Charlotte historic marker acknowledges racial terror

HERBERT L. WHITE | THE CHARLOTTE POST

Descendants of Willie McDaniel unveiled a historical marker detailing his 1929 lynching in Charlotte. The April 18, 2026 dedication at Reedy Creek Park & Nature Preserve in the vicinity of McDaniel’s murder, was a collaboration between Charlotte-Mecklenburg Remembrance Project, Equal Justice Initiative and Mecklenburg County.

Tiffany McDaniel was anxious. 

As she prepared for Saturday’s unveiling of a historical marker recognizing the 1929 lynching of her great uncle Willie McDaniel, there was foreboding. His death was one of three confirmed instances of racial terror violence against Black Americans in Mecklenburg County. Nearly a century later, the marker erected at Reedy Creek Park & Nature Preserve near the murder scene is liberating.

“I feel joy because it recognizes what happened to our family and many other Black families in American history and I feel sadness because it happened to a person, not because it was my family member but because it happened to untold families – other Black and brown people,” said Tiffany McDaniel, a native Charlottean who attended the ceremony with her mother, Johnnie McDaniel Harris. “It’s a mixture of emotions. It’s a ball of emotions and I’m in the middle of it all right now.”

The dedication was a public acknowledgment of Charlotte’s history of racial terror. Willie McDaniel, a 22-year-old farmer who lived in the Newell neighborhood, was found on June 30, 1929, in a wooded area near his home. His lifeless body was lying face-down, neck broken with abrasions on his neck and wrists. Court witnesses testified that the day before, McDaniel demanded his white landlord, Mell Grier, pay for work done by McDaniel and his wife. Grier refused and threw a rock at McDaniel when he talked back. The men wrestled before Grier went home to retrieve a shotgun. McDaniel ran and Grier gave chase.

It was the last time McDaniel was seen alive. No one was charged with his death and Grier wasn’t charged. An all-white grand jury investigation didn’t produce an indictment.

The marker is part of a campaign by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Remembrance Project to raise awareness of lynching in Mecklenburg and the racial climate that led to such attacks. Willie McDaniel’s death was the focus of a five-part series published last year by The Post. Another confirmed lynching victim, Joseph McNeely, was dragged from his bed at Good Samaritan Hospital – now the site of Bank of America Stadium – and shot to death by a white mob on Aug. 26, 1913, after a fight with a white police officer. No one was charged.

In 1896, Craig Kirkpatrick was found dead with a .38-caliber bullet wound in the back of his head that newspaper reports of the time broke his neck. A month later, a Mecklenburg grand jury indicted Sam Grier – Mell Grier’s older cousin – for murder. Law enforcement never apprehended him for trial.

Other lynchings were believed to have taken place in Mecklenburg but unconfirmed according to the Birmingham, Alabama-based Equal Justice Initiative, which has documented 4,084 racial terror lynchings in 12 Southern states between the end of Reconstruction in 1877 and 1950.

“I knew it was going to pull up something from the past, something that’s painful at first, and then I was excited, because it’s an acknowledgment to help other families heal as well as my family heal,” Tiffany McDaniel said. “This is helping out more than just my family, so it’s some joy in there as well.” 

The marker – a collaboration between the Remembrance Project, EJI and the county – is a token of reconciliation, an admission of racial terror and starting point for honest conversations on a subject most Americans hesitate to acknowledge, much less discuss.

“We’ve not only remembered him, but also reclaimed the piece of our shared history, one that reminds us of both our pain and our progress,” said Justin Perry, a member of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Remembrance Project steering committee. “This historical marker will stand as a lasting witness to truth. It’s a symbol of our community’s willingness to face the past honestly so we can move forward with integrity.”

The marker – gold lettering on blue background – lays bare the circumstances and approximate location of Willie McDaniel’s murder on one side and the Americanization of racial terror on the other. At the plaque’s base is a quote by James Baldwin: “Nothing can be changed until it is faced.” 

“When we use the words racial terror lynching, the terror has got to be recognized in that there was a purpose,” Perry said. “This was not flukish, this was not random, this was not just emotional. This was intentional. …
“With 9/11 we use the words ‘Never forget,’ but forever with Black trauma, we have always said, ‘Get over it.’ But we’re stopping that. There’s no get over it in the same way that we say with 9/11 ‘Never forget.’ 

“We don’t honor Osama bin Laden. We don't have Osama bin Laden schools. We honor the people who died in the same way when it comes to the history we have in this country, here in the South, in the Confederacy, in the movement of white supremacy. It is time that we honor the victims and their descendants, no longer the perpetrators of the harm.” 

That acknowledgment is important to Willie McDaniel’s descendants.

“I’m super excited to have this documented for future generations and the current generation to understand what happened to my family member, Mr. Willie McDaniel, and other countless untold families to hopefully help heal some of the racial divides,” said Tiffany McDaniel. “At the end of the day, we’re all God's children.” 

From the series:

Part 1: Facing our history: The 1929 lynching of Willie McDaniel

Part 2: Facing history of terrorism: Ominous words, another killing

Part 3: A quick verdict, then new clues to McDaniel lynching 

Part 4: A shocking exhumation, and more speculation on lynching

Part 5: 'No further delusions on Willie McDaniel lynching

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