Forsyth County, Georgia is one of Georgia's 159 counties and is one of 29 counties that makes up Metro Atlanta. The county sits north of Fulton County and currently has a population of about 244,000 people.
So what's so important about this book? Well Blood at the Root tells the story of the racial cleansing of Forsyth County. Now this Forsyth County is far from being the only place in America that drove out their Black population. (I'll do another post on the book, Sundown Towns). I first heard about the history of Forsyth County while in college when I heard that at one point in time it had been an all White county.
In 1987, the county's history began coming up and several individuals at the time sought to show that Blacks would be welcome in Forsyth County. Their original march was disrupted by Klansmen and counter-protesters. The next week nearly 20,000 marchers would show up in Cumming, Georgia (county seat of Forsyth County) including individuals such as Coretta Scott King, Hosea Williams, Jesse Jackson, Andrew Young, and countless other activists and politicians. They were again met with Klansmen and counter-protesters. The governor at the time sent out the National Guard to help protect the marchers.
A few weeks later Oprah Winfrey would broadcast a segment of her show from Forsyth.
(Here's that episode)
Let me remind you the year is 1987, not 1887. All of this happened less than 40 years ago nearly 20 years after the Civil Rights Movement was supposed to have moved the United States closer to racial equality.
So how did Forsyth County get to this point? It all started in a way that most incidents like this did in those days with the sexual assault of White females. Within the course of four days two White females had been sexually assaulted and one of those females would end up dying. As was common several Black young males were accused and arrested. In the early 20th century police forces weren't very common in small towns. The county sheriff may have had a few deputies and the jailhouse was often in the basement of the county courthouse.
After the first incident a mob converged on the courthouse demanding the prisoners and would beat a Black male almost to death. This would prompt the mayor of Cumming to request the governor of Georgia to deploy the militia to disband the mob.
After the second attack the sheriff arrested the accused and put them in jail. Again as was common vigilante justice would take root. Mobs of whites from the surrounding area went into downtown Cumming, broke into the jail, shot the young man, and dragged him out into the street. He would be hanged from a telephone pole where it would be pelted with bullets and rocks and mutilated throughout the night. Two of the other accused males would be tried and hanged.
Over the next few weeks the Klan would ride through the county harassing and terrorizing Blacks off of their land. Some Blacks were able to sell their land before being forced to leave, but many would be forced off their land while crops were still in the field and while animals were still grazing. Over the years their White neighbors would slowly begin to move onto land that had previously belonged to Blacks.
All of this occurred in 1912. This was a time where accusations of Black men sexually assaulting Black women in some shape, form, or fashion ran rampant throughout the country. This was also a time when the words rape and sexual assault had extremely vague definitions.Why was this the case? There's much speculation around events like this. Some say that these White women had willing relations with Black men and when caught accused them of rape. Some say that White women had relations with other White men and upon being found out would accuse a Black. Accusations of this sort coupled with many other issues directly tied to racism would cause the Atlanta Race Riots (1906), Tulsa Massacre (1921), Rosewood Massacre (1923), and countless other race riots where Whites attacked Blacks throughout the early twentieth century. And even if the events that occurred over the years should they have been the cause of such great massacres over the years. The same punishment wasn't pushed on the many White men who continued to take advantage of Black women.
The events of 1912 would keep Forsyth County White for nearly 75 years and would have many Blacks afraid to cross into the county. In 1915, a White doctor with business to do in the county came there with a Black nurse and chauffeur. He left them waiting them in the car while he went inside the courthouse. The white doctor came outside to see that a mob of about 200 had formed around his car and his servants. Another group of Whites touring North Georgia would also learn the lesson of the doctor when they crossed into Forsyth County with Black chauffeurs. When they crossed into the county their cars would be pelted by residents. Once in Cumming a few of the chauffeurs would be attacked by mobs. A White teacher would move to Forsyth County in the 1930s with her Black maid her house would be surrounded by White men with torches forcing her to take her maid out of town. In 1980, a Black couple would attend a company picnic on the banks of Lake Lanier which borders Forsyth County. Both individuals had not grown up in Georgia and did not know the history of where they were. That evening as they headed back to Atlanta a group of White men shot into the car shooting the Black male driver. He would survive, but this speaks to the deep racists views that some in Forsyth County still had.
Why is this important? Because it is our history. While Forsyth County is a much more diverse county than it was in 1987 it took nearly 75 years for this county to begin to turn the tide and join the rest of Georgia in being more racially diverse.
Do you see any parallels of the past in today? What implications of the past are still present today?
For more information definitely check out the book. Do a Google Search and see what you can find. There's also this podcast done by NPR. And you can check out the links below. I hope you've gained something from this post and I hope to be back with more!
- Mr. D
References:
Blood at the Root by Patrick Phillips
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