Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan granted posthumous pardons on Saturday to 34 victims of racial lynching, a move his office says is the first “blanket pardon” for victims of such actions.
Hogan made the announcement at an event honoring Howard Cooper, a 15-year-old black boy who was hanged outside the Towson jailhouse by a white mob in 1885. Among those pardoned were victims of lynchings that occurred between 1854 and 1933.
“My hope is that this action will at least in some way help to right these horrific wrongs and perhaps bring a measure of peace to the memories of these individuals and to their descendants and their loved ones,” the governor said.
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Cooper was also memorialized with a marker at the Towson ceremony, the second of its kind in Maryland, according to the Baltimore Sun.
Maryland House Speaker Adrienne Jones, the state’s first woman and black person to hold that position, said it was an important day to see Hogan, Attorney General Brian Frosh, and Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski, who are all white, come together to mark the event.
“Memorializing the site where Howard Cooper was lynched gives us the opportunity to courageously confront the injustices of our past,” Jones said, according to NBC News.
The ceremony is part of the Maryland Lynching Memorial Project, which consists of 13 county chapters collaborating to document the history of lynching across the state.
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A third historical marker memorializing three lynching victims will be unveiled in Salisbury on May 22.
