Ed Jackson and Charles Pou

Carl Vinson Institute of Government

The University of Georgia

October 6

1868 Following the September 3 expulsion of black legislators from the Georgia General Assembly, black leaders assembled in Macon for a state convention to protest the ouster and debate what actions to take.

1940 Politician and diplomat Wyche Fowler Jr. was born in Atlanta (DeKalb County). He graduated from Davidson College in 1962 and went on to obtain his J.D. degree from Emory Law School in 1969. Fowler practiced law in Atlanta from 1970 to 1977. In April 1977, he was elected to fill the unexpired term of Andrew Young, who resigned to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. In the House, Fowler served on the House Select Committee on Intelligence and on the committees on Foreign Affairs and Ways and Means. In 1986, Fowler defeated Republican incumbent Mack Mattingly for a seat in the U.S. Senate, where he served from 1987 to 1993. In 1992, Republican challenger Paul Coverdell defeated Fowler, who subsequently joined a Washington DC law firm. In June 1996, President Clinton nominated of Fowler to the post of U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia. The Senate subsequently confirmed Fowler's appointment.

1953 WTVM-TV became Columbus, Georgia's first television station. Allen Woodall Sr., owner of WDAK Radio joined in a partnership with Martin Theatres to start WDAK-TV on Channel 28. In 1956, Martin Theatres became the station's sole owner and changed its call letters to WTVM-TV, which stands for TeleVision Martin. The station was changed from UHF channel 28 to VHF channel 9 to reach a larger audience.

1976 In San Francisco, Jimmy Carter and President Gerald Ford squared off in round two of their nationally televised debates (click here for transcript). Topics for this debate were foreign policy and national defense, areas where Carter was thought to be weak because of inexperience. But Carter surprised many viewers and analysts by exhibiting a thorough knowledge of foreign policy issues and a clear understanding of military matters. He also lived up to his promise to be more aggressive in this debate, challenging President Ford on matters of "leadership," "the character of our country," and "a vision for the future." Several sharp exchanges ensued, with Carter using concrete examples of perceived failures in Ford's foreign policy, while Ford vigorously defended his record. Early polls indicated Carter did very well in the perception of most viewers.

1983 The 25-year era of B-52s at Robins Air Force Base ended when the final four bombers stationed at the base departed.

Georgia towns and cities incorporated by acts approved on Oct. 6:

1891 Elko (Houston County)

Other acts affecting Georgia towns and cities approved on Oct. 6:

1885 The name of Ward (Randolph County) was changed to Shellman, and the name of Indian Spring (Butts County) was changed to Flovilla.
 
 

In Their Own Words on This Day. . .

1739 From Ebenezer on the Savannah River north of Savannah, Salzburger pastor John Martin Boltzius recorded in his journal rumors of the fate of many Georgia colonists who had moved to South Carolina:

"We hear from Charleston in South Carolina that almost a fourth of the inhabitants of this populous city have died of spotted fever in a few weeks, and it is also said that most of those who fled there from our colony have perished miserably, some from lack of food and some from this epidemic. Many have moved from Savannah and other newly established towns in this colony to Carolina and Charleston because they do not wish to work and be satisfied with little; but there, too, they have not received something for nothing. . . ."

Source: George Fenwick Jones and Renate Wilson (ed. and trans.), Detailed Reports on the Salzburger Emigrants Who Settled in America . . . Edited by Samuel Urlsperger: Volume Six, 1739 (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1981), p. 231.

1868 In Dougherty County, former slave James Roberts testified to officials of the Freedmen's Bureau as to threats by whites against him and other fellow blacks:

"John Roberts, white, of Baker County, Georgia, about four months ago drove me from his plantation in Baker County, telling me that no Radical Negro could stay on his place and drawing a pistol on me with the remark to leave his place, never to come back and not to open my mouth or he would shoot me. Since that time John Roberts met in the road four different times and told me each time not to show my head on his place again or he would kill me. Mr. John Roberts, James King, Isaac Bronson and two or three other white men whom I did not recognize came to my house on the plantation of Mr. Musgrove in Baker County about bedtime on Sunday night, the 27th of September, 1868, called my name and asked me to come out. I saw them coming through the crack of the house and recognized those above named in the moonshine. They all were armed with guns and I, fearing to get killed, jumped out of a back window of the house unperceived by them. They went into the house and, not finding me, told my wife I must leave the county or else they would kill me. They immediately after coming out of the house espied me at a distance running through a field, pursued me very closely but I escaped them in the high weeds. I have been up in Dougherty County since, and I am fearful of being killed if I go to Baker County after my family, which I have not seen since Monday morning after this occurrence.

"Isom Ponder, a colored preacher who lives on Mr. James Porter's place in Baker County, was, on refusal to come out of his house on the night of Saturday, the 20th of September, 1868, forcibly dragged out of his house by three disguised men and shot through his right thigh and left laying where he was wounded.I have seen the wound and heard these statements from Isom Porter himself, and Isom Porter is considered a leading Republican amongst the people of that neighborhood.

"Samuel Geder, colored, on James Porter's place in Baker County, was cruelly and severely beaten by James Porter with a large white oak stick about as thick as a man's arm and afterwards stamped so that he to be carried away from the spot to his house and spit blood several days. Dr. Han was called in, who considered his recovery doubtful. I was an eyewitness to the scene that James Porter done the beating and stamping, while James Whipcomb, white, of Baker County and Calvin Carvey, white, of the same place held him down on the ground by his head and feet. The difficulty arose about a quarrel between Sam Geder and James Porter's children. Porter wanted to whip a child of Sam Geder, which Geder tried to prevent by trying to persuade him not to do so. Sam went to his house and was taken out the house forcibly and whipped as described."

Source: Mills Lane (ed.), Georgia: History written by Those who lived It (Savannah: Beehive Press, 1995), pp. 225-226.

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© Carl Vinson Institute of Government, University of Georgia

If you have a date related to Georgia history or people that ought to be included, or if know of entries that should be corrected, send a note to Ed Jackson or Charles Pou.

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