Created in 2020, the Fayette County Community Remembrance Coalition (FCCRC) is dedicated to preserving the accurate history of our county. The goal of the FCCRC is to engage in dialogues and reflections to bring understanding, healing and ultimately a stronger community for our citizens of all races and ethnicities. 

FCCRC expects its efforts to result in a fuller and more accurate understanding of our shared history. And that history is problematic. There were multiple lynchings of African Americans in our community, although these acts have been for the most part forgotten (see below for specifics). 

The memories of these victims of systemic racism must be remembered and honored. There has been resistance to doing so, with some saying that the past should be left in the past. However, our shared history must not simply be ignored.

My late wife, the love of my life, was born and raised on a rural farm near Dublin, Georgia. My three children and eight grandchildren are all native Southerners, descended from Confederate soldiers. 

My wife was educated in segregated schools and was brought up to be culturally conservative. She was told that the Yankees stole the family heirlooms during the March to the Sea. But she was not taught in school as why the Civil War was fought- slavery. When she went to college and learned the accurate history of the South and the United States, her political views changed dramatically.

With over 1,000 streets in the USA named for Confederate icons, and the Trump Administration renaming bases for Confederate icons, there is resistance to knowing the truth about our shared history. And there are still many statues and busts on the steps of Southern courthouses. 

Some readers may think, “Why can’t we just leave them up?” The answer is more complicated than just political correctness.  You cannot forget the past- but it must be remembered accurately. 

The Civil War was started by the leaders of Southern states, including these very generals and politicians memorialized in these statues. Glorification of the South’s role in the Civil War (still known to some white Southerners as the “War between the States” or the “War of Yankee Aggression”) is not correct historically. We should not have public memorials or name streets for traitors to the USA, responsible for hundreds of thousands of dead in an immoral, secessionist war. 

In 1860, enslaved people were around 30% of the population of Fayette County, and after Emancipation, many remained and worked for former enslavers on plantations as sharecroppers. When we examine Fayette County specifically, there is a history of 7 lynchings that goes back to 1875 well into the 20^th Century. Here are just two examples-

* In 1893 a mob of white men brutally lynched Dug Hazleton, a Black man, in Fayette County. Hazleton was accused of sexually assaulting a white woman. “Assault” was loosely defined as a Black man seeking any contact with a white woman, including merely looking at or accidentally bumping into her, smiling, winking, getting too close, even just being disagreeable. No formal investigation by law enforcement officials of the “assault” ever took place. The lynch mob was organized by a white farmer, who was never held accountable.

* Thirteen returning WWI veterans, from all areas of the nation, were lynched in 1919. It was called the Red Summer of 1919 because greater than 200 black men, women and children were lynched that summer. Charles Kelly, a 26-year-old veteran who had just arrived home three days earlier, was lynched here in Fayette County.  He was driving his father, Rev. Ranse Kelly, to a black church when he had an encounter with a white man. Kelly was accused of failing to turn off the road soon enough, to let the white driver pass. When the white man flashed his gun, Kelly panicked, ran and was shot in the back, killing him. His killer was never arrested. 

If you are interested in becoming part of the FCRCC and supporting its work, please email FayetteCCRC@gmail.com.