In June 1890, white and black people confronted each other in violent clash in Brookside, Alabama. A town north of Birmingham built around mines owned by Sloss-Sheffield Iron and Steel Company. The altercation ended when Tom Redmond was lynched by shooting.

A century later, black and white people met at Sloss Furnaces to confront the injustice of Redmond’s death and the death of at least 30 people lynched in Jefferson County.

On Monday night, the Jefferson County Memorial Project dedicated an historical marker to Redmond and to Jake McKenzie, who was lynched in 1897 while attempting to defend another black man, according to materials distributed by JCMP.

It is the first public marker in Birmingham to recognize lynching victims.

“We’re here to bear witness to the facts and evils of slavery, convict leasing and mass incarceration,” said Jim Sokol, a member of the JCMP core coalition. “To bear witness to two who were murdered on the property of Sloss,” referring to the Brookside mines, not the Sloss Furnaces location where there marker was unveiled.

The diverse crowd gathered in the humid Sloss Carriage House exceeded the 290 chairs set out for the event.

The night marked the first unveiling of several markers planned for Jefferson County, as JCMP Director Abigail Schneider said there are similar markers planned in Pratt City, Bessemer and Irondale, as well as future efforts. The group is also working with EJI to eventually establish a monument to all of the county’s lynching victims.

The new marker recognizes the murders of Redmond and McKenzie, the racial violence at the Brookside mines, and the region’s history of convict leasing.

Through a loophole established in the 13th Amendment, incarcerated men could be “leased” to companies like Sloss-Sheffield. According to JCMP materials, between 1899 and 1902, “over 100 leased laborers died while working Coalburg.”

Scott Douglas, another coalition member, called the system, “arbitrary and capricious,” and said that the steel industry had a monetary interest in keeping white and black workers divided.

“The terror of Jim Crow is that it could strike at any time.”

The local movement follows a national effort outlined by Bryan Stevenson and the Equal Justice Initiative who opened the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery last year, recognized as the country’s first monument to thousands of black people killed by lynching and racial violence in the United States from 1877 to 1950.

Since opening in April 2017, more than 400,000 people have visited the Montgomery memorial. Kiara Boone, an EJI representative that helps facilitate local historical marker projects, said that the Birmingham effort aligns with communities around the country pursuing “an era of truth and justice.”

Two of the night’s speakers, Joi Brown and T. Marie King, discussed seeing the names of their own ancestors on monuments at the EJI memorial. Brown said that contemporary newspaper reports referred to her great-great-grandfather as a “black demon,” and said she hoped the descendants of Redmond and McKenzie would find comfort in the markers.

“We are rehumanizing these souls,” she said.

The nonprofit groups were joined by city officials for the unveiling of the new historical marker. Mayor Randall Woodfin joined in the marker reveal and offered remarks.

“The story of the black experience in the South has been plagued by revisionist history,” Woodfin said. “Painful truths are often masked or outright erased in a misguided attempt to move on. To leave the past in the past, or worse, to protect the reputation of the guilty.”

“The roots of social justice lie directly beneath Birmingham’s red clay.”

Jefferson County Commissioner LaShunda Scales said that her grandfather had worked for Sloss and called for Birmingham residents to change how they view themselves and work to change how the city is viewed around the world.

City Council Member Darrell O’Quinn spoke to the promise of the night’s event, observing that white and black communities had come together to acknowledge the past.

Hundreds gathered at Birmingham's Sloss Furnaces to witness the unveiling of a new historic marker memorializing two men lynched by shooting.

Christina J. Wade performed an interpretative dance to Nina Simone’s rendition of “Strange Fruit” before leading a candlelight procession to the veiled marker. Songs performed by the Carlton Reese Memorial Unity Choir accompanied the procession.

Schneider said that the mission of JCMP includes research, education, place and advocacy. Earlier this year the group, published the findings of their inaugural fellow class which documented the lives of the 30 confirmed lynchings in Jefferson County. In June, JCMP unveiled an art installation at UAB’s Abroms-Engel Institute for the Visual Arts

On Monday night, JCMP and EJI also announced plans for an essay contest for Birmingham City School students, with prizes totaling $5,000.

“We understand that memorialization is only one part of what our community needs to do,” said Schneider.

Updated at 8:34 a.m. on Tuesday, September 10, to clarify that the deaths of Redmond and McKenzie occurred at the Sloss-Sheffield mines.