Georgia History: Overview
see http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/georgia-history-overview
Mississippian Period: Overview
The Mississippian Period in the midwestern and southeastern United States, which lasted from about A.D. 800 to 1600, saw the development of some of the most complex societies that ever existed in North America. Mississippian people were horticulturalists.
Hernando de Soto in Georgia
Hernando de Soto was a Spanish-born explorer and conqueror who landed in present-day Tampa Bay, Florida, in 1539 and came to the Georgia area in 1540.
Spanish Missions
The Catholic Church established itself in Georgia long before James Oglethorpe founded the colony in 1733. Spanish priests came to Georgia in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries seeking to convert Native Americans. The Spanish missions had limited suc
James Oglethorpe (1696-1785)
James Oglethorpe, along with a twenty-one-member Board of Trustees, founded the colony of Georgia in 1733 and directed its development for nearly a decade. Although the board appointed Anglican clergy to the new colony, Oglethorpe welcomed settlers of a v
Yamacraw Indians
The Yamacraw Indians were a small band that existed from the late 1720s to the mid-1740s in the Savannah area. First led by Tomochichi and then by his nephew and heir Toonahowi, they consisted of about 200 people and contained a mix of Lower Creeks and Ya
Malcontents
During the 1730s, Scottish settler Patrick Tailfer led a group of colonists, knowns as the Malcontents, in protest of various laws and policies enforced by the Georgia Trustees. The Malcontents first made their objections heard in 1735 shortly after their
Tomochichi (ca. 1644-1739)
Chief of the Yamacraw Indians, remains a prominent character of early Georgia history. As the principal mediator between the native population and the new English settlers during the first years of settlement, he contributed much to the establishment of p
Royal Georgia, 1752-1776
Royal Georgia refers to the period between the termination of Trustee governance of Georgia and the colony's declaration of independence at the beginning of the American Revolution (1775-83). During that period the province was administered in theory by t
Battle of Bloody Marsh
On July 7, 1742, English and Spanish forces skirmished on St. Simons Island in an encounter later known as the Battle of Bloody Marsh. This event was the only Spanish attempt to invade Georgia during the War of Jenkins' Ear, and it resulted in a significa
James Wright (1716-1785)
James Wright was the third and last royal governor of Georgia, serving from 1760 to 1782, with a brief interruption early in the American Revolution (1775-83). Almost alone among colonial governors, Wright was a popular and able administrator and servant
Salzburgers
a group of German-speaking Protestant colonists, founded the town of Ebenezer in what is now Effingham County. Arriving in 1734, the group received support from King George II of England and the Georgia Trustees after they were expelled from their home in
Rice
Rice, Georgia's first staple crop, was the most important commercial agricultural commodity in the Lowcountry from the middle of the eighteenth century until the early twentieth century. Rice arrived in America with European and African migrants as part o
Revolutionary War in Georgia
Though Georgians opposed British trade regulations, many hesitated to join the revolutionary movement that emerged in the American colonies in the early 1770s and resulted in the Revolutionary War (1775-83). The colony had prospered under royal rule, and
Button Gwinnett (1735-1777)
Button Gwinnett was one of three Georgia signers of the Declaration of Independence. He served in Georgia's colonial legislature, in the Second Continental Congress, and as president of Georgia's Revolutionary Council of Safety.
Lachlan McIntosh (1727-1806)
Lachlan McIntosh, a member of a prominent eighteenth-century Scottish Highland family that was among the earliest settlers of the Georgia colony, played an important role in the cause of American independence. He distinguished himself in a career that evo
Mary Musgrove (ca. 1700-ca. 1763)
Known as Coosaponakeesa among the Creek Indians, Mary Musgrove served as a cultural liaison between colonial Georgia and her Native American community in the mid-eighteenth century. Musgrove took advantage of her biculturalism to protect Creek interests,
Yazoo Land Fraud
In 1795 Georgia governor Georgia Mathews signed the Yazoo Act, which transferred 35 million acres of the state's western territory to four separate companies for a sum of $500,000. The Yazoo land fraud was one of the most significant events in the post-Re
Major Ridge (ca. 1771-1839)
The Cherokee leader Major Ridge is primarily known for signing the Treaty of New Echota (1835), which led to the Trail of Tears. Before this tragic period in Cherokee history, however, he was one of the most prominent leaders of the Cherokee nation.
