In 1858 Alonzo Heardon was born a slave on a plantation near Social Circle. It would be Herndon, who, by forming Atlanta Mutual Life in 1905, gave the struggling black community of Sweet Auburn an economic impetus.

On July 25, 1946, two young black couples-Roger and Dorothy Malcolm and George and Mae Murray Dorsey-were lynched by a mob of white men in Walton County. Having been freed on bond after being accused of stabbing his boss, Malcolm was dragged from the car, apparently to be lynched by the angry crowd. One of the women called the name of the leader of the mob. The four were tied up and shot with rifles, shotguns, pistols and a machine gun hundreds of times in broad daylight. None of the men responsible were ever arrested and prosecuted for the crime, however, the incident is recognized as a key event in the early civil rights movement.