The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Council agrees to historical marker for lynching victim Webinar aims to help start online business ventures
Plaque in memory of Mack Henry Brown to be placed. Free advice offered to would-be DeKalb entrepreneurs.
Roswell will allow a historical marker to be placed near the site where the body of a Black man was found in 1936.
City Council members approved a request by the
F ulton Co u nty Remembrance Coalition to place a marker where they collected soil in 2019 in memory of Mack Henry Brown. His body was found on the banks of the Chattahoochee River in Roswell in 1936, handcuffed with a broken neck, feet bound by wire, shot twice in the back and once in the forehead, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported at the time.
The marker will have a narrative about Brown as a lynching victim. Brown worked as a janitor in Atlanta and had been missing for five weeks.
The Remembrance Coalition made soil collections near the location of 36 lynch- ings that took place in Fulton County, including Brown’s.
They are kept at the Auburn Avenue Research Library in Atlanta, the Rev. Patricia Templeton of Saint Dunstan Episcopal Church said.
This summer, members of the coalition and Roswell residents submitted several public comments to Mayor Lori Henry and the City Council requesting the marker. During a June rally outside city hall, the coalition posted signs with Brown’s name along with the names of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery, both Black men whose deaths this year sparked protests and riots.
The Coalition worked with the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama for the soil collections.
Roswell documents on the historical marker regarding Brown show the Equal Justice Initiative will pay for the cost of the plaque that will be atop a nearly 6-foottall pole.
According to the Remembrance Coalition, the soil collections and markers are intended to foster conversations on racial injustice.
In June, members of the U.S. Senate debated a bill to designate lynching as a federal hate crime but didn’t come to agreement.
Prospective entrepreneurs in DeKalbCounty looking to start their own online business during the coronavirus pandemic can get some free advice at an upcoming webinar hosted by a county commissioner.
The virtual event, on Thursday at 6 p.m., will feature experts with knowledge on technology, web development and online sales, according to a statement from County Commissioner Lorraine Cochran-Johnson’s office.
“With the decline in brickand-mortar shopping due to the spread of COVID-19, many residents have either lost their jobs and many small businesses have had to significantly reduce their employee base,” the statement said, adding that digital commerce could help counter some of those losses.
Fariz Morani, the CEO of Access Loans and Financing, will co-host the program, teaching attendees about social media and marketing. Participants will also learn about “the benefits of operating an online business and the trends currently creating the highest impact in the marketplace,” Cochran-Johnson’s office said.
The webinar is free and open to all DeKalb County residents. Online registration is now open.