Eli Whitney in Georgia
The inventor of the cotton gin, Eli Whitney lived in Georgia for just a year, on Catharine Greene's Mulberry Grove plantation near Savannah. After learning of the difficulty planters had with separating seeds from fibers in upland, or "short-staple," cott
Nancy Hart (ca. 1735-1830)
Georgia's most acclaimed female participant during the Revolutionary War (1775-83) was Nancy Hart. A devout patriot, Hart gained notoriety during the revolution for her determined efforts to rid the area of Tories, English soldiers, and British sympathize
Slavery in Revolutionary Georgia
The American Revolution (1775-83) probably affected both the system of slavery and the lives of enslaved individuals more in Georgia than in any other British colony. The disruption of the war offered the prospect of freedom to many thousands of slaves, b
War of 1812 and Georgia
The War of 1812 was fought between the United States and Britain between 1812 and 1815. The causes of the war were many: the impressing of American sailors into the British navy, British trade restrictions to Europe during the Napoleonic Wars, British mil
Cherokee Removal
In 1838 and 1839 U.S. troops, prompted by the state of Georgia, expelled the Cherokee Indians from their ancestral homeland in the Southeast and removed them to the Indian Territory in what is now Oklahoma. The removal of the Cherokees was a product of th
Gold Rush
By late 1829 north Georgia, known at the time as the Cherokee Nation, was flooded by thousands of prospectors lusting for gold. Niles' Register reported in the spring of 1830 that there were four thousand miners working along Yahoola Creek alone.
Cotton
From the late eighteenth to the mid-twentieth century, there was no more important single factor in Georgia's agricultural economy than cotton. In 2014 the state ranked second in cotton production in the United States, behind Texas, planting 1.4 million a
William Harris Crawford (1772-1834)
William Harris Crawford, a longtime resident of Oglethorpe County, became the first Georgian to run for the U.S. presidency when he stood for election in both 1816 and 1824. Although never elected president, Crawford served in a variety of other capacitie
John Ross (1790-1866)
John Ross became principal chief of the Cherokee Nation in 1827, following the establishment of a government modeled on that of the United States. He presided over the nation during the apex of its development in the Southeast, the tragic Trail of Tears,
Wilson Lumpkin (1783-1870)
Wilson Lumpkin was one of Georgia's most prominent political leaders of the antebellum period. After early service in local government and the state legislature, he was elected to Congress four times, serving 1815-17 and 1827-31; he resigned before servin
Sequoyah (ca. 1770-ca. 1840)
also called George Gist or George Guess, was the legendary creator of the Cherokee syllabary, a system of eighty-four to eighty-six characters that represented syllables in spoken Cherokee
Howell Cobb (1815-1868)
Following Georgia's secession from the Union in 1861, Howell Cobb served as president of the Confederate Provisional Congress (1861-62) and a major general of the Confederate army.
Robert Toombs (1810-1885)
One of the most ardent secessionists in the U.S. Senate, helped to lead Georgia out of the Union on the eve of the Civil War (1861-65). This was surprising; although Toombs was a slaveholding planter, he had dedicated the majority of his political career
Alexander Stephens (1812-1883)
A lifelong politician, Alexander Stephens is perhaps best remembered as the vice president of the Confederacy during the Civil War.
Crawford Long (1815-1878)
Crawford Long was a pioneering physician who is credited with discovering anesthesia.
William and Ellen Craft (1824-1900; 1826-1891)
William and Ellen Craft were slaves from Macon who gained celebrity after a daring, novel, and very public escape in December 1848.
Mark Anthony Cooper (1800-1885)
Mark Anthony Cooper�a soldier, lawyer, politician, farmer, and entrepreneur�is best remembered as an industrialist whose ironworks was one of the leading businesses in antebellum northwest Georgia. He founded the town of Etowah in Bartow County.
Roswell King (1765-1844)
Industrialist and businessman Roswell King was in his seventies when he founded his namesake town, Roswell. He established the Roswell textile mills in the late 1830s and enticed wealthy coastal families to join his enterprise, thus changing the economy a
Land Lottery System
Between 1805 and 1833, the state of Georgia conducted eight land lotteries in which public lands in the interior of the state were dispersed to small yeoman farmers (i.e., farmers who cultivate their own land) based on a system of eligibility and chance.
