The Moore’s Ford lynchings, or the 1946 Georgia lynching, refer to the brutal murders of four young African Americans by a mob of white men on July 25, 1946.
The incident took place near Moore’s Ford Bridge in Walton and Oconee counties, Georgia. The victims were two married couples: George W. and Mae Murray Dorsey, and Roger and Dorothy Malcolm.
The case attracted national attention, prompting large protests in Washington, D.C., and New York City. President Harry Truman created the President’s Committee on Civil Rights and introduced anti-lynching legislation in Congress, but it was blocked by the Southern Democratic bloc.
The FBI investigated the case in 1946 but could not find sufficient evidence to charge anyone. The cold case was reopened in the 1990s, but the state of Georgia and the FBI closed their cases in December 2017 without any prosecution.
In this episode of “Zone 7,” Crime Scene Investigator, Sheryl McCollum, talks with clinical therapist Janice Duncan as they dive deep into the chilling Moore’s Ford Lynching case. Together they explore the psychological impact of lynching on the Black community. They also discuss their emotional experiences at the crime scene, including a tense encounter with a truck, and the significance of the evidence found.
The duo also reveals their interactions with a former imperial wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, shedding light on the complex historical context of the case.
About the ‘Zone 7’ Host
Sheryl “Mac” McCollum is an Emmy Award-winning CSI, a writer for CrimeOnline, a forensic and crime scene expert for “Crime Stories with Nancy Grace,” and a CSI for a metro-area Atlanta Police Department. She is the co-author of the textbook, “Cold Case: Pathways to Justice.”
McCollum is also the founder and director of the Cold Case Investigative Research Institute, a collaboration between universities and colleges that brings researchers, practitioners, students, and the criminal justice community. They come together to advance techniques in solving cold cases and assist families and law enforcement with solvability factors for unsolved homicides, missing persons, and kidnapping cases.
You can connect and learn more about McCollum’s work by visiting the CCIRI website https://coldcasecrimes.org
Social Links:
- Email: coldcase2004@gmail.com
- Twitter: @ColdCaseTips
- Facebook: @sheryl.mccollum
[Feature Photo: FILE- This Feb. 22, 2018, file photo shows a bridge that spans the Apalachee River at Moore’s Ford Road where in 1946 two young black couples were stopped by a white mob who dragged them to the riverbank and shot them multiple times in Monroe, Ga. The gruesome lynching is prompting a U.S. court to consider whether federal judges can order grand jury records unsealed in old cases with historical significance. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)]