{{Short description|African American who was lynched in the U.S.}} {{More citations needed|date=January 2019}} {{Use American English|date=January 2026}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2026}} '''Levi Harrington''' (died April 3, 1882) was a young African-American who, on April 3, 1882, was abducted from police custody by a large white mob of several hundred participants and lynched in Kansas City, Missouri, hanged from a beam on the Bluff Street Bridge and shot.<ref name="plaque">From the inscription on the plaque, based on research by The National Memorial for Peace and Justice project of the Equal Justice Initiative.</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|last=Rishab|first=Bhat|date=|title=Lynching of Levi Harrington|url=https://www.theclio.com/entry/88403|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=|website=The Cleo}}</ref> This followed the fatal shooting of a police officer, Patrick Jones, earlier that day.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kansas City, Missouri Police Officers Memorial|url=https://www.kcpolicememorial.com/pages/1882_patrick_jones/|access-date=2020-10-29|website=www.kcpolicememorial.com}}</ref> The next day another man, George Grant, was accused of the crime, and Harrington was declared innocent. However, the evidence against Grant was so weak that he was reportedly tried and acquitted three times and accepted a 2-year prison sentence in a plea bargain on the fourth trial.<ref name=":2" /> == Accusations against Harrington == There were reports at the time that the accusations against Levi Harrington were not befitting his character, as a husband and father to five children living near Kansas City.<ref name=":2" /> The plaque commemorating his death described Mr Harrington as being "sober and industrious, saved his money, and cared for his family".<ref name=plaque/>
Levi Harrington was one of at least 60 African Americans victims of racial terror lynching killed in Missouri between 1877 and 1950.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Crp-mo|title=The Community Remembrance Project of Missouri|url=https://crp-mo.org/jackson-county-coalition|access-date=2020-06-25|website=Crp-mo|language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Crp-mo|title=The Community Remembrance Project of Missouri|url=https://crp-mo.org/resources|access-date=2020-06-25|website=Crp-mo|language=en-US}}</ref>
Another man, George Grant, was captured the same night the lynching took place and charged with the murder of the police officer. In 1884, after hung juries in four separate trials, Grant pleaded guilty to manslaughter and served two years prison before being released. Meanwhile, no one was charged with the murder of Harrington, in spite of having hundreds of witnesses including the officers who were overpowered by the mob.<ref>{{cite Q|Q106702087}}<!-- Levi Harrington Memorial Marker-->.</ref>
== 2018 Memorial ==
Harrington was one of almost 4400 racial terror lynchings between 1877 and 1950 in a registry compiled by the National Memorial for Peace and Justice project of the Equal Justice Initiative.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The National Memorial for Peace and Justice|url=https://museumandmemorial.eji.org/memorial|access-date=2020-11-03|website=Legacy Museum and National Memorial for Peace and Justice|language=en}}</ref> A memorial plaque documenting Harrington's lynching is part of this National Memorial for Peace and Justice. It was dedicated in a ceremony Dec. 1, 2018, at the southwest corner of Ermine Chase Jr. Park, at the corner of W. 10th and Summit streets,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://mocatholic.org/blog/kansas-city-dedicate-historical-marker-lynching |title=Kansas City to Dedicate Historical Marker for Lynching |date=November 30, 2018 |publisher=Missouri Catholic Conference |archive-date=December 4, 2018 |access-date=December 4, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181204043611/https://mocatholic.org/blog/kansas-city-dedicate-historical-marker-lynching |url-status=dead }}. {{cite news |url=http://www.madpmo.org/support-truth-and-reconciliation-marker-dedication-ceremony-for-kansas-city-lynching-victim-levi-harrington/ |title=Support Truth and Reconciliation: Marker Dedication Ceremony for Kansas City Lynching Victim Levi Harrington |first=Elyse |last=Max |date=November 13, 2018 |publisher=Missourians for alternatives to the death penalty |access-date=December 4, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181204102209/http://www.madpmo.org/support-truth-and-reconciliation-marker-dedication-ceremony-for-kansas-city-lynching-victim-levi-harrington/ |archive-date=December 4, 2018 |url-status=dead }}. {{cite news |url=https://www.kcur.org/post/kansas-city-erects-first-memorial-remember-victim-lynching#stream/0 |title=Kansas City Erects First Memorial To Remember A Victim Of Lynching |first=Michelle Tyrene |last=Johnson |date=Nov 30, 2018 |newspaper=KCUR }}</ref> overlooking the location of the Bluff St. bridge.<ref>The Bluff St. bridge seems to have been either renamed or replaced with a bridge of a different name since 1882.</ref>
Eight months earlier on April 2, 2018, Kansas City Mayor Sly James and other leaders gathered to collect soil from the lynching site and published official acknowledgements of the lynching.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://themissouritimes.com/49724/community-leaders-gather-to-remember-local-lynching-victim/ |title=Community leaders gather to remember local lynching victim |date=April 2, 2018 |newspaper=Missouri Times}}</ref>
== Community Remembrance Project of Missouri == In 2020, in partnership with the Equal Justice Initiative, the Community Remembrance Project of Missouri was formally established by Missourians to work in coordination with communities throughout the state.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Crp-mo|title=The Community Remembrance Project of Missouri|url=https://crp-mo.org/|access-date=2020-11-03|website=Crp-mo|language=en-US}}</ref> This project seeks to educate, raise awareness and begin a process of reconciliation for the history of racial injustice concerning African Americans in Missouri.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|last=Crp-mo|title=The Community Remembrance Project of Missouri|url=https://crp-mo.org/|access-date=2020-06-25|website=Crp-mo|language=en-US}}</ref>
Beginning in 2018, the Community Remembrance Project of Missouri began collecting jars of soil from lynching sites across the state,<ref name=":0" /> with plans to erect more historical markers. As of June 2020, the organization plan has announced plans to establish a permanent exhibit at the Black Archives of Mid-America, located in Kansas City, Missouri, to acknowledge actions racial injustices.<ref name=":1" />
== Vandalism ==
In early 2019 the sign had been defaced with graffiti.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Diaz|first=Johnny|date=2020-06-15|title=Kansas City Police Investigate Vandalism of Memorial to Lynching Victim|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/15/us/kansas-city-lynching-memorial.html|access-date=2020-11-03|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> On Sunday, June 14, 2020, the plaque was found broken off its pedestal and thrown off a nearby cliff. Rev. Dr. Vernon Howard Jr., the President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater Kansas City, was not surprised to hear of the vandalism, citing a resurgence in hate against such black symbols as a revitalised problem. This sort of vandalism reminds us of the need for memorials like this, he added.<ref>{{cite Q|Q96329847}}<!-- Lynching Victim Memorial Broken Off And Tossed Down Cliff In Kansas City, Missouri: news report 2020-06-15-->.</ref>
According to ''The Kansas City Star'', the sign was removed and believed to have been stolen in early 2026.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.kansascity.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/mara-rose-williams/article314907219.html?_nt_openaccess&utm_source=mcc&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=windfall&cid=crm_windfall_nonsub_local|title=This KC lynching marker has been damaged three times. Now it’s gone |publisher=The Kansas City Star|last=Williams|first=Mará Rose|date=March 4, 2026|access-date=March 4, 2026|language=en}}</ref>
== See also == *List of lynching victims in the United States
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Lynching in the United States}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harrington, Levi}} Category:Year of birth unknown Category:1882 deaths Category:People murdered in 1882 Category:Legal history of the United States Category:Racially motivated violence against African Americans in Missouri Category:Lynching deaths in Missouri Category:People murdered in Missouri Category:African-American lynching victims