African American

came to help remove the sign. They do deserve our support; bashing the entire town for the actions of a few would be counterproductive.

I live in a small town not far from Dahlonega. I attended a talk last month on the "forgotten Blacks" in the area and was surprised to learn that this mountain area became home for many freemen starting near the end of the Civil War. The slave-holding plantations were south and east of here, and this was as far as many traveled to escape. In my county, the Black families were gone by the 1920 census, but it was more a matter of economics than inhospitable people. Apart from the gold rush in Dahlonega, the mountain folk were poor; no industry and little arable land. The Klan was not active here, and would not have been welcome.