“What we did yesterday is the first of what I hope will be other events, similar.”
This past Monday, residents of Oconee and its neighboring counties gathered to commemorate the 115th anniversary of a lynching in Watkinsville. At 2am on June 29th, 1905 a mob of 50-75 men took nine prisoners out of the Oconee County jail, tied them up to fence posts in three nearby lots, and shot them. Just one of these men survived.
John Vodicka, who organized this event, has spent time researching these lynchings, and similar events in this part of Georgia.
“You know I have found close to four dozen victims of lynching’s names that happened from Greene County, up to Madison, the surrounding area, the 10 or 11 county’s that circle Clarke County.”
The vigil started in front of what is now the Oconee County Courthouse, where the name of each victim was read, and those who were moved were invited to speak. After this reflection the group moved to the only known grave of any of the victims of this lynching, that of Sandy Price.
At his grave site the group spread fresh dirt and placed flowers. They again reflected on their personal perspectives on the event, and how the community of Oconee County can learn from one of it’s darkest chapters.
“It was also encouraging to see a crowd of African Americans and white folks and others to talk about not necessarily the guilt or the shame, but more about what we can do from here on out. To make this right. We’ll never make it right, but to make it right enough so that we can understand where we came from, and why some of the things that are happening today are happening today.”
The names of the victims are Rich Robinson, Lewis Robinson, Claude Elder, Rich Allen, Gene Yerby, Bob Harris, Lon Aycock and Sandy Price