Blood at the Root: A Racial Cleansing in America

The economic concerns of wealthy white Forsyth residents—including leading political figures—often governed the ways that events unfolded in the county in 1912. Northern Georgia in the early 20th century was suffering from “devastation” (32) after the war. Both rich and poor white residents were searching for economic stability, so that black residents were an easy target when there was increased “competition for scarce work” (35). Yet for the wealthiest citizens, “what mattered more than anything else was getting the trials over with, and the pickers of the county back into the fields” (99). These economic concerns motivated much of the county’s actions before, during, and after the violence of 1912.

A significant tension emerged between the wealthiest white Forsyth figures and the poor white workers of the county. As Charlie Harris and other key residents tried to get larger recognition for the county, they were stymied by media representation of the mob violence in Forsyth. Meanwhile, poor white people saw attacks against black residents as their only path forward for better financial opportunities and stability. While politicians felt that the “rising tide of mob violence posed a serious threat not just to law and order but to the agrarian economy and larger business interests of the state” (21), they were overcome by the mob itself. The conflict between these interests would eventually be resolved upon the complete exile of black residents, as Forsyth County economically and politically adjusted to its new all-white status. The more moderate wealthy, white residents had lost, and they rapidly left the county after 1912 in search of places where they could establish themselves.

A significant amount of conflict emerged between the political interests of the state of Georgia and the local interests of white Forsyth politicians and citizens. As the events of 1912 began to unfold, the public consensus in Forsyth was that “the time for a reckoning had arrived” (29), no matter what the “governor, the mayor, and the adjutant general…talk[ed] about due process” (29). As white public opinion took hold on the ground in Forsyth and white men began “shooting, bombing, and burning black residents out of their homes, the federal government…turned a blind eye and a deaf ear” (117). It seems that the local and state governments found it easier to ignore the events taking place in Forsyth rather than facing them head-on. This left the white residents in the county able to carry on with their violence at will.

Phillips takes care to demonstrate that the local government of Forsyth County was significantly biased toward the actions of the white mob; in particular, Sheriff Reid was “calculated” (130) in his support of the racial violence happening around him. This meant that even when the federal and state governments did step in to stem the violence, Reid was able to thwart these efforts and continue to support the local white residents' actions.

The extraordinary spate of violence that occurred in a short span of time in Forsyth County in 1912 and again in 1987 was in large part due to the mob mentality of the local white residents. Phillips continues to connect the lynching and violence to the “grand tradition” (49) of racialized violence in Forsyth and in the south at large. While many portrayals of this violence suggested that lynchings occurred because of a “sudden irresistible passion” (49), Phillips challenges this, suggesting that the mob violence that emerged both in 1912 and 1987 was the direct result of the white supremacist beliefs and values at the founding of much of white society in Forsyth.

One critical way to understand the underpinnings of the mob violence that occurred in Forsyth is to look at the social systems of the county. After emancipation, white and black residents coexisted and worked alongside each other in a delicate balance. Yet the pervasiveness of white supremacy meant that one minor event could tip the scales and tap into a reservoir of hatred and fear white residents harbored underneath the surface. In 1912, the nightriders who terrorized black residents would have been “men whose voices they had heard many times before…white neighbors they had lived and worked with for years” (69). No matter how long the black residents of Forsyth had lived there, or how close they might have been to their white neighbors, employers, and friends, when conflict arose, white residents felt it their right and their duty to engage in racialized violence to preserve racial purity.

In the United States, pervasive racialized myths have been a catalyst for violence against people of color for centuries. In Forsyth, these myths were widespread and the impetus for the majority of violence perpetrated against black residents. For example, one of the first lynchings of 1912 was of Grant Smith, “an outspoken, educated black man” (7), who thus presented an incredible threat to white people. Myths about black people included portraying them as ignorant and passive; for a black person to resist this narrative meant that they would become something “feared” (7) by white Georgians.

One of the most important racialized myths that impacted events in Forsyth was that of the threatening black male rapist who would rob white women of their purity. The “tale of Ellen Grice’s rape represented one of the most vivid fantasies of southern whites” (14), and began causing the racial unrest eventually leading to the violent expulsion of the black residents of Forsyth. A commonly held belief was that an appropriate response to “black transgressions” (81) of the social code was violent punishment. These racialized myths persist in modern American society. Though today's myths might not consistently cause the levels of active violence seen in 1912 Forsyth, they continue to influence white people to believe and act in white supremacist ways.