The Morning Program

Melissa Thiel and Kurt Cichowski, speaking

On May 9, 1930, George Hughes was lynched, the Grayson County Courthouse was burned to the ground, and the black business district on Mulberry Street was destroyed. There is no Texas Historical Marker for this tragic event.  Black citizens of Sherman were absolutely terrorized following the lynching of George Hughes. Ignoring history does not make it go away. As a community, we must face our past to prevent repeating history and to heal the harm caused by it.

Melissa Thiel  grew up in Grayson County and graduated high school in Tom Bean. She received an associate degree at Grayson County Jr

College (now Grayson College) and went on to study at Texas Woman’s University to complete her bachelor’s in history. She received her master’s in history with emphasis in Public History in 2019. It was during her studies that she learned about the lynching of George Hughes at the Grayson County Courthouse. Melissa leads the local effort to document the event with a Texas Historical Marker.