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Ursula Minor

Lawrence NAACP President Ursula Minor will give a presentation Thursday about the lynching of three Black men in 1882 and the ongoing project to commemorate the event.

Pete Vinegar, Isaac King and George Robertson were lynched by a mob at the Kansas River bridge near downtown Lawrence on June 10, 1882. The Lawrence branch of the NAACP has been working since 2019 with the Equal Justice Initiative, which created a national lynching memorial in Montgomery, Ala., to erect a historical marker at the site of the lynching and take other steps to commemorate the victims and discuss the lynching as a community.

Minor will give a presentation at the Lawrence Arts Center on Thursday examining the lynching and discussing the efforts to place a memorial at the site, according to an event announcement on the Arts Center website. On Saturday, the public is also invited to attend an event to collect soil from the site for the national memorial, which will include several speakers.

Minor is a lifelong Lawrence resident and activist in the community, and in addition to being president of the Lawrence branch of the NAACP is a member of the Lawrence Memorial Hospital Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Council, vice-chair of the Library Board of Trustees and a 3D mixed-media artist. The announcement states that she believes in the importance of being involved in your community and seeking ways to make a change.

Minor’s presentation is free and will take place 7 p.m. Thursday at the Lawrence Arts Center, 940 New Hampshire St. Masks will be required.