During your visit to the Clayton Jackson McGhie Memorial, remember the lives of Elias Clayton, Elmer Jackson and Isaac McGhie, whose lives were lost in Duluth after wrongfully being accused of a crime they did not commit.
The Story of Clayton Jackson McGhie
On June 15, 1920, Elias Clayton, Elmer Jackson and Isaac McGhie were put in the Duluth City Jail after wrongfully being accused of raping a white woman. During the eve of that same night, the three men were abducted by a mob that numbered between five and ten thousand people, who savagely beat and tortured the men, then hung them from a lamppost in the middle of downtown Duluth. While the lynching of black men was common at the time, the Duluth lynchings were widely considered the most brutal of the time.
Creation of the Memorial
The construction of the Clayton Jackson McGhie Memorial began with the community’s increasing consciousness of the importance of event during the late 70s. A grassroots committee was formed to pursue the idea of the Duluth Memorial and in 2001, it was decided that the vacant lot across Second Avenue East in downtown Duluth would be used to build a memorial for the three men. Its design would stimulate reflection and discussion and its writings and the visual language would be linked to produce a powerful message of equality and understanding. After nearly three years of planning and hard work, the Clayton Jackson McGhie Memorial was dedicated on October 10, 2003 with an estimated turnout of 3,000 people.
Features of the Clayton Jackson McGhie Memorial
Designed and sculpted by Carla J. Stetson, in collaboration with editor and writer Anthony Peyton-Porter, the Clayton Jackson McGhie Memorial is a small courtyard plaza with a curving sidewalk embedded with the words “respect,” “compassion” and “atonement.” The Memorial’s cream-colored walls are engraved with pattern designs at their base. The angled walls feature epithets by authors such as Albert Einstein, Mahatma Gandhi and Oscar Wilde, bordered by 18th century British philosopher and statesman Edmund Burke’s quote “ An event has happened, upon which it is difficult to speak and impossible to remain silent.” Three bronze life-size statues that represent Elias Clayton, Elmer Jackson and Isaac McGhie stand at one corner of the Memorial next to several paragraphs that tell the story of what happened on that night.
- Clayton Jackson McGhie Memorial is ADA compliant.
- Personal photography is permitted at the Memorial.