The man known as “the Georgia Peach” reached a major milestone on this day in 1921. At age 34, baseball great and Georgia native Ty Cobb got career hit number 3,000, the youngest player to reach that plateau. Cobb was born in Narrows, Georgia, in 1886 and grew up in nearby Royston. He joined the […]
On August 20, 1933, Governor Eugene Talmadge led 500 Georgians to Chicago’s Second World’s Fair, where it was Georgia Day. The fair was officially known as the “Century of Progress Exposition.” With the country mired in the Great Depression, Governor Talmadge predicted “events of this kind will surely turn the trick and bring back prosperity.” […]
When four African Americans came to Atlanta’s Bitsy Grant Tennis Center on this day in 1961, they found a sign waiting for them: “Closed for Repairs.” White Atlantans fiercely resisted desegregating the city’s parks, pools, and golf courses. City buses had always been contested terrain, but Atlanta’s recreational facilities had by long custom been “Whites […]
How much would you pay to kill a pest? On this day in 1909, the Georgia General Assembly formally asked the U.S. Congress for a $5 million prize to the first person to eliminate the boll weevil. This was six years before the cotton–consuming pest even appeared in Georgia. Cotton had been Georgia’s premier staple […]
Sometimes even the best politicians can make big mistakes. President Franklin Roosevelt took a risk on this day in 1938 in Barnesville, Georgia. Giving a speech, he openly campaigned against Georgia Senator Walter George, who was sitting directly behind him. Running for re–election, George had become an outspoken opponent of Roosevelt’s New Deal programs. The […]
One of the most gifted and versatile athletes in Georgia sports history was born on this day in Fort Myers, Florida. Former Atlanta Brave and Atlanta Falcon Deion Sanders earned the nicknames “Neon Deion” and “Primetime.” His athletic talent was matched only by his flair for self-promotion and showmanship. Sanders was drafted out of Florida […]
Organize and reform was Mary Ellen Peters’ mantra long before unions adopted it. Nellie Peters was born in Atlanta in 1851. After her husband died, she became an active reformer. With seven children of her own, she was a fierce advocate of free kindergartens and hospitals, compulsory education, diversified farming, and the enforcement of child […]
Carl Vinson believed public service was an honorable profession, and by the time he retired, he had served in Congress longer than anyone in history. Vinson was born in Baldwin County in 1883. In 1914 he became the youngest member of Congress and served over 50 years, 25 consecutive terms. Vinson became an expert on […]
Anyone who has ever taken a walk in the woods in north Georgia knows that the Chattahoochee National Forest is one of the state’s great treasures. But it wasn’t always so. At the turn of the 20th century, the forest had been abused and overused, the victims of hydraulic mining, overcutting and poor land and […]
For those who like making continuous left-hand turns, it’s the place to be. One of the oldest stops on the NASCAR circuit, the Atlanta Motor Speedway, held its first race on this day in 1960. A crowd of 25,000 watched Glenn “Fireball” Roberts ride to victory lane. The racetrack was built in the wake of […]
