Lynching of Samuel Smith

Nolensville is about 22 miles from Nashville. At 1 a.m. on December 13, 1924, a white grocer named Ike Eastwood reportedly heard noises outside his house, grabbed a gun, and found an African-American man, Jim Smith, in his garage. He thought Smith was stealing spark plugs from his car. Eastwood shot Smith, but the man was joined by his nephew, Samuel Smith, age 15, who shot and wounded Eastwood. The grocer fired back, wounding the younger Smith as well. The Nashville Chamber of Commerce offered a reward of $5,000 to identify and arrest the lynchers. According to the Tennessee Tribune, this is "believed to be the last lynching" in the Nashville area. Fisk University Dean Reavis L. Mitchell Jr. said, "There may have been others, but there’s no public record." ==Legacy==

In June 2017, a worship service was held at the chapel at Fisk University Memorial Chapel, entitled "Reclaiming Hope Through Remembering", in memory of lynching victims Sam Smith and brothers Ephraim and Henry Grizzard, killed in 1892. In addition, a plaque was installed in their memories in St. Anselm's Episcopal Church in Nashville. The ceremonies were related to three years of work by a diocesan task force working on policy and community discussions related to racism in Nashville. The services were open to all the public. ==References==