In 1952, a then 19 year-old Lynn Council was arrested along with other Black teens in Apex, North Carolina and falsely accused of robbing a community store.  After interrogations in the Apex jail led to no admissions of guilt, Apex Chief of Police Sam Bagwell and a Wake County Sheriff's deputy took Mr. Council to a nearby wooded area and hanged him from a tree in order to coerce him into a confession.  Miraculously, Mr. Council survived this attempted lynching and was returned to his community.

67 years later, Mr. Council bravely shared his story with local historians, students at Middle Creek High School, and then the media.  This courageous act of truth telling led to reconciliation actions by the present-day Wake County Sheriff and Apex Chief of Police.