Soil Collection Ceremony Remembers Lee Snell
Volusia Remembers Coalition observed its first soil collection ceremony on February 27, 2021 to honor and remember Lee Snell. It was planned as a time to reflect and reconcile.
Mr. Snell was murdered on April 29, 1939 near the site of the remembrance ceremony: old DeLand Road in Daytona Beach. Those gathered to remember included members and friends of Volusia Remembers Coalition plus local government officials: Derrick Henry, Mayor of Daytona Beach, Volusia County Commissioner Barb Girtman and Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood. Through video, representatives from EJI in Montgomery also shared thoughts and greetings.
Coalition member Daisy Grimes officiated
The event was moving and thoughtful. It included spoken verse, choral presentations, reflections on history, shared remembrance and interpretive dance. In a concluding ceremony, soil that had been gathered from the site of Mr. Snell’s murder was placed into jars. Those attending the event participated in the remembrance by scooping small shovelfuls of soil into the jars.
In keeping with the tradition begun by the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, the jars of soil will be a tangible remembrance of Mr. Snell’s life. One jar of soil in remembrance of each of Volusia’s lynching victims will go to the Memorial in Montgomery and one will be part of an educational display kept in Volusia County.
