Patrick Phillips (4) (1970–)
Autor/a de Blood at the Root: A Racial Cleansing in America
Per altres autors anomenats Patrick Phillips, vegeu la pàgina de desambiguació.
Sobre l'autor
Patrick Phillips is currently a Henry Mitchell MacCracken Fellow at New York University.
Obres de Patrick Phillips
Obres associades
Etiquetat
Coneixement comú
- Nom oficial
- Phillips, Patrick
- Data de naixement
- 1970-07-30
- Gènere
- male
- Nacionalitat
- USA
- Lloc de naixement
- Atlanta, Georgia, USA
- Llocs de residència
- Brooklyn, New York, USA
- Professions
- professor (English)
poet
translator
historian - Organitzacions
- Stanford University
Drew University
Membres
Ressenyes
Llistes
Premis
Potser també t'agrada
Autors associats
Estadístiques
- Obres
- 4
- També de
- 2
- Membres
- 453
- Popularitat
- #54,169
- Valoració
- 4.3
- Ressenyes
- 14
- ISBN
- 26
- Llengües
- 1
In 1912, most of the African Americans in Forsyth County were ex-slaves and sharecroppers, though there were a few who had acquired land and wealth post-reconstruction. A familiar trope in which a white woman accused a black man of breaking into her home and assaulting or attempting to assault her was the beginning of the troubles. There are various stories, one of which was that her husband came home and that is what prompted the woman to sound the alarm of rape on her lover. The man the sheriffs later arrested was visiting from another county and a relative of well-respected local black family. Others also arrested lived near the house where the alleged attack occurred. The white people of the town were enraged, not just at the alleged crime, but also at the uppity black people around them in Forsyth.
When another attack occurred later that year, this time on a girl walking home along a country road, the county was in a fervor. It did not take long to accuse another group of black residents of assaulting, raping, and leaving the girl for dead in the woods. The state troops even had to be called in to protect the accused after the beating of black preacher and a lynching of another black man was conducted. Of course, two men were later convicted and hanged, regardless of whether there was any proof. The larger crime, though, was the terrorism of African American residents and visitors of the county for the next 75 years.
One by one, black families were intimidated, their homes burned down, and their land taken over. In just a few months, not one black resident was left in the county. Even those who initially had protection from white employers were driven away when the white families were also unable to keep the violence at bay. Continued, consented violence for years to come would ensure that Forsyth County would remain white. When an African American crossed the border into the county not knowing with what brutality and intimidation they would be greeted with, they soon learned their grave mistake and never returned.
In 1987, civil rights organizers began took notice of Forsyth County; even Oprah dedicated an episode of her show to the issue. Once national attention shown light on the history and degree of racism of the place, the county drew ire from the country. Marches to protest the segregation of the county were met with violence. Even the most weathered in the civil rights movement were surprised by the level of hatred of the residents. Some local leaders were embarrassed while others were in denial.
After the marches, a biracial committee was formed by the governor. The dysfunction of the place was reiterated when even this committee could not agree on a single official report and two were filed. The most contentious issue was on the topic of reparations for the land stolen through intimidation and violence.
Twenty years later, the African American population of the county was only 2.6 percent, greatly under-representative of the area. As time and the economy continued to change the texture of the county, the old guard bigotry has gradually been replaced by suburban prosperity and anonymity. Most of the residents are likely unaware of the long history of racism of Forsyth County.
I had no idea of the history of Forsyth County. Intellectually I knew that places with such deep racism and hatred exist, but to read the story in black and white drove home just how devastating the expulsion was. This is a dark, distressing, and unnerving piece of American history that shows just one example of how difficult it can be to swim against the tides of institutional racism. Local government sanctioned theft and murder allowed this county to remain hateful well into the twentieth century, and America’s aptitude for denial of wrong-doing and idealized but not realized exceptionalism means that stories like this rarely receive the attention they deserve.… (més)