About AAR&RI
Remembering the Past.
Reconciling the Present.
Creating Beloved Community.
Through truth-telling, education, storytelling, and community engagement, we remember those impacted by racial injustice, create opportunities for reconciliation, and work together toward Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s vision of Beloved Community.
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The mission of the Anderson Area Remembrance & Reconciliation Initiative is:
To work in partnership with the Equal Justice Initiative Community Remembrance Project to acknowledge and remember the victims of racial terror lynching in Anderson County, South Carolina, and through dialogue, education, and fellowship move our community toward reconciliation, the elimination of racial disparities, and the realization of Beloved Community.
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REMEMBRANCE
We partner with the Equal Justice Initiative to recover and preserve the stories of the five documented victims of racial terror lynching in Anderson County:
Edward Sullivan (1894)
Elbert Harris (1898)
John Laddison (1901)
Reuben Elrod (1903)
Willis Jackson (1911)Through soil collection ceremonies, public art, historical markers, research, and storytelling, we honor their lives and ensure their stories remain part of our shared history.
RECONCILIATION
Remembering the past is only the beginning.
Through community conversations, educational programs, documentary storytelling, partnerships, and gatherings, AAR&RI works to create spaces where people can listen, learn, and build relationships.
Our hope is not only to remember what happened — but to participate in creating what Dr. King called the Beloved Community.
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A community journey toward remembrance and reconciliation.
The Anderson Area Remembrance & Reconciliation Initiative began with a simple but important question:
How can a community move toward reconciliation without first remembering the truth of its past?
In partnership with the Equal Justice Initiative’s Community Remembrance Project in Montgomery, Alabama, a group of Anderson County community members began researching the history of racial terror lynchings that occurred locally between 1894 and 1911.
Through this work, five documented victims were identified and remembered:
Edward Sullivan (1894)
Elbert Harris (1898)
John Laddison (1901)
Reuben Elrod (1903)
Willis Jackson (1911)What began as historical research grew into a community movement.
Residents, churches, educators, students, artists, local leaders, and descendants joined together to honor these five lives and create spaces for learning, reflection, and healing.
The first steps included community remembrance ceremonies and soil collections near locations connected to each victim. These jars of soil became powerful symbols of memory, later becoming part of The Earth Remembers exhibit at the Anderson County Museum, Herman Keith Jr.’s memorial sculpture, and the Equal Justice Initiative’s national archive.
From there, the work continued.
AAR&RI helped bring a permanent historical marker to downtown Anderson, supported documentary storytelling projects, hosted community conversations, and created opportunities for people across Anderson County to engage with our shared history.
This journey continues today.
Through remembrance, reconciliation, and the pursuit of Beloved Community, AAR&RI invites every generation to participate in creating a future shaped by truth, understanding, and hope.
The Beginning of the Journey
Six people. One conversation. A commitment to remember.
In the summer of 2020, six community members formed the Anderson Area Remembrance & Reconciliation Initiative and began a partnership with the Equal Justice Initiative’s Community Remembrance Project. What began as a small gathering has grown into a community movement rooted in remembrance, reconciliation, and the pursuit of Beloved Community.
"The end is reconciliation; the end is redemption; the end is the creation of the Beloved Community."
— Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.