1987 Forsyth County protests

Civil rights demonstrations in Georgia, US December 2022 December 2022 1987 Forsyth County protests the post–civil rights era in African-American history January 17, 1987 (first march)January 24, 1987 (second march) Forsyth County, Georgia, United States 34 12 23 N 84 8 23 W title, inline * Expulsion of black people following the 1912 racial conflict in Forsyth County, Georgia Forsyth County's reputation as a sundown county * Bring attention to legacy of racist activities in Forsyth County * Marching Public speeches A bi-racial human relations committee was established by the county Civil rights activists White supremacists * Hosea Williams Dean Carter Tammie Carter * J. B. Stoner David Duke Don Black Richard Barrett * First march: Approximately 75 Second march: Approximately 20,000 * First march: Approximately 400 Second march: Approximately 1,000–1,500 * First march: 8 Second march: 64 The 1987 Forsyth County protests were a series of civil rights demonstrations held in Forsyth County, Georgia, in the United States. The protests consisted of two marches, held one week apart on January 17 and January 24, 1987. The marches and accompanying counterdemonstrations by white supremacists drew national attention to the county. The second march was attended by many prominent civil rights activists and politicians, including both of Georgia's U.S. senators, and attracted about 20,000 marchers, making it one of the largest civil rights demonstrations in United States history. At the time, Forsyth County was a rural county about 30 mi km northeast of Atlanta that had a history of violence and discrimination against African Americans, being a sundown county that was almost entirely populated by white Americans. In light of this, in 1987, a local resident announced plans for a march to occur on the weekend of Martin Luther King Jr. Day to draw attention to the county's history and continuing problems with race. Hosea Williams, a civil rights activist and politician in Atlanta, joined the project and helped lead a group of about 75 marchers through the county on January 17. The march was disrupted by a group of about 400 white supremacists, including members of the Ku Klux Klan, who injured several marchers, including Williams. The march was eventually called off and several Klansmen were arrested. The violence attracted national and international attention to the county. Williams and other activists organized another march for January 24 that was attended by about 20,000 people, including several famous politicians and civil rights activists, such as both of Georgia's senators and Representative John Lewis. Between 1,000 and 1,500 white supremacist counter-protesters were present, though with roughly 3,000 law enforcement officials present (including over 1,000 members of the Georgia National Guard), there were few incidents of violence. About 64 people were arrested during the march, including white supremacists Don Black and David Duke. About two weeks after the second march, Oprah Winfrey traveled to Cumming to broadcast an episode of her talk show, interviewing several white residents. Some activists protested the show due to the producers' decisions to not have any African Americans on the show, and Williams and several others were arrested for unlawful assembly. Following the marches, the county created a bi-racial human relations committee intended to address some of the issues raised by activists. Additionally, the Southern Poverty Law Center sued several white supremacist organizations and individuals for damages from the protests and won nearly $1 million in a federal case that resulted in the dissolution of one of the groups involved. Over the next several decades, the non-white population of Forsyth County increased, and by 2022, black people represented about 4 percent of the population, while about a quarter of the county was made up of Asian or Hispanic Americans. Background 1912 racial conflict 1912 racial conflict in Forsyth County, Georgia thumb|Map of Georgia with Forsyth County in red Forsyth County is a county located in north Georgia, about 30 mi km northeast of the state capital of Atlanta,Smolla 2020 225 with its county seat being the city of Cumming.Treadwell Bearak 1987New Georgia Encyclopedia For much of the 20th century, the primarily rural county had a long history of poor race relations and a reputation as a hostile place for African Americans.Smolla 2020 225 In 1912, an African American man was lynched by white Americans in the county due to allegations regarding the murder and rape of a white woman there.Zeskind 2009 127 Elliott-Tenort 1992 Clendinen 1987 1 King 2017 The New York Times 1987 24 Smolla 2020 225 Treadwell Bearak 1987 Byrd 1987 Bridges 1994 127 In the aftermath of this event, some white people known as "night riders" waged a months-long terror campaign of whitecapping that resulted in the expulsion of almost all African Americans from the county.Phillips 2017 Nesbitt 1987 Smolla 2020 225 Grant 1993 554note A 1987 Los Angeles Times article by journalists David Treadwell and Barry Bearak regarding the 1912 events says, "Virtually no blacks have lived in Forsyth County in the 75 years since 1912, when hundreds of them were driven out by klan marauders after the brutal rape and murder of a young white girl that was attributed to three black youths".Treadwell Bearak 1987 However, in his 2016 book Blood at the Root, professor Patrick Phillips states that the Ku Klux Klan, in its original form, had become defunct by 1872 and that "[f]or more than forty years after [1872], there was no Ku Klux Klan as we know it".Phillips 2016 71–72 The Klan would not be reconstituted until 1915, three years after the events in Forsyth County.Dodd 2023 Phillips refers to the individuals involved in the 1912 events as "night riders".Phillips 2016 71–72 Prior to this, approximately 1,000 African Americans had been living there,Smolla 2020 225 Grant 1993 554 Venet 2020 168 Bridges 1994 127 Treadwell 1987 Zeskind 2009 127 with the county's total population being around 11,000.Holloway 2022 Sundown county Following the expulsion, Forsyth developed a reputation as a sundown county, where African Americans were not allowed to be in the county after nightfall.Cobb 2008 121 In the 1960s, signs were posted around the county reading, "Nigger–Don't Let the Sun Set on You in Forsyth County",Grant 1993 554 including one on the lawn of the county courthouse.Holloway 2022Treadwell 1987Ingwerson 