In January 1987, a racially-mixed group of protesters organized a civil rights march in honor of the first federal holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., with the intent to help counter Forsyth County’s image as racist. However, shortly after marchers turned the corner on Highway 9, the bus full of marchers were assaulted by a crowd of 400-500 mostly male segregationists chanting racial slurs and throwing rocks and bottles.
March leaders did not think there would be a violent outburst because of the presence of uniformed police but in danger of physical harm, the marchers turned back. “They was throwing rocks before we even got off the bus. First they broke the windows; then they broke our heads” according to Robert Thompson.
In response to this event, a much larger march took place, involving thousands of civil rights activists from across the country. An estimated 5,000 counter-demonstrators also showed up. This large demonstration cost Forsyth County approximately $670,000.
These events brought national media attention to the area. In 1987, The Oprah Show had been on the air for just six months. February 1987, they packed up the show and headed south to Forsyth County, Georgia, a place where it was widely believed at the time that Forsyth County had no African-Americans living within its borders in 75 years. Although government census records show a very small number of blacks (4 in 1960, 1 in 1980) did live within the county.
I was born in July of 1987 and raised in Forsyth County. I know many family members and friends that were there that day. I am happy to say a lot has changed since then. Despite growing up in a “racist” county and having racist friends, I do not consider myself racist at all.
I clearly remember the first black person that arrived at my school. I remember her name was Beth and I remember making friend with her. I want to instill in my children that all people are created equal and should not be treated differently based on sex, race, or religion.
Now Forsyth County is one of the richest counties in the United States and has 7,329 African American citizens living here.
Hey Amy!
I found you through the GA Social Media Moms group. I live in Cumming, so your post title caught my attention! I agree that times have definitely changed … thankfully!!! I actually just started a local blog (www.cumminglocal.com) because I enjoy the city so much:) Hopefully we’ll meet in the near future (if we haven’t already bumped into each other before!!)
Mandi
First time commenter here 🙂
I, too, have lived in Cumming – though I live in Gwinnett County now. I first moved to Cumming in 1999. Forsyth County is no more racist than any other town, city, or county in the United States!
Your title, too, caught my attention! I’m glad that the climate has changed! No one person is any better than another based upon race, creed, or color!
Kelly 🙂
Yeh, I was THERE….actually right there in the middle of all that awful racist junk. It was awful – I saw all the signs, all the ignorant ppl yelling at them for the color of their skin….watched all the awful KKK scream their nonsense. I was there the first time they came and had to leave because of all the racist ppl throwing rocks at them – then I was there when they came back with the GBI lining the entire streets of Cumming so they could march.
Our parents were all over it – hyped up and loving it, but even as young as I was – I KNEW it was wrong. I was so disgusted by the whole atmosphere of it all – the hate for NO reason — I was sick to my stomach then, and sick to my stomach now when I watched it back on tv.
True, there are other racist towns in America – but Cumming was different….and I wouldn’t say it has completely changed. I also think a big part of why it has changed is because people from other states have moved there.