Researcher publishes open letter to lynched Culpeper man

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — "Working in the trenches, side by side with people," as Zann Nelson said, highlighted the beliefs her father instilled in her youth. Growing up in Culpeper County, Nelson said she learned of a deeper truth to American history, and her father reminded her that people should be seen through the lens of equality.

Those experiences motivated her pursuit to make Virginia the first state to acknowledge the horrific crimes of the Jim Crow era.

Nelson, a researcher and a columnist for the Culpeper Times, initiated a resolution that passed the General Assembly acknowledging with "profound regrets" the lynching of over 80 African-American men.