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Unwelcome Marchers
The issue of race landed Forsyth County, GA in the national
news in January, 1988, when a real estate agent refused to
sell a home to a black couple. National Civil Rights and
religious leaders called on Americans to descend upon
Cumming, GA, to march in protest against racism that
has kept blacks from living in the county for more than
75 years. In the hours before the march, police realized
they were unprepared for the scale of the demonstration.
The National Guard was called out by the Governor. No
blacks have lived in Forsyth County since 1912, after
the death of a white teenager who was raped by three
blacks. One suspect was lynched before there was a trial,
two were later tried, convicted and hanged, and the
entire black and mixed-race population was forced
out of the county.
Photographed for USNews & World Report