About the Alliance and Truth for Justice

OUR VISION:

We acknowledge the shadow of our racial past and work to liberate our communities to heal.

OUR MISSION:

We aim to facilitate a new era of race relations from the ground up—through research, educational forums, exhibitions, historical markers, and commemorative soil collections. We believe when we own and share the truth of our history of racial injustice, our community will recognize, remember, and repair the harm for generations to come.

OUR GROUP:

Our all-volunteer group was formed in 2015 shortly after the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) published Lynching in America: Confronting the Legacy of Racial Terror. Orange County, Florida, was noted to be the worst county in the South, per capita, for lynchings between 1877 and 1950. While the number of reported deaths differs widely, EJI listed 33 lynchings in Orange County with 32 related to the 1920 Ocoee Massacre.

In response, the Alliance for Truth and Justice (previously under other names) partnered with Valencia State College’s Peace and Justice Institute to educate the public about our violent history.

In June 2019 the first Orange County EJI marker was placed in Heritage Square in Orlando. Our partnership work continues, most importantly with the Ocoee Human Relations Diversity Board that will memorialize the Ocoee Massacre on its centennial. We have participated in radio shows and media interviews, television programs, and numerous community discussion forums. Our Orange County Regional History Center is currently curating an exhibition on the Massacre. We hope our efforts can serve as a model for others to heal from the past and move toward a better racial future.