Figure in a named event
Washington Morrow
Washington Morrow, 19, the oldest child of Jefferson and Lucinda Morrow, grew up enslaved and was sharecropping in Orange County when he and his brother Nelson were jailed in Hillsborough on suspicion of barn-burning. On August 8, 1869, a masked mob of Klansmen attacked the jail and shot at the brothers; Washington was wounded and died that night.
Source: Orange County Community Remembrance Coalition: Those We Honor
Orange County Indexed has not yet linked an indexed work directly to Washington Morrow. The biography and the dated events on this page provide sources about Washington Morrow’s life and work. If you know a useful source, tell us.
Life and Orange County connections
Storylines this person is part of, earliest first. Each has its own page.
Dated events connected with this person, earliest first. See these 2 dated events in the chronology →
- Washington Morrow, Thomas Jefferson Morrow and Daniel Morrow are lynched Early on August 7, 1869, about 100 disguised white men took Washington Morrow and his brother Nelson from the Hillsborough jail, where they were held on barn-burning charges, and shot Washington as they fled; he died of the wound. On October 14 a mob hanged their father, Thomas Jefferson Morrow, and their uncle, Daniel Morrow. People: Washington Morrow, Daniel Morrow, Jefferson MorrowJames Madison University, Memorializing Racial Terror: The Lynching of Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Daniel Morrow
- Soil collection ceremony at the Orange County courthouse honors Cyrus Guy and four other 1869 lynching victims The Orange County Community Remembrance Coalition held a soil collection ceremony for Washington Morrow, Wright Malone, Daniel Morrow, Thomas Jefferson Morrow and Cyrus Guy, all lynched in 1869. One jar for each man was to go to the Equal Justice Initiative's memorial collection in Montgomery, Alabama, and a second jar was to stay in Orange County. People: Daniel Morrow, Jefferson Morrow, Washington Morrow, Wright Malone, James WilliamsSearch the index · Chapelboro: 'Do Not Forget Us': Soil Collection Ceremony Held for 5 Orange County Lynching Victims (May 1, 2023)
Places in this person’s story
Buildings, schools, churches and other sites named in the dated events on this page, the most often named first. The map shows them all.
Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Site locations from the N.C. State Historic Preservation Office survey, Open Orange and OpenStreetMap; town and community pins mark the middle of their mapped buildings.
- Orange County Courthouse, Hillsborough Public buildings and services · Hillsborough · 1 event here
- Orange County jail, Hillsborough Public buildings and services · Hillsborough · 1 event here
Named with them in the chronology
People named in the same dated entries as Washington Morrow, those sharing the most entries first. Each line links one of the shared entries in the chronology, where its source is cited. A shared entry shows these people in the same event, not how well they knew each other.
- Daniel Morrow 1 entry: Washington Morrow, Thomas Jefferson Morrow and Daniel Morrow are lynched (August 7–October 14, 1869)
- Jefferson Morrow 1 entry: Washington Morrow, Thomas Jefferson Morrow and Daniel Morrow are lynched (August 7–October 14, 1869)
Search further
Search other library catalogs and digital collections for more about Washington Morrow.
Books about Washington Morrow
More catalogs that show where copies are
- Chapel Hill Public Library (opens in a new tab) Public library in Chapel Hill
- Durham County Library (opens in a new tab) Public library next door in Durham
- UNC Libraries (opens in a new tab) University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Duke Libraries (opens in a new tab) Duke University, Durham
- NC Cardinal (opens in a new tab) The State Library of North Carolina and public libraries across the state
Photographs, papers, and newspapers
Searched by name. The catalogs give no dates for this person, so results may include other people with the same name. Each link opens that catalog’s own results in a new tab. The Friends have not reviewed what they return.
Found a book OCPL doesn’t own? You can often borrow it through interlibrary loan at OCPL.
Research sources
Ask locally 3
Local organizations that preserve the story and can help you go further
- Orange County Community Remembrance Coalition: those we honor Site steward Biographies of the people commemorated by the coalition’s markers
- Rebecca B. Wall Local History Collection, Orange County Public Library Rebecca B. Wall Local History Collection (OCPL) The county library’s local-history room at the Main Library in Hillsborough: books, journals, maps, and microfilm of county records from 1752
- Local History Help Hours and request form OCPL Local History Liaison The library’s Local History Liaison helps in person most Mondays, 12 to 3, at the Main Library, or by the online request form
Additional research sources
Other catalogs to search and local organizations that can help.
- Background context: Marker: Lynching In America ⎯⎯⎯ The Lynching of Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Daniel Morrow Historical Marker Database (HMdb.org)
- Read contemporary evidence: DigitalNC newspapers: 29 Orange County pages naming Washington Morrow DigitalNC Searchable pages from historic Orange County newspapers
- Search beyond the index: NC LIVE: prepared search for Washington Morrow NC LIVE An advanced search of the state’s shared databases already scoped to Orange County’s places and this subject; edit it freely, and sign in through your North Carolina library to read
More to discover
Keep Reading Local
The Friends connect people with new library materials, local writers and publishers, and resources documenting Orange County.
