Cultural Diversity : Georgia Essay

Forsyth County, Georgia: Race and My Community

ETH 125

Introduction

    I currently live in Forsyth County, Georgia. Forsyth is the fastest growing area in

Georgia with the population increasing 70.8% from the year 2000 to 2008 according

to the U.S. Census State and County Quickfacts. Quickfacts also shows that the

percentage of White persons was 91.0%, Blacks 3.7 %, American Indian/Alaskan Native

0.3%, Asians 4.2%, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders 0 % in 2007. As one can tell by

the statistics, there is not a lot of diversity in this county. I didn’t realize the lack of

culture in this area until I began researching, nor did I have a clue about how dark the

past was. Do people in Forsyth look like me? Absolutely. I am a white woman with

blonde hair and green eyes. Although there are many different places of origin for the

residents in Forsyth County, as well as native Atlantans, the race still remains white.

There are reasons for these numbers of statistics in this county. The more I research, the

more troubled I become. In this paper I will reveal the reasons that appear clear to me of

why this community is stripped of diversity in race and education along with many

examples of racism in my community..

Stripped of Diversity in Race

    Most of North Georgia historically was occupied by Cherokee Indians. Before

modern day racism, About North Georgia’s website claims that [Forsyth County

contributed to the Cherokee Nation having to give up their land with the “Treaty of

New Echota, approved by the Senate of the United States on May 1836.”   Also, In 1938

“members of the Georgia Guard and the U.S. Army began rounding up Cherokee

Indians and moving them to Fort Bluffington”, which is around 50 miles west of

Forsyth.] This was supposedly a holding place for the Cherokee Tribes before the Trail of

Tears. I was aware that mining had been lucrative...