A Hushed Legacy: Samuel Merritt’s story as a descendant of a lynching victim

Samuel Merritt’s great-great grandfather, Wyatt Outlaw, was lynched on Feb. 26, 1870. Outlaw was dragged out of his home in the middle of the night and hanged on an Elm tree in the corner of downtown Graham, North Carolina. His body is nowhere to be found, and for a long time his legacy was hidden within the Outlaw family. 

“There was some general conversation around the dinner table regarding Wyatt, but nothing in-depth,” Merritt said. 

It wasn’t until the past five years that Merritt truly got to know more about his ancestor. 

The Man, the myth and the legend

Outlaw was born in Caswell County in April 1816 and was one of 13 children to be fathered by Chelsey Faucette, the 6th wealthiest man in Alamance County at the time. Faucette was a trustee to Graham College, the predecessor of Elon University. However, Outlaw was raised by Faucette’s neighbors on a tobacco farm due to his father being white and his mother being Black.

In his adult years, Outlaw was involved in the Union League – working auxiliaries focusing on  increasing Black votership and mentoring newly freed slaves. He was also a successful small owner of a bar. In 1868, Outlaw was elected to be a member of the Graham Town Council. Two years later the White Brotherhood, a branch of the Ku Klux Klan originally formed in Alamance County, murdered Outlaw because he defended Black police officers. William Puryear, a local, was a witness to Outlaw’s lynching and also ended up being murdered by some of the members.

There have been three recorded lynchings in Alamance County: John Jeffress, Puryear and Outlaw. Of the three, Jeffress is the only one to be honored at the National Memorial for Peace and Justice within the Legacy Museum in Montgomery, Alabama. The memorial’s goal is to honor the 4,400 Black Americans who were victims of lynchings. There is one weathered steel monument per county, with names of each person lynched inscribed, such as Jeffress. 

However, because  there is no formal tracking of lynchings throughout history, names have been forgotten, like Outlaw and Puryear.

Outlaw’s history was mainly uncovered and preserved by the Alamance County Community Remembrance Coalition. The Coalition is a local organization focused on educating the Alamance community on their history on racial terror.

Every year the coalition organizes a candlelight vigil to commemorate Outlaw’s life and legacy, and the event’s organizers always extend an invitation to Merritt. He said this event and others got him more involved with his heritage. 

“It’s like discovering something new at a seasoned age, because I had no in-depth information when I was growing up as a child, it was like a hushed history,” Merritt said. 

The North Carolinian had never even stepped foot into downtown Graham until 2021.

Coalition member Loy Campbell said some members of the organization are historians and continue to uncover new information regarding the lynching victims. 

“The story changes as these historians keep doing their good work to figure out what happened,” Campbell said.

She said that out of all the lynching victims Wya is the most well known due to his extraordinary life and try to use his story to educate the community regarding Alamance County’s difficult racial past. 

She said out of all the lynching victims, Outlaw is the most well known due to his extraordinary life, and they try to use his story to educate the community regarding Alamance County’s difficult racial past. 

“We try to make sure that the community knows that there were these other two racial terror lynchings that also took place in Alamance County,” Campbell said. “We use the story of Wyatt Outlaw to help bring more awareness of our history of racial terror in Alamance County.”

Merritt said doesn’t really know why his family never talked about Outlaw, but he knows the topic was painful for his grandmother to speak about. 

Across the street

There is a law firm located in a bright blue building on the corner of Elm Street.

Outlaw’s lynching happened right where the firm stands 155 years ago.

The coalition got special permission from the owner to go under the building and collect dirt of where Outlaw was lynched. Every year at the vigil attendees can place dirt from lynching locations into the jars with the three victims names labeled on the containers. 

The jars currently sit at the Alamance African-American Cultural Arts and History Center as a reminder to those who pay a visit to the museum. Museum manager James Shields said several men were being lynched almost every day in the U.S. during the reconstruction era after the Civil War. 

“Beginning with the end of reconstruction into 1920, there was this solidification of white supremacy and basically disenfranchisement of Black men,” Shields said. “These jars represent that.”

According to Shields, no one really knows what happened once Outlaw was lynched, or what happened to his children and family members in 1870.

“I think it’s so important because we all don’t get the opportunity to learn more about our families, either because they’re gone or in some cases, they just don’t want to talk about it,” Shields said.

Across the street from where Outlaw was murdered lies a Confederate soldier statue right outside the Graham Courthouse. In March of 2024, the North Carolina Court of Appeals ruled in favor of preserving the monument. After years of the National Association for Advancement of Colored People and other plaintiffs fighting for its removal, the court ruled it not be taken down due to North Carolina’s Monument Protection law. This law states that no monument can be removed without orders from the North Carolina Historical Commission. In addition, the justices also argued that the Confederate army is a form of military service to be recognized. 

Now the coalition is on a mission to establish its own monument within Alamance County to commemorate Outlaw and the other victims. 

The spirit of Wyatt Outlaw

Merritt remembers reading about lynchings in history books but could have never imagined that his family would have been affected. The Vietnam veteran and retired microbiologist can only feel proud of his ancestor. 

“I’m proud although his body and remains are someplace,” Merritt said. “As a family member I don’t know where I can go to pay homage to him.”

Yet Merritt said Outlaw’s spirit lives on thanks to the coalition and several community members, and he is inspired by them everyday. 

“What happened with Wyatt, the historical impact as well as the effect that has had on the community, Jesus Christ was among us,” Merritt said. “He died but he was resurrected, came back to dwell among us. Wyatt died, didn’t come back, but his spirit still lives more than 150 years ago.”