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Salt Lake City installs lynching memorial after Utah lawmakers twice refused

Salt Lake City installs lynching memorial after Utah lawmakers twice refused

Rule Changes Salt Lake City, UT local

A city pilot program marks the 1866 lynching of Thomas Coleman and an LGBTQ gathering spot

September 8th, 2026: City unveils lynching and LGBTQ markers

Overview

Updated Sep 8

Utah's legislature twice voted against memorializing Thomas Coleman, a former slave lynched on Capitol Hill in 1866. Salt Lake City installed the marker anyway, on its own land a block from the state Capitol.

The plaque came through a pilot program the city launched in 2025 to let local organizations propose historical markers. The city unveiled it alongside a second marker honoring an LGBTQ gathering spot, pairing a century-old lynching with a celebration of queer community.

Why it matters

Cities can memorialize histories that state governments refuse to touch — the pilot decides which Salt Lake City stories get told.

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Key Indicators

1866
Year of Thomas Coleman's lynching
A former slave killed on Capitol Hill; one of two known lynchings of Black men in Salt Lake City.
2
Times Utah lawmakers rejected a Coleman memorial
State GOP leaders voted down the proposal, prompting the city to act on its own property.
2
Markers unveiled in the city pilot
The Coleman lynching plaque and an LGBTQ gathering spot marker were placed together.

Voices

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People Involved

TC
Thomas Coleman
Lynching victim memorialized by the city
Memorialized in 2026, 160 years after his death
 Erin Mendenhall
Erin Mendenhall
Salt Lake City Mayor
Mayor; launched the historical markers pilot in January 2025
DC
Damian Choi
Salt Lake City Chief Impact Officer
Oversees the marker program

Organizations Involved

Salt Lake City Mayor's Office of Access & Belonging
Salt Lake City Mayor's Office of Access & Belonging
City Agency
Administers the historical markers pilot

City office that reviews and approves historical marker proposals with the Human Rights Commission.
Utah State Legislature
Utah State Legislature
State Government
Twice rejected a Coleman memorial

State lawmakers twice voted down proposals to memorialize Coleman, leading the city to act independently.
Equal Justice Initiative
Equal Justice Initiative
Nonprofit
National model for lynching memorials

Nonprofit that has sponsored hundreds of lynching memorial markers across the United States.

Timeline

1866 September 2026

6 events Latest: September 8th, 2026 · 2 months ago
Tap a bar to jump to that date

  1. City unveils lynching and LGBTQ markers

    Latest Commemoration

    Salt Lake City presents both plaques — Coleman's lynching and a historic LGBTQ gathering spot — as a pair.

  2. Coleman memorial installed at 300 N Main

    Commemoration

    The Thomas Coleman Memorial is placed across from the Utah Capitol on Salt Lake City property.

  3. Utah lawmakers vote twice against memorial

    Legislative

    State GOP leaders reject proposals to memorialize Coleman, clearing the way for city action.

  4. Marker proposal deadline passes

    Policy

    Organizations submit ideas for plaques covering overlooked local histories.

  5. Salt Lake City launches marker pilot

    Policy

    City opens a program inviting local organizations to propose historical markers. Submissions close February 28.

  6. Thomas Coleman lynched on Capitol Hill

    Historical Event

    Former slave Thomas Coleman is killed on Utah's Capitol Hill, one of two recorded lynchings of Black men in Salt Lake City.

Scenarios

1

Salt Lake City's marker program becomes permanent

Likely Resolves by Q2 2027

Discussed by: Salt Lake City Council, Mayor's Office of Access & Belonging

The pilot's success with Coleman and the LGBTQ marker builds momentum. The City Council votes to fund the program permanently and opens a new round of community proposals, yielding several more plaques.

2

Utah legislature moves to restrict city memorials

Possible Resolves by Mar 15, 2027

Discussed by: Utah Republican legislative leadership

State lawmakers, having twice rejected the Coleman memorial, respond to the city's end-run. A bill in the 2027 session limits municipalities' authority to place markers on or near Capitol grounds, or strips funding for such programs.

3

Program quietly sunsets after the pilot

Unlikely Resolves by Q2 2027

Interest fades after the initial two markers. No new proposals are submitted or approved, and the pilot ends without a permanent program, leaving the Coleman and LGBTQ plaques as standalone markers.

Historical Context

2 moments from history that rhyme with this story — and how they unfolded.

2018-present

EJI Community Remembrance Project (2018-present)

The Equal Justice Initiative began partnering with local communities to place narrative markers at the sites of racial terror lynchings. Markers now stand in more than a dozen states, from Maryland to Texas to California.

Then

Communities gained a public way to confront histories of racial violence long ignored by official records.

Now

Hundreds of markers now form a national counternarrative to monuments honoring Confederate leaders.

Why this matters now

Salt Lake City's Coleman marker uses the same template — a local commemorative plaque addressing a lynching that state institutions declined to acknowledge.

2015-2021

Confederate monument removal battles (2015-2021)

After the 2015 Charleston church shooting, cities across the South moved to remove Confederate statues. Several states passed laws prohibiting local removal, creating a direct local-state conflict over public memory.

Then

Cities removed monuments in defiance of state prohibitions in places like Birmingham and New Orleans.

Now

The fights established that municipalities control memorials on their own land, even when states disagree.

Why this matters now

Salt Lake City's end-run around the legislature mirrors this dynamic: a city used its property authority to memorialize what a state refused.

Sources

(4)
KSL.com The Salt Lake Tribune Salt Lake City Mayor's Office Equal Justice Initiative