1987a Also during this time, as Lake Lanier (which constituted the eastern border of the county) developed into a popular recreational destination, African American vacationers faced discrimination and threats from locals.Grant 1993 554 In 1968, ten African American boys and their camp counselors were told by local residents to leave the county or they would be forcibly removed, and in 1976 there was a cross burning after an African American man rented a slipway at a nearby marina for his boat.Grant 1993 554 Black truck drivers who traveled to the Tyson Foods chicken processing plant were often escorted by members of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI),Grant 1993 554Holloway 2022 while the early 1980s saw many black people shot in encounters with white people at the lake.Grant 1993 554Treadwell Bearak 1987Treadwell 1987 Despite a steady growth in population through the 1970s and 1980s,Cobb 2008 121 the county was home to almost no African Americans, with the United States Census Bureau reporting that, of the county's 1980 population of 27,958 people, only one was black.King 2020note In a 1993 book, historian Donald L. Grant questions the reliability of this data, saying, "The 1980 census indicated that one black lived in the county, although that person's existence was suspect".Grant 1993 554 Additionally, a 1987 article in the Los Angeles Times states that local officials did not believe any African Americans were living in the county at that time.Treadwell 1987 By comparison, censuses taken in 1920 and 1960 had shown a black population of 30 and four, respectively.Grant 1993 554 1980 also saw the expansion of U.S. Route 19 in the county into a four-lane toll road, significantly decreasing the travel time between Cumming and Atlanta and causing the county to begin to develop into an exurban bedroom community for upper middle class white people who worked in Atlanta.Zeskind 2009 125 Proposed march thumb|292x292px|Civil rights activist Hosea Williams (pictured 1960s) was involved in organizing the January 17 march.Treadwell 1987Smolla 2020 225 By 1987, the county had a population of around 38,000,Gurr 1989 124Byrd 1987Grant 1993 554 of which about 99 percent was white,Smolla 2020 225 leading several media publications to refer to the county during this time as "all-white".Nesbitt 1987Treadwell Bearak 1987The New York Times 1987 24 That year, Charles A. Blackburn, a white resident of Cumming, announced plans for a civil rights march to draw attention to the county's racial problems.Treadwell 1987McKay 2011 149 Blackburn backed out of the idea after receiving numerous death threats.Clendinen 1987 1 The New York Times 1987 24 Grant 1993 554 Treadwell 1987 McKay 2011 149 Dean and Tammy Carter, two residents of Gainesville, Georgia,Grant 1993 554 revived the idea and invited Hosea Williams,Treadwell 1987 a civil rights activist and member of the Atlanta City Council, proposing a "March against Fear and Intimidation" in the county on January 17.Smolla 2020 225note While several sources specify that the march was revived by Dean and Tammy Carter,Grant 1993 554Treadwell 1987 one source states that the Gainesville resident who revived the idea for the march was "Dean Williams".McKay 2011 149 The purpose of the march was to draw attention to the history and lasting legacy of the racial events in the county,Smolla 2020 225 including highlighting the fact that the county was still all-white.Gurr 1989 124 It was scheduled to take place the weekend before Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which had been established as a federal holiday only four years earlier, in 1983, and had quickly become, according to human rights activist and academic Leonard Zeskind, "a flashpoint for white supremacists".Zeskind 2009 125 In the weeks leading up to the march, Ku Klux Klan (KKK) groups and white supremacists in north Georgia began to coordinate plans to disrupt the event, which they said was being organized by "outside agitators and communist racemixers".Zeskind 2009 126 The planned march was to occur against the backdrop of several high-profile racial incidents across the country,Ingwerson 1987a including an attack on three black people in Howard Beach, Queens, and a hazing incident at a military college in South Carolina wherein a black student was harassed by white students who had dressed as Klansmen.Treadwell 1987 Regarding the racial climate at the time, activist and pastor Cecil Williams of the Glide Memorial United Methodist Church in San Francisco said, "Just when we thought we had swept the whirlwind of racism into the corners of society, now we see it is blowing back into the center of the floor".Treadwell 1987 On January 17, the same day that the march in Forsyth County was scheduled, white supremacist groups had held a parade in Pulaski, Tennessee, the birthplace of the KKK, led by white supremacists Robert E. Miles and Thomas Robb.Zeskind 2009 130 First march The march occurred in Cumming on Saturday, January 17,Bridges 1994 127Smolla 2020 225Gurr 1989 124 with a group of about 75 demonstrators,note Several sources state that approximately 75 individuals participated in the march.McKay 2011 Treadwell 1987 Grant 1993 555 Gurr 1989 124 Byrd 1987 Bridges 1994 127 However, in 1987, activist A. James Rudin stated in an article in The Christian Science Monitor that there were 90 demonstrators,Rudin 1987 a figure repeated in a 2020 book by scholar Rodney A. Smolla.Smolla 2020 225 Meanwhile, a 1987 article in The New York Times stated that there were about 50 marchers,The New York Times 1987 24 a number also given in a 2022 article in The Daily Beast.Holloway 2022 Additionally, a 1996 book by historian Paul A. Gilje states that there were about 60 marchers.Gilje 1996 172 mostly from Atlanta.Grant 1993 555 The group consisted of about two dozen local white people and several African American activists who traveled there by bus.Zeskind 2009 126 Among those who participated were future author Patrick Phillips and his family, who were locals of the area,Phillips 2017 and state representative Billy McKinney.The New York Times 1987 24 The march was planned to begin at Bethel View Road near an offramp of Georgia State Route 400 and go for several miles through the county until ending in Cumming.Jaspin 2007 141 The demonstrators arrived late, and in the meantime, a group of about 400 counterdemonstrators,note Most sources state that there were approximately 400 counterdermonstrators.Treadwell 1987 McKay 2011 