Facts surrounding Lake Lanier:
The former community of Oscarville, in Forsyth County, with nearly 1,110 black residents, faced a racist mob attack in September 1912. 18-year-old white woman Mae Crow was allegedly raped and killed by Oscarville resident Rob Edwards, who was lynched in the town square. Thousands of white county residents showed up to shoot Edwards' corpse, leading to a community invasion where Black businesses, churches, and houses were torched. Surviving Black residents fled. The "racial cleansing" led to man-made Lake Lanier, which flooded the town in the 1950s. Black teenagers Earnest Knox and Oscar Daniel were also convicted of the rape by an all-white jury in two separate trials. The boys were found guilty and hanged. There was no punishment for the racial injustice.
The former community of Oscarville, in Forsyth County, with nearly 1,110 black residents, faced a racist mob attack in September 1912. 18-year-old white woman Mae Crow was allegedly raped and killed by Oscarville resident Rob Edwards, who was lynched in the town square. Thousands of white county residents showed up to shoot Edwards' corpse, leading to a community invasion where Black businesses, churches, and houses were torched. Surviving Black residents fled. The "racial cleansing" led to man-made Lake Lanier, which flooded the town in the 1950s. Black teenagers Earnest Knox and Oscar Daniel were also convicted of the rape by an all-white jury in two separate trials. The boys were found guilty and hanged. There was no punishment for the racial injustice.