Historical Marker Unveiled for 1922 Indianapolis Lynch Victim: Details and Significance

A historical marker was recently revealed in Indianapolis to honor a man who was lynched over a century ago. State and local leaders, along with members of the Indiana Remembrance Coalition (IRC) and the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), gathered for the ceremony at Riverside Park’s Municipal Gardens. George Tompkins’ 1922 lynching story had long been overlooked until now.

According to Leon Bates, a historian with the IRC, not many people in Indianapolis were familiar with this story, but he hopes the monument will be enlightening for those who learn about it. In March 1922, 19-year-old George Tompkins was discovered hanging from a tree at Riverside Park near Cold Spring and Lafayette Roads on the west side of Indianapolis, with his hands bound behind his back.

The original coroner deemed it a suicide, despite evidence to the contrary. Now, nearly a century later, the truth has been acknowledged, and Tompkins was rightfully recognized as being murdered. Tompkins, who was never charged with a crime, now has a headstone at Floral Park Cemetery, put in place by local officials.

More than 25 racial lynchings occurred in Indiana between 1866 and 1950, with no arrests made in relation to Tompkins’ death. The IRC and EJI hope that this acknowledgment of Indianapolis’s dark past paves the way for justice and healing in the city. The 2022 legislation passed by former President Joe Biden finally labeled lynching a federal hate crime, decades in the making. Let us remember George Tompkins, a name that now lives in history, never to be forgotten.