150 Bridges 1994 127 Gurr 1989 124 Byrd 1987 Zeskind 2009 126 Ingwerson 1987a However, a 1993 book by historian Donald L. Grant gives an estimate of approximately 500.Grant 1993 555 composed of Klansmen and individuals sympathetic to white supremacist ideology,Treadwell 1987 had gathered to oppose the civil rights demonstration.Gurr 1989 124Byrd 1987Grant 1993 555 Noted white supremacists J. B. Stoner, Daniel Carver,McKay 2011 150 and Dave Holland, who was the grand dragon of a KKK organization, were present and gave speeches that energized the group of counterdemonstrators.Grant 1993 555 During one speech, Stoner stated that allowing African Americans into Forsyth County would bring "crime and AIDS" to the area.The New York Times 1987 24 Seeking to disrupt the march, these white supremacists gathered at the intersection of two county roads along the march's 2.5 mi km on route,The New York Times 1987 24Holloway 2022 and some of the people carried Confederate battle flags and nooses.Grant 1993 555Phillips 2017Zeskind 2009 126 Klansmen constituted about ten percent of the total number of the counterdemonstrators there and were primarily members of one of two Klan organizations: The Southern White Knights and the Invisible Empire Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.Zeskind 2009 126 thumb|The old Forsyth County Courthouse, pictured 2015 In preparation for the march, about 75 local police officers and members of the Georgia State Patrol (GSP) were on duty, though both the law enforcement and the demonstrators were greatly outnumbered by the counterdemonstrators,Grant 1993 555The New York Times 1987 24 as local officials had not expected their large turnout.Smolla 2020 225 As the march began, the large number of counterdemonstrators overwhelmed the police cordons that they had set up along the march's path, and many began to shout racial slurs and other obscenities at the marchers.Grant 1993 555Smolla 2020 225 At one point, Williams led marchers in singing "We Shall Overcome" as the counterdemonstrators chanted racial expletives.Phillips 2017 The event eventually turned violent as some counterdemonstrators began throwing rocks and bottles at the marchers,Zeskind 2009 126 Treadwell 1987 Bridges 1994 127 Grant 1993 555 Smolla 2020 225 resulting in several people becoming injured.Treadwell Bearak 1987note Sources vary on the number of individuals injured. A 1987 article in The New York Times states that four marchers suffered minor injuries,The New York Times 1987 24 a number also given in a 2011 historical book by author John McKay,McKay 2011 150 while a 1987 article in the Los Angeles Times states that 8 people were injured.Treadwell Bearak 1987 Williams was one of the injured, having been hit in the head by a brick.McKay 2011 150 The violence ultimately prompted the march organizers to call off the event prematurely after law enforcement officials told them that they could not guarantee their safety.Grant 1993 555McKay 2011 150Smolla 2020 225 Law enforcement officials arrested 8 Klansmen, and all but one were residents of Forsyth County.Grant 1993 555 After the march was called off, counterdemonstrators met at the Forsyth County Courthouse and listened to more speeches given by Stoner and other Klansmen.The New York Times 1987 24 Former pro-segregation governor of Georgia Lester Maddox was also in attendance.Zeskind 2009 126 Speaking of the event later, Williams stated, "In thirty years in the civil rights movement, I haven't seen racism any more sick than here today".Grant 1993 555 Talking to The New York Times, Williams compared the county to South Africa under apartheid and said that children as young as ten or 12 had yelled death threats and racial slurs at the marchers.The New York Times 1987 24Holloway 2022 The march and accompanying violence attracted national attention,Bridges 1994 127Zatarain 1990 264 and local leaders attempted to mitigate some of the bad publicity, with the chamber of commerce putting full-page advertisements on newspapers stating that the racists' actions did not represent the people of Forsyth County.Grant 1993 555 Many local residents expressed frustration over the attention the march had drawn to their county, with one Forsyth County local telling The Atlanta Constitution, "we should have busted every camera down there and kicked every reporter's ass".Holloway 2022 In the aftermath of the march, the Mead Corporation cancelled plans they had for constructing a 5,000-worker plant in the county.Grant 1993 555 Second march On January 19, Williams and Dean Carter announced their intention to hold another march in Forsyth County on the following Saturday, January 24.Grant 1993 555 Williams called it a "March for Brotherhood" and said it would be the largest civil rights demonstration since the civil rights movement of the 1960s.Smolla 2020 225 This march drew both national and international attention, with The New York Times reporting on it with a front-page story,Clendinen 1987 1 and saw the participation of about 20,000 demonstrators.note Sources vary on the number of demonstrators present, with most sources giving estimates of about 20,000.Bridges 1994 128 Nesbitt 1987 Coppa 2000 28 Treadwell Bearak 1987 Grant 1993 555 Smolla 2020 225 Venet 2020 168 Elliott-Tenort 1992 Ingwerson 1987b Gilje 1996 172 On the high end, several sources give estimates of about 25,000,Gurr 1989 124Byrd 1987Zeskind 2009 129 while on the low end, both a 1987 article in The New York Times and a 2022 article in The Daily Beast give a range of between 12,000 and 20,000,Clendinen 1987 1Holloway 2022 and a 1987 article from the St. Petersburg Times gives a range of between 15,000 and 20,000.King 2017 Activist A. James Rudin, who attended the march, stated in an article for The Christian Science Monitor that there were 15,000 attendees.Rudin 1987 According to that article in The New York Times, the figure of 20,000 was the estimate given by march organizers, while sheriff's deputies in the county gave an estimate of between 12,000 to 14,000 and a spokesperson for the National Guard gave an estimate of between 15,000 to 20,000.Clendinen 1987 1 The number of demonstrators was four to five times the number of participants that the organizers had expected,Treadwell Bearak 1987Clendinen 1987 1 and they said that there had been an additional 4,000 people in Atlanta who would have participated but were unable to come to Cumming due to a lack of transportation.Treadwell Bearak 1987 In total, about 175 buses provided