1946 Georgia Lynching - Memorial Committee and Reopened Investigation

Memorial Committee and Reopened Investigation

In 1992, Clinton Adams told the FBI that he had been a witness to the murders at Moore's Ford Bridge. Only ten years old when he saw the lynching, Adams had been on the run for 45 years, fearing for his life. After extensive research resulting in her book on the case, Fire in a Canebrake (2003), reporter Laura Wexler contended Adams had "holes in his story."

In 1992, The Atlanta Constitution told Adams' story and the history of the unsolved lynching. Five years later, the Oconee Enterprise, Walton Tribune, and the Athens Daily News also published accounts. With the renewed publicity, some people in the community decided to act.

In 1997 Georgia citizens established the biracial Moore's Ford Memorial Committee to commemorate the lynching and work for racial reconciliation. They have conducted a number of activities, including restoration of cemeteries where the victims were buried, erecting tombstones at the previously unmarked graves, conducting education about the events, and setting up scholarships in the names of those who died. In 1998 they held a biracial memorial service on the anniversary of the attack.

They worked with the Georgia Historical Society to ensure a state historical marker was placed near the site. It was erected on U.S. Highway 78 in 1999, on the fifty-third anniversary of the incident. The marker, 2.4 miles (3.9 km) to the west, identifies the site as the location of the last unsolved mass lynching in America. Additionally, it recognizes the 1998 memorial service. It is believed to be the first highway marker to recognize a lynching. Also in 1999, the Memorial Committee arranged for a military memorial service to honor George Dorsey on the anniversary of the lynching.

In 2001 then-Gov. Roy Barnes officially reopened investigation into the case with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. By 2006, the FBI had reentered the case. In June 2008, as part of the continuing investigation, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and FBI searched an area at a farm home in Walton County near Gratis and collected material they believed related to the lynching.