PIQUA – As part of the celebration of Black History Month at Edison State Community College, Jane Kretschmann will present the stories of lynched African Americans in her home state of Alabama.

Kretschmann, a retired Edison State English professor, will make her presentation at 10:30 a.m. Feb. 18 in Room 427 in the East Hall on the Piqua campus.

“After I learned that Jesse Thornton, a young black man, was lynched in the county in which I was born, I determined to learn his story and the stories of others lynched in Alabama,” Kretschmann said. “Through research, I learned that maybe 360 people were lynched between 1870 and 1950 in my home state.

“Since I am a poet, not a historian, I realized that the best way to make some of their stories known was to write poems about a number of these people murdered in various ways that collectively are known as lynching, the system designed to terrorize black communities and to reinforce white supremacy.”

Carl DeSantis, a member of the Diversity Committee at Edison State, said, “This is especially appropriate at this time in American history with the rise of hate groups and how they are expressing their conviction.”

The chair of the Diversity Committee, Professor Marva Archibald, encourages community members to attend the presentation to learn more about this part of American history.

For more information, email Archibald at [email protected].