by the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority were used in getting demonstrators from the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta to Cumming, and when this proved insufficient, an additional ten buses were brought in.Clendinen 1987 1McKay 2011 151 A significant portion of the participants were white,note A 1987 article in the Los Angeles Times estimates that about a third of the marchers were white,Treadwell Bearak 1987 while a 1987 article in the St. Petersburg Times gives an estimate of "[a]t least half".King 2017 over half appeared to be under the age of 30, and some traveled from distant places such as California, New York, and Nigeria to participate.Treadwell Bearak 1987 thumb|U.S. Representative John Lewis (pictured 2003) was one of several politicians and civil rights activists who marched in Forsyth County on January 24.Smolla 2020 225–226 The march was scheduled to begin at 11 a.m., but due to the size of the crowd, the start was delayed by over three hours,Treadwell Bearak 1987 commencing at about 2:20 p.m.Clendinen 1987 1 The protestors met at a shopping center on the outskirts of Cumming and began the roughly 1.25 mi km on march, beginning at an offramp of Georgia 400 at Georgia State Route 20,McKay 2011 151 traveling mostly along Georgia State Route 9,Clendinen 1987 1 and terminating at the Forsyth County Courthouse in downtown Cumming.Treadwell Bearak 1987 Once there, several speeches would be given at the courthouse square.Clendinen 1987 1 Due again to the large number of people participating, the march took about 2 hours to complete, with some areas having people walk eight-to-12 people abreast.Treadwell Bearak 1987 Many notable individuals participated in the march, including numerous politicians and civil rights leaders.Smolla 2020 225–226Treadwell Bearak 1987 Both of the U.S. senators from Georgia, Sam Nunn and Wyche Fowler, marched, along with U.S. Representative John Lewis, a civil rights activist who had participated in the Selma to Montgomery marches.Smolla 2020 225–226 Other politicians included former senator and presidential candidate Gary Hart and Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young,Smolla 2020 226 who said of the march, "This march had to take place, for we once again had to say: 'We ain't gonna let nobody turn us round'".Treadwell Bearak 1987 Other noted civil rights activists included Southern Christian Leadership Conference president Joseph Lowery,Treadwell Bearak 1987 NAACP executive director Benjamin Hooks, A. James Rudin of the American Jewish Committee,Rudin 1987 Ralph Abernathy, Dick Gregory, Jesse Jackson, and Coretta Scott King, the widow of Martin Luther King Jr.Smolla 2020 226 As with last time, there was a large number of white supremacists who had gathered in Forsyth County, numbering over 1,000.Smolla 2020 226note Sources vary on the number of counterdemonstrators present. A 2020 book by scholar Rodney A. Smolla states that there were "over one thousand" counterdemonstrators,Smolla 2020 226 a number echoed by reporter Tyler Bridges in a 1994 book.Bridges 1994 127 However, a 1987 article in the Los Angeles Times states that 1,200 were expected to show up,Treadwell 1987 a 1989 book by academic Ted Robert Gurr stated that there were 1,500 people,Gurr 1989 124 a 1987 article in the St. Petersburg Times states that there were 2,000 counterdemonstrators,King 2017 and a 1990 book by historian Michael Zatarain stated that "[o]ver 5,000 whites from across the U.S." arrived in Forsyth County.Zatarain 1990 265 A 2009 book by activist and academic Leonard Zeskind says that "several thousand white people" gathered along the roadsides to protest the march,Zeskind 2009 129 later specifying that there were about 3,000 counterdemonstrators.Zeskind 2009 130 A 2011 historical book by author John McKay states that estimates of the counterdemonstrators vary considerably because they were difficult to distinguish from other onlookers of the march, but estimates that, of the approximately 5,000 onlookers, about 1,000 to 1,500 were white supremacist counterdemonstrators.McKay 2011 152 Many of these individuals, which included neo-Nazis from organizations in the surrounding states,Zeskind 2009 129 participated in a countermarch led by white nationalist lawyer Richard Barrett of Mississippi.Bridges 1994 127 Among these individuals was David Duke, a former member of the KKK and the president of the National Association for the Advancement of White People, a white supremacist group.Treadwell Bearak 1987 Duke had come to the march at the invitation of Atlanta racial extremist Ed Fields and a local group called the Committee to Keep Forsyth White, and he was joined by fellow former Klansman Don Black and Maddox.Zatarain 1990 264–265Bridges 1994 127–128McKay 2011 152 According to Duke, he was protesting because, "If blacks moved into Forsyth County, it would mean the death of whites. They would become the victims of murders, assaults, robberies and drug pushers. That’s the reality of integration".Treadwell Bearak 1987 Despite the large turnout, leaders from two large Klan organizations, including Holland, ordered their members not to attend, as they thought the march was a plot by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to arrest Klansmen.McKay 2011 152 In addition to the increased number of counterdemonstrators, there was also a significant increase in the number of law enforcement officials present.Smolla 2020 226 Approximately 3,000 officers, including around 2,000 members of the Georgia National Guard who were dressed in riot gear,note Sources vary on the number of National Guard members present, with numbers ranging between 1,500,McKay 2011 151 1,700Treadwell Bearak 1987Zeskind 2009 129 and 2,300.King 2017 Meanwhile, a 1987 article in The New York Times states that there were 2,300 "guardsmen and police officers".Clendinen 1987 1 600 police officers from jurisdictions around the state, 350 GSP troopers,McKay 2011 151 185 GBI agents,Zeskind 2009 129McKay 2011 151 and 40 armed rangers from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources,McKay 2011 151 were present at the demonstration.Smolla 2020 226 The FBI coordinated law enforcement efforts with local authorities,Treadwell 1987 and federal law enforcement agents were also present and marched with William Bradford Reynolds, the United States Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, who stated that "what started last week will be repeated without violence".Treadwell