Atlanta, GA
Moore’s Ford Bridge: Remembering America’s last mass lynching
About 50 miles east of Atlanta, along Highway 78 near the Oconee County line, a modest roadside marker tells the story of one of the most horrific racial crimes in American history.
It marks the site of the Moore’s Ford Bridge lynching — widely recognized as the last documented mass lynching in the United States.
Between 1880 and 1968, Tuskegee University researchers say Georgia recorded 637 lynchings — one of the highest totals in the nation. Most went unprosecuted.
Among them: the killings on July 25, 1946.
On that summer day, George Dorsey — a World War II veteran — and his wife Mae, along with Roger and Dorothy Malcolm, were traveling near the Apalachee River in Walton County.
The Malcolms and Dorseys were sharecroppers who had encouraged Black community members to vote in Georgia’s all-white primary earlier that year.
After a confrontation with a wealthy white landowner, Roger Malcolm was arrested and jailed in Walton County. He was later bailed out by Loy Harrison, a local farmer who was also identified as a Klansman.
As Harrison drove the two couples toward his farm, their car was stopped at Moore’s Ford Bridge by a mob of roughly 30 white men.
George Dorsey and Roger Malcolm were dragged from the car, tied to a tree in a nearby field, and shot. Dorothy Malcolm, who was seven months pregnant, and Mae Dorsey were also killed. According to statements later given to authorities, the four were shot dozens of times.
No one was ever convicted.
A case that still haunts Georgia
For Cassandra Greene and Nicole King-Crawford, the site is not just history — it is sacred ground.
“I immediately feel sad… hurt,” Greene said during a recent visit to the bridge. “This is exactly where they were killed.”
For two decades, Greene and King-Crawford have helped organize an annual July 25 reenactment of the lynching. They say the performance is not about spectacle, but remembrance.
“It reconnects you to your humanness — your compassion, your empathy,” Greene said. “That’s what it should do.”
Despite four sweeping investigations by the FBI and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation over 81 years, no suspects were publicly named and no arrests were made.
Many in the community believe prominent local residents were involved.
“This town… there were prominent people here that were involved,” Greene said. “Would you want your family’s name to be out? They don’t want it.”
The sealed grand jury testimony
One potential key to the case remains locked away: sealed federal grand jury testimony from 1946. More than 100 witnesses reportedly testified.
Hank Klibanoff, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and director of the Georgia Civil Rights Cold Cases Project at Emory University, has long pushed for access to those records.
“I do believe the secrecy behind grand juries — including Moore’s Ford — is to protect the bad guys, not the good guys,” Klibanoff said.
He remains hopeful that answers may still exist in archives — or within families.
“You don’t know if someone gave a deathbed confession 40 years ago,” he said.
Authorities acknowledge it is unlikely that anyone who directly witnessed the lynching is still alive. But descendants in Walton County may hold pieces of the truth.
Greene says she prays one day a family member will come forward — not just for accountability, but for reconciliation.
“We want reconciliation,” she said. “That’s what’s important.”
A national reckoning
The impact of Moore’s Ford reached beyond Walton County.
In December 1946, the killings helped prompt President Harry Truman to establish the President’s Committee on Civil Rights — a 15-member panel tasked with investigating racial violence and recommending federal action to protect civil rights.
Nearly 80 years later, Moore’s Ford Bridge stands as a reminder of terror, silence, and unfinished justice — and of a chapter of Black history that remains as difficult to confront as it is necessary to remember.
HART COUNTY, Ga. – An Atlanta woman wanted for kidnapping in Maryland was arrested along Interstate 85 in northeast Georgia.
What we know:
Alicia Denise Brown, 37, of Atlanta, was taken into custody during a traffic stop. According to the Hart County Sheriff’s Office, deputies received an alert about the car traveling north on the interstate. Deputies pulled over the vehicle near Exit 177 along with Georgia State Patrol troopers.
A woman and two young children were taken into custody. No one was injured.
The backstory:
Brown is wanted on outstanding kidnapping-related warrants out of Maryland and by the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office on felony charges of interference with child custody.
The Baltimore County Police Department wanted Brown on charges stemming from the disappearance of a 10-year-old child who was reported missing in 2019. Maryland officials say they would extradite her back to face charges.
