FORSYTH COUNTY, Georgia – Over a century ago, a tragic incident occurred in Forsyth County, Georgia. In September 1912, a white 18-year-old, Mae Crow, was found assaulted in the woods near her family’s home. Despite the lack of witnesses or evidence, a 24-year-old Black man, Rob Edwards, was arrested. He was then taken from the county jail by a mob of white residents and brutally beaten, shot, and lynched in the town square.
Alongside Edwards, several others, including his wife, were arrested, and two teens were convicted by all-white juries before being hanged in front of thousands of spectators. The aftermath led to mobs setting fire to local Black churches and businesses, forcing all Black residents out of the county.
Decades later, in 1987, it was discovered that what was once a Black community, Oscarville, had been flooded for the creation of Lake Lanier in the 1950s. Historians found that many of the community’s structures, including unmarked graves, were not removed. Reports in 2017 from a longtime diver claimed to have felt body parts in the lake while underwater.
In recent news, it was announced that one of the lake’s rescue teams would no longer be using divers for underwater rescues, opting for robots instead to decrease risks to divers.
This tragic history of wiping out Black communities and wealth is not unique to Lake Lanier. It has been seen in other areas such as Alabama’s Lake Martin and New York’s Seneca Village. Highways have also been built over Black communities, and recent reports of plans to build a highway through a Black community in South Carolina are proof that this isn’t just a thing of the past.
Today, some politicians are prohibiting the teaching of this history, further adding to the legacy of racist cruelty in America. The demographics of Forsyth County show that only 4.9% of the population is Black, with an overwhelming 72.6% being white.
In conclusion, the tragic events of Forsyth County, Georgia, serve as a reminder of the racially motivated atrocities that have impacted Black communities throughout history. They also shed light on the ongoing struggle for racial justice and equality in the United States.