Worcester v. Georgia (1832)
In the court case Worcester v. Georgia, the U.S. Supreme Court held in 1832 that the Cherokee Indians constituted a nation holding distinct sovereign powers. Although the decision became the foundation of the principle of tribal sovereignty in the twentie
Georgia in 1860
Georgia, uniquely situated among southern states on the eve of the Civil War (1861-65), played a vital part in the formation of the Confederacy. A geographic lynchpin that linked Atlantic seaboard and Deep South states, the "Empire State" was the second-l
Georgia and the Sectional Crisis
The sectional crisis of the 1850s, in which Georgia played a pivotal role, led to the outbreak of the Civil War (1861-65). Southern politicians struggled during the crisis to prevent northern abolitionists from weakening constitutional protections for sla
Battle of Kennesaw Mountain
On June 27, 1864, Kennesaw Mountain, located about twenty miles northwest of Atlanta in Cobb County, became the scene for one of the Atlanta campaign's major actions in the Civil War (1861-65). The confederates won the battle at Kennesaw Mountain.
Sherman's March to the Sea
The march to the Sea, the most destructive campaign against a civilian population during the Civil War (1861-65), began in Atlanta on November 15, 1864, and concluded in Savannah on December 21, 1864. Union general William T. Sherman abandoned his supply
Deportation of Roswell Mill Women
In July 1864 during the Atlanta campaign General William T. Sherman ordered the approximately 400 Roswell mill workers, mostly women, arrested as traitors and shipped as prisoners to the North with their children. There is little evidence that more than a
Atlanta Campaign
The "Atlanta campaign" is the name given by historians to the military operations that took place in north Georgia during the Civil War (1861-65) in the spring and summer of 1864.
Unionists
Historians of the Civil War (1861-65) have only recently begun serious study of Unionists, an often overlooked group of white southerners who played a substantial part in sowing discontent and undermining the Confederate war effort. Unionists found themse
Joseph E. Brown (1821-1894)
The Civil War (1861-65) governor of Georgia, Joseph E. Brown was one of the most successful politicians in the state's history and the father of two-term governor Joseph M. Brown.
Ku Klux Klan in the Reconstruction Era
From 1868 through the early 1870s the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) functioned as a loosely organized group of political and social terrorists. The Klan's goals included the political defeat of the Republican Party and the maintenance of absolute white supremacy in
Amos T. Akerman (1821-1880)
Amos Akerman was a Georgia lawyer who rose to prominence as U.S. attorney general during Reconstruction.
Rufus Bullock (1834-1907)
Rufus Bullock was the first Republican to be elected to Georgia's highest political office, serving as governor from 1868 to 1871. Bullock was a northern-born businessman who cooperated with the Confederacy, became the most hated man in the state during R
Andersonville Prison
In February 1864, during the Civil War (1861-65), a Confederate prison was established in Macon County, in southwest Georgia, to provide relief for the large number of Union prisoners concentrated in and around Richmond, Virginia. The new camp, officially
Secession
Georgia's secession from the Union followed nearly two decades of increasingly intense sectional conflict over the status of slavery in western territories and over the future of slavery in the United States. The secession of southern states hastened the
Reconstruction in Georgia
As a defeated Confederate state, Georgia underwent Reconstruction from 1865, when the Civil War (1861-65) ended, until 1871, when Republican government and military occupation in the state ended. Though relatively brief, Reconstruction transformed the sta
Georgia's Historic Capitals
Atlanta has served as the capital city of Georgia since 1868. The current gold-domed capitol building, completed in 1889, houses the General Assembly in downtown Atlanta. That would seem to make sense, as Atlanta is the largest and best-known city in the
Henry W. Grady (1850-1889)
Henry W. Grady, the "Spokesman of the New South," served as managing editor for the Atlanta Constitution in the 1880s. A member of the Atlanta Ring of Democratic political leaders, Grady used his office and influence to promote a New South program of nort
Atlanta Race Riot of 1906
During the Atlanta race riot that occurred September 22-24, 1906, white mobs killed dozens of blacks, wounded scores of others, and inflicted considerable property damage. Local newspaper reports of alleged assaults by black males on white females were th
Thomas E. Watson (1856-1922)
The public life of Thomas E. Watson is perhaps one of the more perplexing and controversial among Georgia politicians. In his early years he was characterized as a liberal, especially for his time. In later years he emerged as a force for white supremacy
John B. Gordon (1832-1904)
John B. Gordon rose to prominence during the Civil War, entering as a captain and emerging as a major general. He later served as a U.S. senator and as the governor of Georgia.
