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4.32 AVERAGE
4.32 AVERAGE
I really loved this book. Patrick Phillips did an outstanding job. I remember when Oprah aired the show back in 1987 about Forsyth County. I remember that I only caught bits and pieces of the show and never really gave it that much thought back then. I wish I would have read this book much sooner. Patrick Phillips not only writes about the racial cleansing in Forsyth County but other places as well. It is sad to know that we are still after all this time(years) still living in a world where different races of people still don't want to live next door to each other, eat at the same restaurants, ride on the same bus, or ride in the same car as you. It would be nice to be able to put all the prejudice and hatred away, but sadly that day I feel will never come.
This book was interesting, accessible, and really pretty horrifying. I liked that the author had a personal connection with the county it's written about.
dark
medium-paced
This is a phenomenally memorable book about a North Georgia county that once billed itself proudly as the most white county in the nation. It's a book about an American genecide--a horror story deliberately buried by those who would prefer that it never come to light.
Forsyth County, Georgia was the scene of extreme racial tension in 1912 that caused one black American to be accused of raping and killing a white woman. Before the horror ends, two other black men are accused of similar things and are hung in a ghoulish public ceremony. Then came the cleansing.
White residents used fire and dynamite to burn out and blow up the homes, churches, and schools of every black citizen in the county. White citizens forcibly evicted black Americans and confiscated their land. Many of them were upper middle-class black families who had been highly successful in the community. None of that mattered to an entire community of racists and haters.
The author describes growing up in the county, and he recalls a civil rights march in 1987 in which his parents and sister participated. That initial march ended badly, but there were others that ultimately proved more effective. Today the county is far more diverse, and many white citizens would just as soon the author not stir up a past deliberately forgotten and revised.
You'll be sickened and horrified when you read this that anything like it can happen in America. To his credit, the author tosses no apologetic softballs toward Woodrow Wilson, arguably the most racist of any of our presidents. You read about the iron grip white residents kept on the county to ensure that no blacks could ever live there--an iron grip that lasted into the 1990s.
I loved the writing style of this, and while it was anything but an easy read, it was one I won't soon forget.
Forsyth County, Georgia was the scene of extreme racial tension in 1912 that caused one black American to be accused of raping and killing a white woman. Before the horror ends, two other black men are accused of similar things and are hung in a ghoulish public ceremony. Then came the cleansing.
White residents used fire and dynamite to burn out and blow up the homes, churches, and schools of every black citizen in the county. White citizens forcibly evicted black Americans and confiscated their land. Many of them were upper middle-class black families who had been highly successful in the community. None of that mattered to an entire community of racists and haters.
The author describes growing up in the county, and he recalls a civil rights march in 1987 in which his parents and sister participated. That initial march ended badly, but there were others that ultimately proved more effective. Today the county is far more diverse, and many white citizens would just as soon the author not stir up a past deliberately forgotten and revised.
You'll be sickened and horrified when you read this that anything like it can happen in America. To his credit, the author tosses no apologetic softballs toward Woodrow Wilson, arguably the most racist of any of our presidents. You read about the iron grip white residents kept on the county to ensure that no blacks could ever live there--an iron grip that lasted into the 1990s.
I loved the writing style of this, and while it was anything but an easy read, it was one I won't soon forget.
You know from the beginning that this is going to be a tough read. It's a book about racial violence, and while it was never far from the surface, this political climate makes me feel like we are going backwards rather than forward.
That said, the book is well researched, easy to follow, and presents arguments that while they are not new, they are well packaged around this case study of race and violence in America.
That said, the book is well researched, easy to follow, and presents arguments that while they are not new, they are well packaged around this case study of race and violence in America.
As extreme an example of Southern racism as Forsyth County was, its story still seems to me like an educational case study. Every detail of what occurred is familiar and the sort of act known to have occurred throughout the South, up to and including the absurd denial of its white population in later years.
Patrick Phillips' books is powerful in recreating the tragedy of 1912 Forsyth County. Two crimes against white women led to lynchings, execution, and the expulsion of every black citizen in the county. This book tells the story in personal terms, from those like Joseph Kellogg, a former slave who worked hard to accumulate 200 acres of land, only to lose it all in the expulsion. Or the story of a weak kneed mayors who caves to a mob mentality. Or a sheriff who feeds the mob mentality in an effort to gain votes. Or the story of Hosea Williams, who 70 years later, comes to Forsyth County to force change. Phillips tells the stories of this ongoing tragedy beautifully. One of my favorite books of the year. And one of the most important.
history isn't so long ago
good use of oral history
still curious about 87-present
good use of oral history
still curious about 87-present
This was often a very tough read because of the subject matter, so I read it as I could stomach it, but it was incredibly well-done, finely-tuned, eye-opening, and attuned to deep and difficult truths. I believe it should be required reading for all white Americans, especially those who like me grew up in the 1980s and don't even remember the events of Forsyth County in 1987 when they were national news. To have forgotten is our shame. To remember and to keep remembering -- and now to enact change and reconciliation -- is our responsibility.
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
medium-paced
This book explores the history behind racial lynching in Forsyth County, Georgia that led to its largely white populace today. We follow the county's history with slavery and focus on the lynchings in 1912 with thorough explanations of the news coverage of the events at that time. The description of these historical events captures the horror and pain of the victims and the level of hate and racism that led to those events. This is not a light read in subject matter, but is incredibly informative and easy to follow. Definitely recommend if you want to capture a glimpse of racial history in the South. The author ends on a hopeful note which helps balance out the narrative of the events by the end.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Murder
I will note that the author does quote many sources that include racial slurs, but he only uses them to illustrate important points in the text when he does. I mention this since the author is white and that may be something that some people may take into consideration when deciding if this book is for them or not.