Bearak 1987 This was also in line with a pledge made by Forsyth County Sheriff Wesley Walraven, who had told Williams after the first march was called off that he would guarantee the protestors safety if they returned next weekend.McKay 2011 150 Regarding the number of law enforcement officials present, a spokesperson for Georgia Governor Joe Frank Harris stated that it was "the greatest show of force on the part of the state of Georgia in history".Treadwell Bearak 1987 14 counterdemonstrators were arrested before the march began, with 4 of those individuals being identified as Klansmen.Treadwell Bearak 1987 In total, about 64 people were arrested either before or during the march.Treadwell Bearak 1987Grant 1993 555note Sources vary on the number of arrests made, with many sources giving ranges of between 55 and 60.Clendinen 1987 1 McKay 2011 152 Treadwell Bearak 1987 Grant 1993 555 King 2017 However, a 1994 book by reporter Tyler Bridges gives an exact number of 64 people arrested, including Duke and Barrett.Bridges 1994 129 Duke and Black were among those arrested during the march for attempting to block a highway.Bridges 1994 128Smolla 2020 226Zeskind 2009 130 The counterdemonstrators yelled slurs and expletives at the marchers and, as in the previous march, threw some projectiles that resulted in a few injuries.Smolla 2020 226Treadwell Bearak 1987Grant 1993 555note Multiple sources state that there were some injuries,Smolla 2020 226Treadwell Bearak 1987Grant 1993 555 though a 1987 article in The New York Times stated that no injuries had been reported.Clendinen 1987 1 One man was hit by a cement block and a woman was struck by a steel pipe,McKay 2011 152 but, according to a report by the Los Angeles Times, "the march was not marred by major clashes or injuries".Treadwell Bearak 1987 Out of safety concerns, GBI officials at the courthouse square did not allow Fowler, Lewis, or Nunn to cross the street to speak to reporters or allow reporters access to the courthouse square.Clendinen 1987 1 A spokesperson for the governor stated, "When you consider the size of the crowd, this was a pretty peaceful march".King 2017 By 6:30 p.m., buses began to transport demonstrators back to Atlanta.Clendinen 1987 1 The Oprah Winfrey Show broadcast from Cumming thumb|Following the marches, Oprah Winfrey (pictured 1997) broadcast an episode of her talk show from Cumming.Byrd 1987 On February 9, about two weeks after the second march, television talk show host Oprah Winfrey traveled to Cumming to broadcast an episode of her talk show, The Oprah Winfrey Show.Byrd 1987 At the time, the show had only been on the air for about five months, and the episode marked the first time that the show was recorded somewhere other than its regular studio.Oprah.com For the episode, Winfrey had an all-white audience of about 100 Forsyth County residents that she talked to about the marches and the county's history of racial issues.Byrd 1987 During the episode, several locals expressed racist sentiments to Oprah and opined in favor of the county remaining all-white, while others were more sympathetic to the marchers and expressed dismay at the racist attitudes of some of the residents.Byrd 1987Nesbitt 1987 While Williams had asked to appear on the show, Winfrey and the show's producers declined, stating that they only wanted county residents.Byrd 1987Nesbitt 1987 This prompted a protest led by Williams outside of the restaurant that the episode was being recorded at.Byrd 1987Nesbitt 1987 In the aftermath, eight individuals, including Williams, were arrested on charges of unlawful assembly, with Williams also being charged with blocking a state highway.Byrd 1987Nesbitt 1987 Asked after the episode completed filming how she felt about being in the county, Winfrey, a black woman, stated, "Not very comfortable at all. I’m leaving".Byrd 1987 Aftermath Legacy Multiple news sources, such as the Los Angeles Times and The New York Times, and academics have made note of the size of the January 24 march, with many sources referring to it as one of the largest civil rights demonstrations in the history of the Southern United States.Nesbitt 1987 "the largest civil rights protest the South has ever seen" Bridges 1994 128 "the largest civil rights march in years" Treadwell 1987 "the biggest civil rights demonstration in the South since the turbulent decades of the '50s and '60s" Clendinen 1987 1 "the march was one of the largest civil rights demonstrations since a 1965 rally that followed a march from Selma, Ala. to Montgomery" Zeskind 2009 129 "the largest civil rights demonstration in the South since the 1960s" Rudin 1987 "the largest civil rights march since the 1960s" According to journalists David Treadwell and Barry Bearak, some activists from the civil rights movement of the 1960s viewed the march as the start of a possible resurrection of the movement, with Williams saying, "The civil rights family has not been together like this since we buried Martin Luther King".Treadwell Bearak 1987 Civil rights activist Ozell Sutton, who was a regional director of the United States Department of Justice's office of community relations at that time, also spoke positively about the march, saying, "This outpouring of black and white and all racial groups is an indication of a deep and abiding concern [for civil rights]".Treadwell Bearak 1987 Martin Luther King III, the eldest son of Martin Luther King Jr., stated that his father would have seen the march as "a great demonstration of brotherhood and love".Treadwell Bearak 1987 Following the protests, Governor Harris organized an investigation into the protests.Venet 2020 168 According to historian Wendy Hamand Venet, his committee finding that the state's flag, which prominently featured a Confederate battle flag as part of its design, "was a factor inciting racism and violence and recommended its removal".Venet 2020 168 The protests ultimately led to a revival over the issue of the state flag, with many prominent politicians and activists calling for the removal of the Confederate symbol from the flag.Venet 2020 168Cobb 2008 112 Following the white supremacist Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017 that resulted in the death of a counter-protester in a terrorist attack, several publications made comparisons between the violence there and that witnessed in Forsyth County in 1987.Smolla 2020 225–227Phillips 2017 Changes in Forsyth County Following the marches, local leaders in Forsyth County publicly