Rebecca Latimer Felton (1835-1930)
Rebecca Latimer Felton, who died in 1930 at the age of ninety-four, lived a life that was as full as it was long. A writer and tireless campaigner for Progressive Era reforms, especially women's rights, she was the first woman to serve in the U.S. Senate.
Atlanta Compromise Speech
On September 18, 1895, the African American educator and leader Booker T. Washington delivered his famous "Atlanta Compromise" speech at the Cotton States and International Exposition in Atlanta. Considered the definitive statement of what Washington term
Lynching
Between 1882 and 1930 the American South experienced an epidemic of fatal mob violence that produced more than 3,000 victims, the vast majority of whom were African Americans. More than 450 documented lynchings occurred in Georgia alone. Lynching refers t
County Unit System
The county unit system, established in 1917 was a method of allotting votes by county, with little regard for population differences, allowed rural counties to control Georgia elections by minimizing the impact of the growing urban centers, particularly A
Hoke Smith (1855-1931)
Hoke Smith, a trial attorney and publisher of the Atlanta Journal, was most influential as the leader of Georgia's Progressive movement during his years as governor (1907-9, 1911) and as a U.S. senator (1911-21)
Progressive Era
The Progressive Era refers to a period of varied reforms that took place throughout the United States over the first two decades of the twentieth century. While much of that change was enacted by the U.S. Congress under the leadership of three consecutive
Woman Suffrage
Most southern women did not publicly express a desire for equal rights with men until well after the Civil War (1861-65), and suffrage, or the right to vote, came later to women in Georgia than to women in most other states. Northern women, inspired by th
Railroads
Georgia's first railroad tracks were laid in the mid-1830s on routes leading from Athens, Augusta, Macon, and Savannah. Some twenty-five years later, the state not only could claim more rail miles than any other in the Deep South but also had linked its m
World War II in Georgia
Southern states were critical to the war effort during World War II (1941-45) and none more so than Georgia. Some 320,000 Georgians served in the U.S. Armed Forces during World War II, and countless others found employment in burgeoning wartime industries
Ku Klux Klan in the Twentieth Century
A secret society dedicated to white supremacy in the United States, the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) has existed in various forms since it was first organized in Tennessee shortly after the end of the Civil War (1861-65). The original Klan of Reconstruction was sup
Corra Harris (1869-1935)
Harris's best-known work, A Circuit Rider's Wife (1910), is a semiautobiographical novel based on life with her Methodist minister husband, Lundy.
Walter White (1893-1955)
A native of Atlanta, Walter White served as chief secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) from 1929 to 1955. During the twenty-five years preceding the Supreme Court's 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision,
Convict Lease System
During the antebellum period, Georgia and the rest of the South relied heavily on slave labor for farming and jobs that required hard labor. But with emancipation and the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment, slavery as an institution and a form of labor b
Leo Frank Case
The Leo Frank case is one of the most notorious and highly publicized cases in the legal annals of Georgia. A Jewish man in Atlanta was placed on trial and convicted of raping and murdering a thirteen-year-old girl who worked for the National Pencil Compa
Boll Weevil
The boll weevil greatly affected Georgia's long history of cotton production between 1915, when the insect was introduced to Georgia, and the early 1990s, when it was eliminated as an economic pest. The pest was a driving force behind the "great migration
Franklin D. Roosevelt in Georgia
Between 1924 and 1945 Franklin D. Roosevelt visited Warm Springs and Georgia forty-one times. In the early years, he spent his days exercising at the pools at the Warm Springs resort as he tried to rebuild his leg muscles from the debilitating effects of
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, or SNCC (pronounced "snick"), was one of the key organizations in the American civil rights movement of the 1960s. In Georgia SNCC concentrated its efforts in Albany and Atlanta.
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) has had an unbroken presence in Georgia since 1917. The NAACP State Conference maintains a network of branches throughout Georgia, from cities to small rural counties. The state branch
Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968)
Martin Luther King Jr., a Baptist minister and president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), was the most prominent African American leader in the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.
W. W. Law (1923-2002)
W. W. Law was a crusader for justice and the civil rights of African Americans. He served as president of the Savannah chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) from 1950 to 1976 and came to be widely known as "Mr.
