Ed Jackson and Charly Pou

Carl Vinson Institute of Government

The University of Georgia

1734 At a meeting of the Trustees in London, a report was read indicating that including both settlers sent on charity and those who had paid their own way, the colony of Georgia now had over 600 total residents.

1775 Voters of St. John's Parish [see map] elected Lyman Hall to represent them at the Second Continental Congress -- an action taken because the delegates elected by Georgia's provincial congress felt they should not attend because of the divided loyalties of Georgia residents.

1794 Philanthropist Emily Thomas Tubman was born in Ashland, Va. In 1818, she married Richard Tubman, a highly successful and respected member of ante-bellum society in Augusta, Ga. In 1836, Richard died of illness, and his will left most of his considerable estate to his wife (who was also designated sole administrator of the will). She spent much of the rest of her life supporting worthy causes -- but the one she is best remembered for is her role in implementing Richard's wish (supported by $10,000 in his will) that 42 family slaves be freed. This goal, however, was complicated by Georgia law, which at the time prohibited allowing freed slaves to remain in Georgia. After looking at several alternatives, Emily used the $10,000 in 1837 to send the 42 slaves to a new home for freed American slaves in Liberia on the coast of West Africa. Here, the Tubman's former slaves prospered in a new community named Mount Tubman (with the grandson of one later becoming president of Liberia). Emily died in Augusta on June 9, 1885.

1856 African-American U.S. Army officer Henry Ossian Flipper was born into slavery in Thomasville, Georgia. After his father purchase the family's freedom in 1865, they moved to Atlanta, where Henry attended private schools and Atlanta University. In 1872, Henry enrolled in the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, where he became the first African-American graduate in 1877. Upon graduation, Flipper was assigned to the Tenth Cavalry Regiment, popularly known as the Buffalo Soldiers. Flipper became post engineer and succeeded in draining some stagnant pools where all other efforts had failed. Serving next at Fort Davis in Texas, Flipper was accused by his commanding officer of embezzlement and conduct unbecoming an officer. Although acquitted of the allegation, he was convicted of the second charge and dismissed from the Army with a court-martial. Flipper insisted the dismissal was due to prejudice and tried throughout his life to have his record cleaned. He went on to a very successful career in civilian life; his special knowledge of Mexican law and engineering led to a position with the Department of Justice from 1893-1910. He later served as assistant to to the Secretary of the Interior under President Harding. Flipper continued his efforts to clear his name, having his court-martial reviewed in 1898, and having several hearings before the Committee on Military Affairs in the 1920s. In 1930, Flipper retired and lived with his brother in Atlanta. He died in 1940, never having his name cleared officially. But the fight went on with his family, and finally (through the work of his niece) the case was reviewed by the U.S. Army Board for the Correction of Military Records and his court martial was overturned in 1976 -- granting Flipper an honorable discharge. His vindication was completed on Feb. 19, 1999, when President Clinton granted Flipper a full pardon. [For more on Flipper, click here.]

1861 In Savannah, Confederate vice president Alexander Stephens gave his famous "Cornerstone" speech [view text] in which he proclaimed that the cornerstone of the new Confederacy "rests upon the great truth, that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery -- subordination to the superior race -- is his natural and normal condition."

1927 Without fanfare, R. H. Macy opened its new downtown Atlanta store on Peachtree St. to the public.

1939 At various times, Georgia has been labeled as the "Empire State of the South," "Goober State," "State of Adventure," and of course "Peach State." Interestingly, Georgia does not have an official nickname. However, the General Assembly came close to officially recognizing "Peach State" on this day in 1939 when Gov. E.D. Rivers signed legislation authorizing the State Revenue Commission to issue automobile license plates that "advertise, popularize, and otherwise promote Georgia as 'The Peach State.'" Consequently, beginning in 1940, Georgia license plates included the phrase "Peach State." During World War II (1942-46), the phrase was omitted, but reappeared from 1947 to 1970. Though "Peach State" has not appeared on plates since that time, since 1990 Georgia license plates have contained a color image of a peach. [To view images of Georgia's current and past license plates, click here.] In 1995, as part of legislation designating the peach as Georgia's official state fruit, the General Assembly a second time came close to recognizing "Peach State" as the state's official nickname. In that act [see text], first listed as justification for declaring the peach as the official state fruit is: "WHEREAS, Georgia is known throughout the world as the 'Peach State'. . . ."

