The Tragedy of Lynching by Arthur F. Raper

Author:Arthur F. Raper [Raper, Arthur F.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, United States, State & Local, South (AL; AR; FL; GA; KY; LA; MS; NC; SC; TN; VA; WV)
ISBN: 9781469640211
Google: 4fs4DwAAQBAJ
Publisher: UNC Press Books
Published: 2017-10-10T00:32:54+00:00

FACTS ABOUT THE COMMUNITY

Early Population Elements. When Thomas County was laid off from Irwin County in 1826, it was much larger than at present and had a population of less than 3,000, nearly half of whom were Negro slaves. Big cotton plantations had developed along the larger streams as people of means had come in from the older part of Georgia, the Carolinas, and Virginia. Of wealthy planters there were enough to afford a social life among themselves; many of their sons and daughters were educated in England. At the time of the Civil War there were two educational institutions of some repute at Thomasville, the South Georgia College for Males and the Remur Young College for Girls.

Whites of smaller means were coming into the county from the pine hills immediately to the northeast; in Thomas County they lived on the unfertile uplands, owned but little property, followed a self-sufficient farm economy, and maintained a general low plane of living. There was but little social intercourse between the families of wealthy planters and the poorer whites. In 1850 the population of Thomas County was approximately 8,000, including 5,155 slaves.

By 1890, the county had a little more than 26,000 people, nearly sixty per cent of whom were Negroes. Meantime two additional social classes had come on the scene—the Northern tourist whites, and a scattering of Negroes who had acquired farm lands and other productive properties, enabling them to escape the dependence which characterized the Negro masses.

Negroes Used by Plantation Owners and Northern Tourists. The winter climate of Thomas County early attracted attention, and back in the nineteenth century, with the building of the railroads, vacationists came to Thomasville in great numbers to spend the winter months. Large hotels were hastily erected, and in the years following scores of winter homes were built. Thomasville was a fast-growing town.

Many rich Northern families have bought old plantations, which they now use in a few instances for general farming purposes, but usually for little more than hunting preserves. The general progress of Thomas County has doubtless been retarded considerably by the passing of these most fertile tracts of land into the control of absentee landlords, who, naturally, have had no sustained personal interest in the development of the local people. The wealthy families come to Thomasville to get something for themselves—sunshine, rest, and recreation—and have little interest in the slow and tedious task of developing local human resources. From the outset the wealthiest element of Thomasville and Thomas County, whether Southern planters or Northern game preserve owners, have had more dealings with the Negroes than with the poorer whites, and have been more concerned about them. In 1930, Thomas County had a population of 32,612, 48.6 per cent of whom were Negroes.

A little more than half of the county’s people live in eight incorporated towns; Thomasville alone has nearly two-thirds of all town dwellers, the other seven towns being mere agricultural villages. For the most part the remnant of the landed aristocracy live in or near Thomasville, as do also most of the Northern rich.

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