Sibley Commission
In 1960 Georgia governor Ernest Vandiver Jr., forced to decide between closing public schools or complying with a federal order to desegregate them, tapped state representative George Busbee to introduce legislation creating the General Assembly Committee
Civil Rights Movement
The civil rights movement in the American South was one of the most significant and successful social movements in the modern world. Black Georgians formed part of this southern movement for full civil rights and the wider national struggle for racial equ
Carpet Industry
The carpet industry remains heavily concentrated in Georgia in the twenty-first century. Of the industry's $11 billion in wholesale sales in 1997, Georgia establishments accounted for more than $8 billion, and 32,000 of the industry's 50,000 workers toile
Margaret Mitchell (1900-1949)
Margaret Mitchell was the author of Gone With the Wind, one of the most popular books of all time. The novel was published in 1936 and sold more than a million copies in the first six months, a phenomenal feat considering it was the Great Depression era.
Lillian Smith (1897-1966)
Lillian Smith was one of the first prominent white southerners to denounce racial segregation openly and to work actively against the entrenched and often brutally enforced world of Jim Crow. From as early as the 1930s, she argued that Jim Crow was evil (
Joel Chandler Harris (1845-1908)
One of the South's most treasured authors, Joel Chandler Harris gained national prominence for his numerous volumes of Uncle Remus folktales.
Ellis Arnall (1907-1992)
Ellis Arnall's four years as governor of Georgia (1943-47) are considered to be among the most progressive and effective in the modern history of the state. Arnall undertook an ambitious ten-point reform program that was approved by the legislature within
Eugene Talmadge (1884-1946)
A controversial and colorful politician, Eugene Talmadge played a leading role in the state's politics from 1926 to 1946. During his three terms as state commissioner of agriculture and three terms as governor, his personality and actions polarized voters
Three Governors Controversy
Georgia's "three governors controversy" of 1946-47, which began with the death of governor-elect Eugene Talmadge, was one of the more bizarre political spectacles in the annals of American politics. In the wake of Talmadge's death, his supporters proposed
Jimmy Carter (b. 1924)
Jimmy Carter, the only Georgian elected president of the United States, held the office for one term, 1977-81. His previous public service included a stint in the U.S. Navy, two senate terms in the Georgia General Assembly, and one term as governor of Geo
Cocking Affair
In the summer of 1941 Governor Eugene Talmadge instituted the most devastating assault on higher education in the history of Georgia. His firing of professors, administrators, and members of the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia generat
State Flags of Georgia
On May 8, 2003, Governor Sonny Perdue signed legislation creating a new state flag for Georgia. The new banner became effective immediately, giving Georgia its third state flag in only twenty-seven months�a national record. Georgia also leads the nation i
Dixiecrats
The Dixiecrats were members of the States' Rights Democratic Party, which splintered from the Democratic Party in 1948. The faction consisted of malcontented southern delegates to the Democratic Party who protested the insertion of a civil rights plank in
Black Suffrage in the Twentieth Century
The twentieth-century effort to mobilize black Georgians in the political process began during the 1930s and continues to the present. It involves a broad base of individuals and organizations whose common goal is to enhance black political influence and
Howard Finster (ca. 1915-2001)
The Reverend Howard Finster emerged from the rural Appalachian culture of northeast Alabama and northwest Georgia to become one of America's most important creative personalities in the last quarter of the twentieth century. He was a visionary artist in v
Benny Andrews (1930-2006)
Benny Andrews, nationally recognized as an artist, teacher, author, activist, and advocate of the arts, grew up in rural Morgan County. Although he moved to New York in 1958, his formative years in Georgia continued to inform his work. Andrews explored Am
Lester Maddox (1915-2003)
The tumultuous political and social change in Georgia during the 1960s yielded perhaps the state's most unlikely governor, Lester Maddox. Brought to office in 1966 by widespread dissatisfaction with desegregation, Maddox surprised many by serving as an ab
Newt Gingrich (b. 1943)
As a Republican U.S. congressman from Georgia's Sixth District from 1979 to 1999, Newt Gingrich emerged as one of the nation's most powerful and polarizing political leaders in the 1990s. He served as Speaker of the House of Representatives from 1995 to 1
Sonny Perdue (b. 1946)
Sonny Perdue served two terms as the governor of Georgia, from 2003 to 2011. He was the first Republican chosen by Georgians to occupy the governor's mansion since the Reconstruction-era election of Rufus Bullock in 1868.
Charlayne Hunter-Gault (b. 1942)
Charlayne Hunter-Gault holds a place in Georgia civil rights history as one of the first two African American students admitted to the University of Georgia. Also known for her career as an award-winning journalist, Hunter-Gault is respected for her work