Lee Snell remembrance scheduled

Members of Volusia Remembers are gathering at Mr. Lee Snell’s tombstone this Saturday, May 23 2020, at 10 a.m., to honor his humanity as a victim of racial terror lynching (1939) and to give gratitude for his U.S. Army service. Mr. Snell’s grave is in the mount Ararat Cemetery, 1427 Belleview Avenue in Daytona Beach, Florida.

Appropriate to the occasion of remembrance, and in keeping with current social distancing guidelines due to the Covid 19 Virus, this will be a small and quiet ceremony. Yet it marks the start of our public community project to bring the “hard history” of racial terror lynching into the light for our fellow citizens of Volusia County.  Mr. Snell was a veteran of WWI, having fought in the trenches of France. His remembrance by the Volusia Remembers Coalition coincides with Memorial Day remembrances of all US veterans. While in custody, accused of the manslaughter of a child, Mr. Snell was murdered April 29, 1939 when a mob overtook the sheriff deputy’s vehicle transporting him from Daytona to DeLand

Our thanks to Daisy Grimes for arranging this ceremony, Rick Buckelew for his assistance and historical understanding, and Mary Allen and our first chair Sharon Stafford for cleaning the gravestone in preparation for our visit.