July 3, 1918
He was one Southern governor who chose not to stand in the schoolhouse door. Ernest Vandiver was born in Canon, Georgia, in 1918 and graduated from the University of Georgia before serving as a bomber pilot in World War II. Elected governor in 1958, Vandiver cleaned up the state’s image after the scandals and corruption […]
September 14, 1917
His writing still evokes the spirit of the north Georgia mountains. Novelist and poet Byron Herbert Reece was born in Union County near Blood Mountain. Nicknamed “Hub,” he grew up on the family farm. That life and his mountain heritage would be recurring themes in his writing. He attended Young Harris College and published his […]
February 19, 1917
She helped create the literary genre known as “Southern Gothic.” But more than anything else, Carson McCullers wrote with penetrating insight about loneliness and suffering. Born as Lula Carson Smith in Columbus in 1917, she went to New York for college and married Reeves McCullers, the beginning of a complex and destructive relationship. In 1940, […]
April 17, 1917
When America entered World War I, Georgia entered a new era in which the military began to loom large in our state. In 1917, Georgia already had five major federal military installations: Fort McPherson, south of Atlanta; Fort Oglethorpe near the Tennessee border; Augusta’s arsenal and Camp Hancock, and Fort Screven on Tybee Island. The […]
August 17, 1915
One of the darkest episodes in Georgia history, the lynching of Leo Frank in Marietta, occurred on this day in 1915. Frank was convicted in 1913 of murdering Mary Phagan, a thirteen-year-old employed by Frank at the National Pencil Factory in Atlanta. Police immediately suspected Frank, a New York Jew, despite strong evidence against a […]
May 23, 1914
She was a Southern icon whose byline appeared in the Atlanta Constitution for 58 years. Celestine Sibley was born in Florida in 1914. She got her first job at the Mobile Press Register before moving to Atlanta and going to work at the Constitution in 1941. The manpower shortage caused by World War II provided […]
July 28, 1913
Leo Frank went on trial for his life on this day in 1913. Frank, a New York Jew, was manager of the National Pencil Factory in Atlanta, accused of raping and murdering a 13-year-old employee named Mary Phagan. He was the last person to acknowledge having seen Phagan alive, and police arrested him despite strong […]
August 25, 1913
“We have met the enemy and he is us.” The cartoonist who gave us that famous quote was born on this day in 1913 in Philadelphia. Walt Kelly worked as a Disney animator before launching Pogo in 1948, the comic strip set in Georgia’s Okefenokee Swamp. It ran nationally for 25 years and was the […]
July 29, 1912
The good work of Habitat for Humanity can be traced back to a progressive religious leader born on this day in 1912. Clarence Jordan was born in Talbotton. After studying agriculture at the University of Georgia, he became an ordained Baptist minister. Believing that God regarded people of all races as equals, Jordan combined his […]
December 21, 1911
He was known as the black Babe Ruth, and some consider him baseball’s all-time home run king. Josh Gibson was born in Buena Vista, Georgia, in 1911 and moved to Pittsburgh in the 1920s. He dropped out of trade school to play semi-professional baseball, and in 1930 joined the professional Negro Leagues, playing for the […]
