National Park Service schedules March 3 Oxford meeting on lynching sites

The National Park Service will hold a public meeting in Oxford on Tuesday, March 3, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. CST in the Lafayette County & Oxford Public Library auditorium, 401 Bramlett Blvd., as part of a congressionally authorized Special Resource Study examining locations tied to the history of lynching in and around Memphis. The NPS opened a 60-day public comment period that runs through April 3, 2026.

The study was launched under congressional direction; The Oxford Eagle reported the work is “authorized by Congress through the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023,” while National Park Service materials state, “Under Public Law 117-328, Congress directed the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a special resource study to evaluate the following eight lynching locations using congressionally established criteria for national significance, suitability, feasibility and need for direct NPS management to determine whether any of the study locations meet the criteria for inclusion in the system.”

NPS materials list four meetings associated with the scoping phase. “There will be one virtual public meeting on Feb. 27” from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. CST, and three in-person sessions on March 3, 4 and 5. The Memphis meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, March 4, 6–8 p.m. CST at Rhodes College, Turley Center for Community Engagement, 613 University Ave., and the Brownsville session is Thursday, March 5, 6–8 p.m. CST at Carver High School Auditorium, 705 East Jefferson St. “All three meetings will have the same format and content,” NPS materials say, and “The NPS is providing opportunities for public comment and participation during the initial phase of the study to assess public interest and support.”

Oxford and Lafayette County are explicitly included in the study area, defined by The Oxford Eagle as sites within a 100-mile radius of Memphis that span Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas and Kentucky. The Oxford Eagle lists locally documented lynchings cited for consideration: “Harris Tunstal” (1885), “Lawson ‘Nelse’ Patton” (1908) and “Elwood Higginbotham” (1935). The study will examine not only the locations of lynchings but also associated sites such as jails where victims were held, areas where mobs gathered, and places where victims’ bodies were displayed or recovered.

The Oxford Eagle urged community involvement, writing, “Public input is a key component of the process. Community members are encouraged to attend the Oxford meeting to learn more about the study and share their perspectives.” The NPS says the study could take up to three years to complete; when finished, the report will be submitted to Congress and made available to the public. For meeting links, details and instructions to submit written comments, NPS materials state, “Visit parkplanning.nps.gov/Memphis for meeting links and details.”