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Brooks County race war

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The Brooks County "race war" was a series of lynchings of African-Americans committed in Brooks County, Georgia in the United States in December 1894. It was called a "race war" at the time.

Around Christmas 1894, a group of whites attacked and killed five blacks (some reports at the time said seven) while claiming to be searching for black murderers. Blacks in the county seat Quitman pled for aid from the Governor, while others went into hiding. No significant action was taken to stop the killing until the mob reached the plantation of Mitchell Brice. One of the richest planters in the area, Brice threatened to react harshly to any further violence and perhaps press formal legal charges. His main problem was with the mistreatment of his plantation workers.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]

On December 26, the governor ordered in the Valdosta Videttes (a volunteer military company), and claimed to find peace already restored.[10]

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