Marker to Remember Coal Miner Lynching

A historical marker will be placed in the town of Brighton today to remember a black coal miner who was lynched in 1908. William Miller was taken from his jail cell and lynched by a white mob after he lobbied for better wages for black coal miners. The organization said the Brighton marker is the first in an effort to mark lynching sites in the South. The Equal Justice Initiative, a Montgomery-based nonprofit legal firm, will help place the marker near Brighton City Hall. The group says the nation must confront the truth about its past in order to heal. The organization in 2013 helped place three historical markers in Montgomery to note the site of slave depots, warehouses and transport sites.