The day Virginia took down Confederate statues, a Black church remembered a lynching victim

By: Jeff Bennett

Outlets: Virginia Mercury

Published: September 1, 2026

Words: 832

Last Updated: 2 weeks, 5 days ago

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On Aug. 28, 1899, hundreds of Black residents of Alexandria, Virginia, gathered at Shiloh Baptist Church after a white mob lynched 16-year-old Benjamin Thomas. On Friday night, August 28, 2026, exactly 127 years later, I sat inside the same church as Alexandria gathered there again.

The same day, about 100 miles south, workers in Richmond were removing three Confederate memorials from Capitol Square, statues honoring Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson, former Virginia governor and …

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