1941 Gov. Eugene Talmadge signed an act of the General Assembly establishing Eastern Standard Time as the only standard time zone for the entire state of Georgia.

1955 Civil rights leader Walter White died in New York City. Born in Atlanta on July 1, 1893, the defining moment in White's life was the Atlanta race riot of 1906, in which he and his father were forced to take arms to defend their home from an angry mob. From this point White decided to devote his life to bettering the conditions of African-Americans, though he was light-skinned enough to pass for white himself. White held various offices within the NAACP from 1918 until his death. He was instrumental in the founding of Booker T. Washington High School for Atlanta blacks in 1923. He investigated and wrote on lynchings in the 1920s, publishing The Fire in the Flint (1924), Flight (1926), and Rope and Faggot: The Story of Judge Lynch (1929). He often endangered his own life by posing as a white man in the course of these investigations. When the Daughters of the American Revolution refused to allow famed African-American opera singer Marian Anderson to perform in Constitution Hall in 1939, White organized an open air concert for her in Washington, D.C. White acted as an advisor to Presidents Roosevelt and Truman on civil rights matters, and reported on the conditions for African-American soldiers in Europe during World War II in The Rising Wind: A Report on the Negro Soldier in the European Theater (1945). After the war he served as a consultant to the U.S delegation to the United Nations. In 1948 he published A Man Called White, then in 1955 How Far the Promised Land. Both were autobiographical works, the latter published soon before his death.

1965 Accompanied by more than 3,000 civil rights demonstrators, Martin Luther King Jr. led a march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. After having been assaulted by Selma police two weeks earlier, Pres. Johnson ordered units of the Alabama National Guard into federal service to protect the civil rights marchers. By the time the marchers reached Montgomery, their ranks had swelled to 25,000 demonstrators.

1970 Gov. Lester Maddox signed legislation creating the Georgia Agrirama. Initially created as an adjunct of the Coast Plains Experiment Station in Tifton, the Agrirama eventually would be recreated as a separate state authority with responsibility for constructing and operating a living museum of Georgia agriculture.

1994 Augusta dedicated a monument to Emily Tubman on the 200th anniversary of her birth. [See 1794 entry above for biographical information.]

2002 Former Georgia governor and senator Herman Talmadge died at his home in Hampton, Georgia. [ See August 9, 1913 This Day in Georgia History for biographical information.]

Georgia cities and towns first incorporated by acts approved by the governor on March 21:

1866 Stilesboro (Bartow County)

1958 Manor (Ware County) and Pineora (Effingham County)
 
 

In Their Own Words on This Day. . .

1746 George Whitefield wrote the following account of his Orphan House at Bethesda:

"Some have thought that the erecting such a building was only the produce of my own brain; but they are much mistaken; for it was first proposed to me by my dear friend, the Rev. Mr. Charles Wesley, who, with his excellency General Oglethorpe, had concerted a scheme for carrying on such a design before I any thoughts of going abroad myself.

"When I came to Georgia, I found many poor orphans who, though taken notice of by the Honourable Trustees, yet, through the neglect of persons that acted under them, were in miserable circumstances. For want of a house to breed them up in, the poor little ones were tabled out here and there; others were at hard services, and likely to have no education at all.