deplored the actions of the Klansmen and offered apologies to the marchers.Gurr 1989 124 Additionally, on February 9,Byrd 1987 they announced the creation of a biracial human relations committee to help address racial issues in the county.Gurr 1989 124Nesbitt 1987 The committee included six white county leaders and six African-Americans, with three of the latter being appointed by the six white members and another two being appointed by Williams and his colleagues.Byrd 1987 Forsyth County's population continued to grow over the next several decades,Cobb 2008 121 with the 1990 United States census reporting a total population of 49,000.Elliott-Tenort 1992 By 2019, this number had increased to approximately 245,000.King 2020 As the population grew, so too did the number of non-white residents in the county. In 1990, the county had 14 black residents,Elliott-Tenort 1992 but by 2019, African Americans constitute 2.6 percent of the population,King 2020 growing to about four percent by 2022.Holloway 2022Poole Murchison 2022 Additionally, by that year, a quarter of the population was made up of either Asian Americans or Hispanic Americans.Holloway 2022Poole Murchison 2022 Throughout this time, the county has played host to several other civil rights protests, including a march in August 1992 in recognition the fifth anniversary of the 1987 marches.Holloway 2022Elliott-Tenort 1992 This march, which included about 40 people led by Williams, involved about 200 police officers and was counter-demonstrated by about 350 white supremacists, including members of the Nationalist Movement.Elliott-Tenort 1992 In June 2020, amidst the George Floyd protests in Georgia, about 1,000 people protested for civil rights and racial justice.Plyburn 2020 The protests were peaceful, and while there were rumors that counterdemonstrators from the Nationalist Movement would disrupt the event, this did not occur.King 2020 Impact on white supremacist organizations Southern Poverty Law Center's lawsuit Following the protests, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a civil rights legal advocacy organization, filed a lawsuit against 11 Klansmen and two Klan organizations (the Invisible Empire and the Southern White Knights) for damages related to their attack on January 17.Gerstenfeld 2013 30Baudouin 1997 42Perlmutter 2004 346 In October 1988, a federal jury ordered the organizations and individuals to pay almost $1 million in damages to the marchers.Baudouin 1997 42Perlmutter 2004 346 The Invisible Empire was ordered to pay about $800,000 of this judgement.Barnes 1997 564 As a result of the ruling, James Farrands, the leader of the Invisible Empire, agreed to relinquish all of the organization's assets, including its name, and personally paid $37,500 to the affected marchers.Baudouin 1997 42 By the middle of 1993, due to the settlement, the organization was defunct.Baudouin 1997 42 Forsyth County v. Nationalist Movement Forsyth County v. Nationalist Movement The total cost of the law enforcement presence for the second march was over $670,000 (US 670,000 1987 2021 eq -5).Smolla 2020 226 Of this amount, the government of Georgia paid $579,148, other governmental agencies paid $29,759, and the county covered the remainder.Smolla 2020 226 In light of this, on January 27, 1987,Coppa 2000 28 the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners passed an ordinance requiring permits for rallies and demonstrations and requiring the groups holding these events to cover some of the costs associated with law enforcement protections, with a later amendment capping the cost of the daily fees at $1,000.Smolla 2020 226Renstrom 2012 102 This came up in January 1989, when the Nationalist Movement made plans to hold a demonstration on the steps of the Forsyth County Courthouse in opposition of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.Smolla 2020 226 Following the ordinance, the county charged the group $100 in permit fees.Smolla 2020 226 However, rather than pay the fee, the Nationalist Movement sued the county, alleging that the fees violated their freedom of speech under the provisions of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.Smolla 2020 225 The case made its way before the Supreme Court of the United States, with the American Civil Liberties Union writing an amicus brief in favor of the Nationalist Movement.Smolla 2020 226 In the end, the Supreme Court decided in favor of the Nationalist Movement, ruling that the county's permit fees system was unconstitutional.Coppa 2000 28 David Duke According to reporter Tyler Bridges, Duke's involvement in the protests marked the beginning of his "political comeback".Bridges 1994 127 The counterdemonstration marked his first public appearance in five years,Zeskind 2009 129 and he used the increased media attention to get interviews with many national media publications, causing his national profile to increase among white supremacist circles.Bridges 1994 128 Following the protests, Klan and activity in north Georgia increased.Zeskind 2009 141 During this time, on February 22, 1987, Duke and Barrett held a white supremacist rally near Cumming that attracted about 125 people,Bridges 1994 129 and during a March 7, speech before white nationalist Populist Party members, Duke stated that the Forsyth counterdemonstrations marked "the genesis of an entirely new movement" for white nationalism.Zeskind 2009 135 That year, Duke announced his presidential campaign for the 1988 election, with Bridges stating that, "Forsyth County had reminded leaders of the white supremacist movement that Duke was their best spokesman".Bridges 1994 130 Duke held his campaign kickoff event in nearby Marietta, Georgia, and officially announced his candidacy on the steps of the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta, with the locations chosen at least in part due to their proximity to Forsyth County.Bridges 1994 130–131 Notes note References Sources 30em yes Barnes Robin https://books.google.com/books?id=WEBzEAAAQBAJ Critical White Studies: Looking Behind the Mirror Temple University Press 1997 978-1-56639-532-8 Delgado Richard Richard Delgado Philadelphia 561–565 Blue by Day and White by [K]night Stefancic Jean Jean Stefancic https://books.google.com/books?id=To3kkDqNQdQC The Ku Klux Klan: A History of Racism & Violence Southern Poverty Law Center 1997 978-0-7881-7031-7 Baudouin Richard Fifth Montgomery, Alabama Bridges Tyler https://books.google.com/books?id=X2WD3EnAVvEC The Rise of David Duke