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FORSYTH COUNTY, Ga. — A group in Forsyth County is working to raise money for scholarships to benefit students whose relatives lived through a painful past.
Mari Lott is counting down the days until graduation. Lott, a senior majoring in journalism at Auburn University, has been focusing on the story of her family’s past. Lott grew up in Buford, Ga, but her family didn’t always live there.
If the trees could talk in nearby Forsyth County, they’d tell tales of terror that drove Lott’s family away.
“There’s nothing written of what exactly was the last straw to make them leave,” Lott said. “But there was a series of heinous and hateful racial events that happened. Eventually they moved out of Forsyth. I still wonder what would it have been like had they been able to stay in Forsyth or if they had to move somewhere further away?”
In the fall of 1912, two Black men were accused of raping a white woman in Forsyth County. In turn, a mass exodus occurred when Black people were largely driven out of the area. The 1910 census showed around 1,100 Black people lived in Forsyth County, but those numbers went to near zero after what happened in 1912.
Forsyth County native Sophia Dodd, the digital storytelling production research manager at the Atlanta History Center, helped work on an exhibit and a podcast highlighting the stories of four families impacted by the racial terror.
READ: Whitewashed: The racial cleansing of Forsyth County
“At this point, we’re more than a century removed from this event,” Dodd said. “What happened lead to the seizing of property, the illegal eviction of Black property owners and Black renters. This is a multigenerational story, and descendants today are still affected by this story. So even if those stories have been lost over time as descendants have tried to move on and build their lives, it’s still a story that affects them.”
Durwood Snead is focused on moving these families forward. Decades after the disaster, Snead and several other pastors in the county created the Forsyth Descendants Scholarship to help those whose families endured that pain and struggle for more than 100 years.
“I feel like we need to do something to acknowledge what happened, but also something that might be helpful for the next generation,” Snead said. “Partly the story had been buried because it was so painful. But the other part is that people just wanted to forget about it, because it was just a difficult time. The money is nice, but the acknowledgement is probably the most important thing that’s happened here.”
To qualify for the scholarship, a student has to prove their ancestors were in Forsyth County at the time of the 1910 census. Requirements also call for a minimum 2.5 grade point average, financial need and an essay detailing the student’s family’s journey since the early 1900s. To date, 20 students have received nearly $300,000 in scholarship funds with the money solely coming from donations.
“We know this is not a reckoning, it’s not justice, it’s not making anything right,” Snead said. “It’s just simply an act of love started by some followers of Jesus. Now we’re inviting the whole community to get involved. We think it’s better to do something than nothing. One of the big reasons why we need to talk about it is so we don’t repeat history and don’t get tricked by some of the same lies that people can believe when they get threatened by something. Instead, we just need to have conversations.”
Lott and her two brothers are first generation college students. She would not have attended Auburn without the scholarship. Lott said she had aspirations to pursue social journalism. What her family experienced in 1912 isn’t just history to her. It’s a path to progress, a way to honor the past and an opportunity to learn from it.
“Without the scholarship, I’d have no idea that my family was directly affected by this,” Lott said. This is what happened but because of that, I’m where I am right now. I want to make up for them not being able to have that part of their story told. I want to make sure I’m able to give different people a voice.”
The Forsyth Descendants Scholarship is working to raise $100,000 by May 1 for the next round of scholarship recipients. Anyone interested in donating can click here.
