In Forsyth County, Georgia, in September 1912, two separate alleged attacks on white women in the Cumming area resulted in black men being accused as suspects.

The 16-year-old and an alleged accomplice were later convicted by an all-white jury and sentenced to death by hanging, which was carried out weeks later in what became a public execution.

In the following months, a group of men called "Night Riders"[a] terrorized black citizens, warning them to leave in 24 hours or be killed.

After the American Civil War, black enslaved persons in the South were emancipated and granted citizenship and the franchise through constitutional amendments.

But by the turn of the 20th century, all Southern states disfranchised blacks by passing constitutions and other laws to impede voter registration and voting.

In addition, the white-dominated Southern legislatures passed laws imposing racial segregation in public facilities, and Jim Crow customs ruled.

Dr. Ansel Strickland, a doctor in Cumming, Georgia, wrote a firsthand account saying that "hundreds of Black were killed" by whites in the Atlanta riot.

The presence of mixed race individuals suggests that the official ban against interracial relationships was not absolute, including historical accounts of light-skinned slaves being fathered by white owners.

[citation needed] On the night of September 5, 1912, a white woman named Ellen Grice[b] alleged that a black man entered her bedroom.

[3] Within days, Forsyth County Sheriff William Reid detained Toney Howell as a suspect, along with alleged accomplices Johnny Bates, Fate Chester, Isaiah Pirkle, and Joe Rogers.

[2]: 5 After the news came out about the attack on Grice, Grant Smith, a black preacher at a local Cumming church, was heard to suggest that the victim was a "sorry white woman".

[1] Based on rumors that blacks at a nearby church barbecue threatened to dynamite the town, armed white men patrolled Cumming to prevent such action.

[8] Later that day, Sheriff Reid sent Howell, his four alleged accomplices, and Smith to the Cobb County jail in nearby Marietta for their safety.

[9] Fearing that a mob from Cumming was en route, Governor Brown arranged for the five prisoners to be moved again for their protection, this time to the Fulton County jail in Atlanta.

[14] Police arrested him at home, taking him to the Hall County jail in Gainesville to avoid the recent turmoil of Cumming.

[16] When word spread of the attack on Crow, a white lynch mob began to form that afternoon at the Gainesville jail.

[16] Ernest Knox and Oscar Daniel were quickly convicted of rape and murder,[16] by an all-white jury of 11 farmers and one night watchman.

Within the next four months following the events of September 1912, an estimated 98% of the black residents living in the county left due to Night Rider threats, or were murdered.