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Documentary Series Takes A Closer Look At Lennon Lacy's Death

Lennon Lacy, Bladenboro, NC NAACP, Hanging
Leoneda Inge
/
WUNC

Two years ago, a young African-American male was found hanging from a swing set in Bladenboro, North Carolina. Local and federal law enforcement officials ruled the hanging death of Lennon Lacy, 17, a suicide. But his family is not convinced and suspects Lacy was murdered.

Independent Lens on PBS, along with UNC-TV and WUNC, came together to take a closer look at the unanswered questions surrounding Lacy's death in a series called "The Hanging."

Lacy's mother, Claudia Lacy, is convinced her son was lynched.
Lynchings of blacks in the United States were commonplace, especially in the southern U.S. in the late 1800's once slavery ended, and through the 1960's.

Officials have not released copies of the police report in Lacy's case, and the medical examiner was not allowed to take pictures. And Claudia Lacy says she still has not been able to get her son's belongings from police.

A documentary called "Always in Season" by Jackie Olive is due out in 2017 and will look at the history of lynching in America, including an examination of the Lacy case.

Leoneda Inge is the co-host of WUNC's "Due South." Leoneda has been a radio journalist for more than 30 years, spending most of her career at WUNC as the Race and Southern Culture reporter. Leoneda’s work includes stories of race, slavery, memory and monuments. She has won "Gracie" awards, an Alfred I. duPont Award and several awards from the Radio, Television, Digital News Association (RTDNA). In 2017, Leoneda was named "Journalist of Distinction" by the National Association of Black Journalists.
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