What they’re saying:
“We are thankful for the quick response and teamwork of our deputies, the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office, the Georgia State Patrol, and all assisting agencies. Their coordinated efforts resulted in the safe recovery of both children and the successful apprehension of the suspect,” Sheriff Chris Carroll said.
What we don’t know:
It is also unclear how the vehicle was initially spotted or what specific vehicle description triggered the law enforcement alert.
The full details of the charges were not immediately available.
The Source: The information in this story was gathered from the Hart County Sheriff’s Office, who explained how we got it through an official statement from Sheriff Chris Carroll, as well as details provided by the Baltimore County Police Department and the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office.
TOOMBS COUNTY, Ga. – A 36-year-old Atlanta man was killed in a Fourth of July shooting in southeast Georgia, and the investigation has been turned over to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
What we know:
According to the GBI, Vidalia police officers responded around 3:13 a.m. Saturday to a report of shots fired in the 500 block of East Jenkins Street in Vidalia. When officers arrived, they found Rashad Lamar Lumpkin, of Atlanta, lying in the roadway with multiple gunshot wounds.
Lumpkin was taken by EMS to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The Vidalia Police Department requested the GBI investigate the shooting. Authorities said the investigation remains active and ongoing.
What you can do:
Anyone with information is asked to contact the GBI Regional Investigative Office in Eastman at 478-374-6988 or the Vidalia Police Department at 912-537-4123. Anonymous tips can also be submitted by calling 1-800-597-TIPS (8477), online through the GBI’s tip portal or by using the See Something, Send Something mobile app.
Once the investigation is complete, the case will be turned over to the Middle Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office for review.
A metro Atlanta man is helping his fellow food and beverage workers struggling with addiction and alcoholism by holding weekly meetings that foster support.
“I’ve been cooking for 11 years. I started when I was a teenager. I’ve been with the company ever since,” said Jonah Jacobson, a sous chef at Pricci in Buckhead.
Jacobson said he began to experience repercussions while in active addiction five years ago.
“Things got bad enough to the point where I was fired from my first job,” he said.
Jacobson said once he started using alcohol and drugs, he could not stop.
“Where everybody else would call it a night after 1, 2 and go home like a normal person, I realized I did not have that luxury. I was not like everybody else,” said Jacobson.’
He helps lead the local chapter of Ben’s Friends, a national organization that organizes meetings for people struggling with addiction and alcoholism.
“We would always talk about another restaurant person who was either destroying their lives or, unfortunately, had just taken their lives due to alcohol and drugs. At one point, we just said enough is enough,” said Ben’s Friends co-founder Mickey Bakst.
Bakst has been sober for 43 years. He said the food and beverage industry fosters an environment in which alcohol and drugs are common and makes it easy for workers to fall into active addiction.
Adam Mauk with Edge Treatment Center in Roswell said programs like Ben’s Friends are often more successful after a person completes an initial inpatient or outpatient treatment plan. But he said people often reason they cannot afford to take the time off from work to complete initial treatment.
“It’s been proven time and time again that if you put anything ahead of your sobriety or ahead of trying to get clean or sober, then you’re going to lose that too,” said Mauk.
Jacobson has now been sober for five years.
“It (recovery) gave me a new outlook on life and gave me a sense of belonging that I was looking for, partially in a kitchen, partially outside of my life,” said Jacobson.
Ben’s Friends has more than 40 chapters across the country, offering free peer support to people working in the food and beverage industry.
Jacobson encourages anyone to attend a meeting on Mondays at 11 a.m. at Pricci, located on Pharr Road.
-
Los Angeles, Ca29 minutes agoPunk legends unite for special Ramones tribute in Los Angeles
-
Detroit, MI49 minutes agoFirefighters battle large blaze at vacant apartment complex on Detroit’s west side
-
San Francisco, CA59 minutes ago
49ers Sign DL Gracen Halton to a Four-Year Deal
-
Dallas, TX1 hour agoDallas Mavericks head coach Dusty May shares vision for team’s NBA championship future
-
Miami, FL1 hour ago
Miami Dolphins Academy
-
Boston, MA1 hour agoOver 5 inches of rain fell in parts of New England. Here are the highest totals. – The Boston Globe
-
Denver, CO1 hour agoPatio Season Is Here: Vote for Denver’s Best Patio – 303 Magazine
-
Seattle, WA1 hour agoDisappointment on the field, but momentum on the streets
