw to Hakiym Sha’ir; Stewart works to write new endings to stories of historical harm in the name of Alonzo Tucker. Discover how this story of lynching reconciliation became the catalyst for a vision of healing and hope—a catalyst that Stewart hopes sparks a movement for historical justice in Oregon.

Bio: Taylor Stewart is the Founder and Executive Director of the Oregon Remembrance Project (ORP). He is a lifelong Portlander and graduated from UP in 2018 with a degree in Communication and a Master’s in Social Work from PSU in 2021. Stewart started ORP in 2018 to help communities unearth stories of injustice and engage in the necessary truth telling and repair required to reconcile instances of historical harm. His work connects historical racism to its present-day legacies in order to inspire contemporary racial justice action. In what started as simply a way to memorialize an African American lynching victim named Alonzo Tucker, Stewart has grown to see the power of reconciliation to rectify further instances of historical injustice.

Event Description: This installment in the Sunrise Project Speaker Series will feature Taylor Stewart and Gabi Johnsen of the Oregon Remembrance Project. The main program will be followed by audience Q/A and a roundtable of opportunities to get involved in the Ashland Sunrise Project.