University Press of Mississippi 1994 978-0-87805-684-2 Jackson, Mississippi Tyler Bridges Byrd Robert February 9, 1987 Oprah Winfrey Brings Her Show To Forsyth County https://apnews.com/article/ba34b1912707682f6bcd4a88251c29a8 live https://web.archive.org/web/20221111133434/https://apnews.com/article/ba34b1912707682f6bcd4a88251c29a8 November 11, 2022 December 29, 2022 AP News Clendinen Dudley January 25, 1987 Thousands in Civil Rights March Jeered by Crowd in Georgia Town 1 The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/1987/01/25/us/thousands-in-civil-rights-march-jeered-by-crowd-in-georgia-town.html live subscription December 29, 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20221126223951/https://www.nytimes.com/1987/01/25/us/thousands-in-civil-rights-march-jeered-by-crowd-in-georgia-town.html November 26, 2022 0362-4331 Cobb James C. http://archive.org/details/georgiaodyssey0000cobb_l1h2 Georgia Odyssey: A Short History of the State University of Georgia Press 2008 978-0-8203-3050-1 2nd Athens, Georgia Coppa Frank J. https://books.google.com/books?id=SpN8aALBgw0C County Government: A Guide to Efficient and Accountable Government Praeger Publishers 2000 978-0-275-96829-8 Westport, Connecticut Dodd Sophia March 13, 2023 Forsyth 1912: A Timeline of the Forced Exile of Black Residents from Forsyth County https://www.atlantahistorycenter.com/blog/forsyth-1912-a-timeline-of-the-forced-exile-of-black-residents-from-forsyth-county/ live https://web.archive.org/web/20230313215124/https://www.atlantahistorycenter.com/blog/forsyth-1912-a-timeline-of-the-forced-exile-of-black-residents-from-forsyth-county/ March 13, 2023 March 29, 2023 Atlanta History Center Elliott-Tenort Debra August 22, 1992 White Supremacists Protest Civil Rights March in Forsyth County https://apnews.com/article/07e2d67a5de388cb5a45f9a1748265ab live https://web.archive.org/web/20220406154304/https://apnews.com/article/07e2d67a5de388cb5a45f9a1748265ab April 6, 2022 December 29, 2022 AP News Gerstenfeld Phyllis B. https://books.google.com/books?id=DiBIZcx1nPcC Hate Crimes: Causes, Controls, and Controversies SAGE Publishing 2013 978-1-4522-5662-7 3rd New York City Gilje Paul A. https://books.google.com/books?id=O_0LRkUMiOMC Rioting in America Indiana University Press 1996 978-0-253-32988-2 Bloomington, Indiana Grant Donald L. https://books.google.com/books?id=zpmjRm4cdswC The Way it was in the South: The Black Experience in Georgia University of Georgia Press Introduction by Jonathan Grant 1993 978-0-8203-2329-9 Grant Jonathan Athens, Georgia Gurr Ted Robert https://books.google.com/books?id=0bKD2W8HQEsC Violence in America SAGE Publications 1989 978-0-8039-3230-2 Gurr Ted Robert Ted Robert Gurr 2: Protest, Rebellion, Reform Newbury Park, California 101–130 Protest and Rebellion in the 1960s: The United States in World Perspective Ted Robert Gurr Holloway Kali May 17, 2022 February 15, 2021 The Sickening History of Marjorie Taylor Greene's Hometown The Daily Beast https://www.thedailybeast.com/marjorie-taylor-greene-came-of-age-in-this-infamously-racist-georgia-county live December 29, 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20221226223613/https://www.thedailybeast.com/marjorie-taylor-greene-came-of-age-in-this-infamously-racist-georgia-county December 26, 2022 Ingwerson Marshall January 23, 1987a Facing a racial reckoning. Georgia town prepares for civil rights march The Christian Science Monitor Christian Science Publishing Society https://www.csmonitor.com/1987/0123/afor-f.html live subscription January 5, 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20220726012525/https://www.csmonitor.com/1987/0123/afor-f.html July 26, 2022 0882-7729 Ingwerson Marshall February 13, 1987b Forsyth County march ignites dreams and doubts for civil rights The Christian Science Monitor Christian Science Publishing Society https://www.csmonitor.com/1987/0213/amarch.html live subscription January 5, 2023 https://web.archive.org/web/20220121180830/https://www.csmonitor.com/1987/0213/amarch.html January 21, 2022 0882-7729 Jaspin Elliot https://archive.org/details/buriedinbitterwa00elli/ Buried in the Bitter Waters: The Hidden History of Racial Cleansing in America Basic Books 2007 978-0-465-03637-0 New York City Elliot G. Jaspin King Larry May 11, 2017 January 25, 1987 Looking Back: Civil rights protestors take back Forsyth County (January 25, 1987) https://www.tampabay.com/news/nation/looking-back-protestors-take-back-forsyth-county-january-25-1987/2323535/ live https://web.archive.org/web/20220525124400/https://www.tampabay.com/news/nation/looking-back-protestors-take-back-forsyth-county-january-25-1987/2323535/ May 25, 2022 December 29, 2022 Tampa Bay Times Times Publishing Company King Michael June 6, 2020 Hundreds turn out at Forsyth County civil rights protest https://www.11alive.com/article/news/local/protests/hundreds-turn-out-at-forsyth-county-civil-rights-protest/85-e9ccad0e-0361-42e9-86f6-0ac9e4a2c03c December 29, 2022 WXIA-TV McKay John https://archive.org/details/ithappenedinatla0000mcka/ It Happened in Atlanta: Remarkable Events That Shaped History Morris Book Publishing, LLC 2011 978-0-7627-6826-4 First Augusta, Georgia Nesbitt Jim February 10, 1987 Forsyth Police Arrest 8 During Winfrey Protest https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-xpm-1987-02-10-0110010141-story.html December 29, 2022 Orlando Sentinel Tribune Publishing Forsyth County Protest https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/counties-cities-neighborhoods/cumming/forsyth-county-march1/ live https://web.archive.org/web/20221229033226/https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/counties-cities-neighborhoods/cumming/forsyth-county-march1/ December 29, 2022 December 29, 2022 New Georgia Encyclopedia New Georgia Encyclopedia January 18, 1987 White Protestors Disrupt 'Walk for Brotherhood' in Georgia Town 24 The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/1987/01/18/us/white-protestors-disrupt-walk-for-brotherhood-in-georgia-town.html live subscription December 29, 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20220406154304/https://www.nytimes.com/1987/01/18/us/white-protestors-disrupt-walk-for-brotherhood-in-georgia-town.html April 6, 2022 0362-4331 The New York Times 1987 24 Oprah Visits a County Where No Black Person Had Lived for 75 Years https://www.oprah.com/own-oprahshow/oprah-ventures-into-forsyth-county-video live https://web.archive.org/web/20220625011945/https://www.oprah.com/own-oprahshow/oprah-ventures-into-forsyth-county-video