". . . January following, 1739, I met my family at Georgia, and being unwilling to lose any time, I hired a large house and took in all the orphans I could find in the colony. A great many, also, of the town's children came to school gratis, and many poor people that could not maintain their children, upon application had leave given them to send their little ones, for a month or two, or more as they could spare them, till at length my family consisted of between sixty and seventy. Most of the orphans were in poor case; and three or four almost eat up with lice. I likewise erected an infirmary, in which many sick people were cured and taken care of gratis. I have now by me a list of upwards of a hundred and thirty patients, which were under the surgeon's hands, exclusive of my own private family. About March I began the great house, having only about one hundred and fifty pounds in cash. I called in Bethesda, because I hoped it would be a house of mercy to many souls. Many boys have been put out to traces, and many girls put out to service. . . . We have lately begun to use the plough; and next year I hope to have many acres of good oats and barley. We have near twenty sheep and lambs, fifty head of cattle, and seven horses. We hope to kill a thousand weight of pork this season. Our garden is very beautiful, furnishes us with all sorts of greens, &c., &c. We have plenty of milk, eggs, poultry, and make a good deal of butter weekly. A good quantity of wool and cotton have been given me, and we hope to have sufficient spun and wove for the next winter's clothing. If the vines hit, we may expect two or three hogsheads of wine out of the vineyard. . . ."

1862 From Ft. Pulaski near the mouth of the Savannah River, Confederate defender Ricey Brooks wrote to his wife:

"I received yours yesterday which aforded me much pleasure, the first letter that I have received from you since we left camp. I suppose the cause of it is that the Yankees have taken any mail that has been started to us since we have been here. You cannot imagine the pleasure it gave me to hear from you once more, though I am fearful that it will be the last in a long while unless they hoist the blockade. I suppose in this time that the Yankees are as well fixed in their batteries as they can be, while our people, I suppose, are just living 'round Savannah, drinking whiskey and cursing the Yankees -- like that would whip the river out. It is provoking! Thee was also a dispatch sent down requesting us not to give up the fort, that they would be down with the mosquito fleet in a few days. They [the Yankees] can bust that fleet into a thousand pieces at one time, so you see that it is no fleet at all. The Yankees have got some vessels that looks almost as large as one side of this fort. The vessels are coming in every day. I guess that there will be enough to storm the fort in a short time. ". . . All the amusement we have is catching fish without a hook. We can catch them as fast as we can drop our line over. They are as large as your finger. We catch crabs and stingrays. They are very good, too. And on Sundays [we] have preaching. We also have Bible class of about two hundred. Saturday we have to scour the floors of the casemates. We also wash our clothes on that day. My health is better than it has ever been. I will keep the cold water. I wash my body every morning. I weigh about 150 pounds. If I continue to grow I will be as lazy as cousin Edward Brooks. Well, I said i weigh 150. The last time I weighed it was 148. That was before I left Camp Wilson. I am the stoutest man in the garrison or, that is, I am stouter than anyone I have tustled with. I believe water will make a man of me if I keep it up, which I expect to do. It is one of the best medicines I have ever taken."

1863 During the Civil War, a frequent complaint was that merchants were gouging the public by charging vastly inflated prices. Merchants responded that many items were difficult to impossible to obtain, and further that the high prices were based on the value of Confederate currency. Atlanta merchant Samuel P. Richards reflected in his diary his experience with inflation from both the business and consumer points of views:

"Business continues good and money comes in so fast that we hardly know how to dispose of it to advantage, though to be sure, it takes a large part of it to buy food and clothing in these days of exorbitant prices. Flour is now $75 per barrel and rice 25¢ per lb. though I was lucky enough today to buy a sack of rice-flour for $20. We have lived on rice and corn for several weeks, wheat flour being too dear. I like a good rice-flour bread made with buttermilk and soda quite as well as flour bread, at least for awhile. But buttermilk is one dollar per gallon and rising, and soda has gone from ten cents per pound to four dollars!"

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© Carl Vinson Institute of Government, University of Georgia

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