Racial Cleansings Against African Americans in the Early 1900s: Forsyth County, Georgia

Abstract

This paper focuses on the rising racial tensions in Georgia that led to a racial cleansing against African Americans in Forsyth County in 1912. Other racial cleansings occurred throughout the South in towns where “too many” black people lived. White people were threatened by African Americans especially after claims of sexual assaults against white women “came to light”. The lynching of multiple black men in Georgia including Sam Hose and Rob Edwards helped raise tensions between white people and African Americans, which ultimately led to the racial cleansing. The Atlanta Race “Riot” of 1906 also made black and white people further distrust each other. The racial cleansing of Forsyth County was celebrated by white people all over the South, because racial cleansings were deemed as a way to rid criminals from your community. White people were scared of having black people become successful because they were concerned about their own status. White people were able to massacre African Americans and destroy black communities because ultimately American society still did not view them as people, even decades after slavery was abolished.