HAHIRA, Ga. — A Georgia historical marker pinpointing the location of gruesome lynchings has been removed after it experienced a new string of vandalism, officials said.
The Mary Turner and the Lynching Rampage marker was removed last week, news outlets reported. The Mary Turner Project announced the removal Sunday.
Project Coordinator Mark Patrick George said the marker was recently shot at and hit several times by an “off road vehicle.”
George said the group and the Georgia Historical Society decided to remove the marker before it was completely broken off.
The marker has been vandalized before. In 2018, the sign was riddled with bullet holes for the second time in five years.
The sign will be stored away until new reinstallment plans are developed.
It's unclear whether authorities were investigating the incident.
The marker is dedicated to 13 lynching victims killed in Lowndes and Brooks counties.
History of marker
Mary Turner was 21 years old and eight months pregnant when her ankles were tied and she was lynched by a mob at the Lowndes-Brooks county line in 1918. Her husband was one of the 13 lynching victims commemorated by the marker. Turner’s outcry over her husband’s death led to her lynching.