June 25, 2022 December 29, 2022 Oprah.com Oprah.com Perlmutter Dawn https://books.google.com/books?id=QPnKBQAAQBAJ Investigating Religious Terrorism and Ritualistic Crimes CRC Press 2004 978-1-4200-4104-0 Boca Raton, Florida Phillips Patrick Patrick Phillips Blood at the Root: A Racial Cleansing in America 2016 W. W. Norton & Company New York City 978-0-393-29302-9 https://books.google.com/books?id=Ft6aCwAAQBAJ Phillips Patrick Patrick Phillips August 19, 2017 Charlottesville Was Not a Surprise. https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2017/08/from-forsyth-county-to-charlottesville-things-never-change.html live https://web.archive.org/web/20210423163027/https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2017/08/from-forsyth-county-to-charlottesville-things-never-change.html April 23, 2021 December 29, 2022 Slate Plyburn Jay June 6, 2020 Nearly 1,000 people protest peacefully in downtown Cumming https://www.11alive.com/article/news/local/mynews/cumming/forsyth-county-saturday-protest/85-b2a195cd-a851-407c-bec3-9909f59b46b8 December 31, 2022 WXIA-TV Poole Shelia Murchison Adrianne March 24, 2022 Increasingly diverse, Forsyth County faces racist past The Atlanta Journal-Constitution https://www.ajc.com/news/increasingly-diverse-forsyth-county-faces-racist-past/LWI6YMTG5FD65ANCFVG5HUPU5A/ live January 5, 2023 https://web.archive.org/web/20220813091232/https://www.ajc.com/news/increasingly-diverse-forsyth-county-faces-racist-past/LWI6YMTG5FD65ANCFVG5HUPU5A/ August 13, 2022 1539-7459 Renstrom Peter https://books.google.com/books?id=4K0CWvR2FNEC First Amendment Rights: An Encyclopedia ABC-Clio 2012 978-1-61069-213-7 Lind Nancy S. One: Traditional Issues on the First Amendment Santa Barbara, California 11–132 Overview of the First Amendment Rankin Erik T. Rudin A. James A. James Rudin February 12, 1987 On bigotry and the need to keep marching The Christian Science Monitor Christian Science Publishing Society https://www.csmonitor.com/1987/0212/ecivil.html live subscription January 5, 2023 https://web.archive.org/web/20220927124303/https://www.csmonitor.com/1987/0212/ecivil.html September 27, 2022 0882-7729 Smolla Rodney A. https://books.google.com/books?id=l2i1DwAAQBAJ Confessions of a Free Speech Lawyer: Charlottesville and the Politics of Hate Cornell University Press 2020 978-1-5017-4967-4 Ithaca, New York Rodney A. Smolla Treadwell David January 23, 1987 Klan-Marcher Confrontation Feared: Georgia County Bracing for Black-White Conflict https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-01-23-mn-850-story.html live https://web.archive.org/web/20220815192209/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-01-23-mn-850-story.html August 15, 2022 December 29, 2022 Los Angeles Times Treadwell David Bearak Barry Barry Bearak January 25, 1987 20,000 March Against Klan Attack in Georgia: 60 Arrested but No Major Violence or Injuries Reported in Biggest Rights Protest in Decades https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-01-25-mn-5665-story.html live https://web.archive.org/web/20221226014747/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-01-25-mn-5665-story.html December 26, 2022 December 29, 2022 Los Angeles Times Venet Wendy Hamand https://books.google.com/books?id=5aL9DwAAQBAJ Gone but Not Forgotten: Atlantans Commemorate the Civil War University of Georgia Press 2020 978-0-8203-5813-0 Athens, Georgia Zatarain Michael http://archive.org/details/daviddukeevoluti00zata David Duke: Evolution of a Klansman Pelican Publishing Company 1990 978-0-88289-817-9 New Orleans Zeskind Leonard https://books.google.com/books?id=6Yx1-sBC1VcC Blood and Politics: The History of the White Nationalist Movement from the Margins to the Mainstream Farrar, Straus and Giroux 2009 978-1-4299-5933-9 New York City Leonard Zeskind Further reading Anderson Carol Carol Anderson September 28, 2016 American Apartheid: A Georgia County Drove Out All Its Black Citizens in 1912 https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/02/books/review/blood-at-the-root-patrick-phillips.html live https://web.archive.org/web/20240124001816/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/02/books/review/blood-at-the-root-patrick-phillips.html January 24, 2024 May 31, 2024 The New York Times 0362-4331 Remembering the Brotherhood March 35 Years Later https://www.atlantahistorycenter.com/exhibitions/remembering-the-brotherhood-march-35-years-later/ live https://web.archive.org/web/20231004025109/https://www.atlantahistorycenter.com/exhibitions/remembering-the-brotherhood-march-35-years-later/ October 4, 2023 May 31, 2024 Atlanta History Center Goss Steve January 15, 2015 This Day in History: Forsyth County's March for Racial Harmony http://wabe.org/post/day-history-forsyth-countys-march-racial-harmony dead https://web.archive.org/web/20150122235043/http://wabe.org/post/day-history-forsyth-countys-march-racial-harmony January 22, 2015 May 31, 2024 WABE Thompson Morris S. January 24, 1987 Marchers Descend on County that Progress Forgot https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1987/01/24/marchers-descend-on-county-that-progress-forgot/09cd8e25-984a-4182-8ef4-2e7b5129d67c/ live https://web.archive.org/web/20230105225829/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1987/01/24/marchers-descend-on-county-that-progress-forgot/09cd8e25-984a-4182-8ef4-2e7b5129d67c/ January 5, 2023 January 5, 2023 The Washington Post External links 8PLCinF8p0A 11Alive coverage of the 1987 racial justice march in Forsyth County WErjPmFulQ0 Oprah Visits a County Where No Black Person Had Lived for 75 Years The Oprah Winfrey Show OWN IKAy7UH_HSk Raw video: Hosea Williams arrest in Forsyth County 1987 Category:1987 in Georgia (U.S. state) Category:1987 protests Category:African-American history of Georgia (U.S. state) Category:Civil rights protests in the United States Category:Organized events in Georgia (U.S. state) Category:Forsyth County, Georgia Category:History of African-American civil rights Category:January 1987 crimes in the United States Category:Ku Klux Klan crimes Category:Ku Klux Klan in Georgia (U.S. state) Category:Neo-Nazism in the United States Category:Oprah Winfrey Category:Post–civil rights era in African-American history Category:Protest marches in the United States Category:Race-related controversies in the United States Category:Race and crime in the United States Category:Racially motivated violence against African Americans in Georgia (U.S. state)