Downtown in Columbia in Maury County, Tennessee — The American South (East South Central)

Memorial to Black Maury County Citizens

Murdered by KKK, Mobs and Others

Photographed by Darren Jefferson Clay, May 12, 2026

1. Memorial to Black Maury County Citizens Marker

Inscription.
Gilbert Dowell 1863 • John Courtney 1868 • Clinton Drake 1868 • Tom Jourdon 1868 • Marvin Mayberry 1868 • Alf Rainey 1868 • Simon Peter 1868 • John Warner 1868 • Tom Kelly 1877 • Frank McGhee 1890 • Green Wells 1891 • Robert Wilson 1924 • Henry Choate 1927 • Cordie Cheek 1933

1868 Taken From Their Homes by KKK and Not Seen Again
Thomas Phelps • Isiah Webster • Jeff Brown • Tom Galloway

1868 Two unnamed men taken from Columbia Jail
1868 Two unnamed men and one child in Freedmen's Bureau file and countless others unknown to history

During the 1946 Black Resistance in Columbia, William Gordon and James Johnson were arrested. They were shot multiple times while in police custody. Denied treatment at Columbia's King Daughters Hospital, they died enroute to Meharry Hospital in Nashville.

To not know history is to repeat it

Topics. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: African Americans.

Location. 35° 36.808′ N, 87° 1.98′ W. Marker is in Columbia, Tennessee, in Maury County. It is in Downtown. It is on East 8th Street west of Woodland Street, on the left when traveling east. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 117 E 8th St, Columbia TN 38401, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in Middle Tennessee

and in Greater Nashville.

It is also in the American South

and specifically in the Upper South.

Globally, it is in North America,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture,

one of the Confederate States of America,

and the Antebellum South.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking

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distance of this marker: 1946 Columbia Race Riot / A.J. Morton Funeral Home (within shouting distance of this marker); Lillie Mae Glover (within shouting distance of this marker); A Turning Point (about 300 feet away, measured in a direct line); A Legacy of Justice (about 300 feet away); The Defendants of 1946 (about 300 feet away); Life in the Shadows of Freedom (about 400 feet away); Andrew Johnson (about 500 feet away); The Founding of Maury County and Columbia (about 500 feet away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Columbia.

Photographed by Darren Jefferson Clay, May 12, 2026

2. Memorial to Black Maury County Citizens Marker

Credits. This page was last revised on May 25, 2026. It was originally submitted on May 14, 2026, by Darren Jefferson Clay of Duluth, Georgia. This page has been viewed 9 times since then. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on May 21, 2026, by Darren Jefferson Clay of Duluth, Georgia. • James Hulse was the editor who published this page.