About This Contest

EJI Racial Justice Essay Contest for

Alexandria, VA

This scholarship contest is part of the community remembrance work of the Alexandria Community Remembrance Project. Each year the coalition recognizes and honors Joseph McCoy, who was lynched on April 23, 1897 and Benjamin Thomas, who was lynched on August 8, 1899. EJI has documented at least 84 racial terror lynchings of African Americans in the State of Virginia between 1877 and 1950.

Details about student awards will be shared via email to all participating students after the close of the contest.

NEXT STEPS AND ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Questions? Please Contact:

Local coalition: Sarah Whelan (sarah.whelan@acps.k12.va.us)

EJI Essay Contest Coordinators: communityremembrance@eji.org

For Students Interested in Participating

We are so glad that you are considering participating in this essay contest! We hope it will be a meaningful experience for you.

To get started, visit the Choosing an Essay Topic page to explore what you might be interested in writing about in your essay. Students are encouraged to think about their topic, it’s connect to current day issues, and take time to review reliable resources.

We encourage you to carefully review the "Essay Preparation Instructions" and "Qualities of a Winning Essay" sections on the Eligibility and Essay Guidelines page to prepare your essay.

If you would like additional feedback on how to prepare your essay, please see our Tips for Students for more information.

For Parents, Educators, and Community Groups

We strongly encourage parents, educators, and those who serve students in community organizations to partner with students and lend them support during their essay preparation. Offering assistance with editing or listening to their essay prior to submission to offer feedback are great ways to strengthen students' writing skills and essay focus. For more information on how you and others can support students, please review our Resources for Parents, Schools, and Community Groups.

The Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) offers this opportunity in connection with its Community Remembrance Project, which focuses on memorializing the more than 6,000 African American victims of racial terror lynching killed between the end of the Civil War in 1865 and World War II. Communities across our nation have been profoundly impacted by the legacies of the eras of enslavement, racial terror lynching, and segregation in ways that continue to influence our social, political, and personal practices and institutions. EJI and local communities are working together to help advance a more truthful understanding of this history. We believe that a deeper understanding about our nation’s history of racial injustice is important to addressing contemporary questions of social justice and equality, and each project helps our nation participate more fully in a sequential process of truth and reconciliation.

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