FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - A sign of respect was unveiled to honor the life of a Fort Lauderdale man who was lynched almost a century ago.
A crowd gathered on a July day in 1935. Children look on, curious and smiling. In front of them, a 29-year-old black man’s body is hanging. He’d also been shot.
His name was Rubin Stacy, a farmhand, husband and father.
“He was walking home from work one day, from what I understand, and stopped to ask for a drink of water,” said Fort Lauderdale City Commissioner Robert McKinzie.
The woman was white, and by some accounts, she claimed he attacked her with a penknife.
“At some point, somebody came into the house where Stacy and his family lived and just took him from the house,” said Chelsea Blackmon, Stacy’s niece.
“Everything stopped,” said Anne Naves Stacy, Stacy’s niece. “We, as children, knew that something terrible had happened.”
His name and his story faded away.
Nearly 90 years later, the area where that lynching took place, busy Davie Boulevard, is a four lane road lined with homes and businesses.
As of this Tuesday afternoon, the road now bears Rubin Stacy’s name. City officials stood by, along with members of the Stacy family.
“People will hopefully drive by and say, who was Rubin Stacy? What happened here? And that learning and those lessons will perpetuate throughout our time,” said Fort Lauderdale City Commissioner Ben Sorensen.
“It is something that happened, and so, although it is bittersweet, I’m very grateful that we’ll be able to document this history,” said Blackmon.
It goes beyond just this one sign.
“Don’t put one street sign up, let’s name the whole two mile stretch after this young man, especially after what he sacrificed,” said McKinzie.
According to records maintained by the NAACP, nearly 5,000 people had been lynched in American history, the vast majority were African-American.
The thought here is not just that he is honored by this street, but that Rubin Stacy’s story and name will not be forgotten.
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