Episode 4: The Land

In Episode 4 of 1912, hosts Rose Scott and Sophia Dodd look at the legacy of the 1912 expulsion, tracing its ripple effects into the 1980s and culminating in the powerful 1987 Brotherhood March. The episode opens with a reflection from Patrick Phillips, who recalls his realization of Forsyth County’s violent past when his family moved there in the 1970s. Even decades after the mass expulsion of more than 1,000 Black residents, the county remained resolutely segregated — a bastion of whiteness where the legacy of 1912 had never truly faded.

As Scott and Dodd guide listeners through the racial tensions of the 1960s and 1970s, they highlight the county’s continued resistance to integration. From the harassment of Black campers at Lake Lanier to the shooting of Miguel Marcelli, a Black firefighter, these incidents revealed how some white residents clung to a history of exclusion. The unspoken rule was clear: Forsyth County was to remain a place where Black people were neither welcome nor safe.

The story reaches a turning point in 1987 with talk-show host Oprah Winfrey’s visit as well as the Brotherhood March, a bold display of defiance against deep-rooted racism. For all the challenges of reckoning with such a painful history, these events offered a glimpse of hope — that perhaps, finally, Forsyth County could begin the slow work of reconciliation.

1912 is a limited series from Atlanta History Center and WABE.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.