In May of 1918, Hampton Smith, a 31 year old White plantation owner in Brooks County, Georgia was shot and killed by one of his Black workers named Sydney Johnson. What ensued after the shooting was a mob driven manhunt for Johnson and others thought to be involved in his decision to kill Hampton Smith. That manhunt lasted for more than a week and resulted in the deaths of at least 13 people with some historical accounts suggesting a higher number of persons killed. One of the people killed was a woman named Mary Turner. Thirty three year-old Mary Turner (m.n. Hattie Graham), was 8 months pregnant at the time. The mob tied Mary Turner by her ankles, hung her upside down from a tree, poured gasoline on her and burned off her clothes. One member of the mob then cut her stomach open and her unborn child dropped to the ground where it was reportedly stomped on and crushed by a member of the mob. https://www.maryturner.org/