[1][2][3] In September 1912 in Forsyth County, Georgia, a young white girl was assaulted, raped, and later died.

What then followed was bands of white "night riders"[a] that drove the black citizens out of the county, via arson and terror.

The title Blood at the Root comes from the song Strange Fruit about the lynchings of African Americans in the South.

[4] Carol Anderson, reviewing the book for The New York Times, said it "meticulously and elegantly reveals the power of white supremacy in its many guises.

"[4] Anderson commented that some of the book was "weighed down by supposition and tangents", noting that the author "is hampered by the scarce records, biased contemporary newspaper reporting, traumatized family memories and oral histories that are few and far between.