Georgia Historical Society

This week’s #MarkerMonday highlights the Silvertown Historic Mill Village in Upson County, the newest Georgia Historical Marker. In 1926, the B.F. Goodrich Rubber Company made a deal with Thomaston Cotton Mills to fund a new mill, Martha’s Mill, to produce tire fabric. Martha’s Mill was equipped with 35,000 spindles and would make Georgia the producer of 50 percent of the tire fabric used around the world. The new mill would also bring 2,000 new jobs to Thomaston, but the people needed to fill these positions would require a place to live. Click the link below to learn more about the development of the Silvertown Mill Village. https://georgiahistory.com/marker-monday-silvertown-histor/ Thomaston-Upson Archives Upson Historical Society

Hernando de Soto was born c.1496/97 in Extramadura, Spain. Although minor nobility, his family was of modest means, and de Soto dreamed from a young age of making his fortune as a conquistador. As a young teenager de Soto participated in Pedro Arias Dávila’s conquest of Panama and Nicaragua and subsequently earned his fortune as a slave trader. In 1531 he participated in the conquest of Peru as Francisco Pizarro’s chief lieutenant and returned one of the wealthiest conquistad...ors in Spain. In April 1538, de Soto left Spain with ten ships, about 600 men, and a royal commission to conquer La Florida (now the southeastern United States). Known best as the first Europeans to reach and cross the Mississippi River, de Soto and his men were also the first Europeans to explore the interior of what is now Georgia. Landing in Tampa Bay in May 1539, de Soto’s entrada covered approximately 4,000 miles throughout the southeastern United States, first entering present-day Georgia in March 1540. Visit the GHS Featured Historical Figures pages to learn more about Hernando de Soto and to explore the stories of other individuals from Georgia’s past. https://georgiahistory.com//featured-his/hernando-de-soto/ Hernando De Soto. Engraving by J. Maca. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division, LC-USZ62-354.

This week’s #MarkerMonday highlights the Springfield Central High School historical marker in Effingham County, the newest Georgia Historical Marker erected as an addition to the Georgia Civil Rights Trail. Springfield Central High School was founded as part of Governor Herman Talmadge’s Minimum Foundation Program in 1949 in an effort to maintain racial segregation by creating schools that were still separate but comparable to one another. These schools became known as equali...zation schools, although the school’s equipment, supplies, and curriculum were not equal to nearby White schools. Click the link below to learn more about Springfield Central High School and the Minimum Foundation Program for Education. https://georgiahistory.com/marker-monday-springfield-centr/ Effingham County GA Board of Commissioners Historic Effingham Society Effingham County, Georgia

Earlier this week, my colleague Lisa War Eagle Landers, the GHS Education Coordinator, sent me a letter she had received from a middle school teacher, who asked: Do you know why Lester Maddox, once elected governor, chose to appoint so many African Americans to government positions given his strong record on segregation... Read the full post on the Off the Deaton Path blog. https://www.deatonpath.georgiahistory.com/the-enigma-of-le/

Thank you to our friends at WTOC-TV for covering the historical marker dedication commemorating the history of Springfield Central High School, the newest Georgia Historical Marker erected as an addition to the Georgia Civil Rights Trail. You can visit our website to read the full marker text. https://georgiahistory.com//springfield-central-high-scho/

GHS would like to recognize the NE GA Mountaineers Chapter of the AT&T Pioneers, for their great work cleaning historical markers in Flowery Branch and Oakwood. As you may know, the State of Georgia ran the Georgia Historical Marker Program from the 1950s until the mid-1990s. GHS began to erect new historical markers in 1998, and in 2015 GHS took over the coordination of maintenance and repair of more than 2,100 older state historical markers. In this effort, we are fortunate to have many friends and partners, including dedicated volunteers like those with AT&T Pioneers! Thanks for your help in caring for these important historical resources! To learn more about our historical markers or to get involved with cleaning/restoring, please visit: https://georgiahistory.com//maintaining-historical-markers/

The history of the Central of Georgia Railway is explored in this FreightWaves Classics article featuring images from the Georgia Historical Society's collection. You can also read part two of the article with this link: https://www.freightwaves.com//freightwaves-classics-centra Learn more through the Georgia Historical Society's Central of Georgia Railway records, MS 1362. The collection contains records such as stockholder lists, financial statements, registers, reports, correspondence, photographs, operating agreements, maps, minute books, letter books, papers of the president of the company, contracts and agreements, and other financial and executive materials. http://ghs.galileo.usg.edu/ghs/view

Sequoyah, credited as the creator of the Cherokee syllabary, was born circa 1760 in a small village in present-day East Tennessee, approximately 8 miles from Echota, the old capital of the Cherokee Nation. He was the son of a Cherokee mother, Wu-te-he of the Red Paint Clan, and a White fatherpossibly Nathaniel Gist, a commissioned officer in the Continental army and emissary of George Washington. Throughout his life, Sequoyah remained faithful to the traditions of the Chero...kee people, never adopting white dress, religion, or other customs. He spoke Cherokee exclusively. Sequoyah, intrigued by the whites’ ability to communicate through writing, worked for twelve years to create a system of approximately eighty-six characters that represented syllables in spoken Cherokee. The first to read and write in Cherokee was Sequoyah’s daughter, A-Yo-Ka. Once the Cherokee officially adopted his syllabary, a large part of the Nation achieved literacy in a very short time. Sequoyah is credited by the Cherokee Nation as having gifted them with the ability to communicate across long distances and throughout the ages by preserving the tribe’s history, culture, and spiritual practices through the written word. Visit the GHS Featured Historical Figures pages to learn more about Sequoyah and to explore the stories of other individuals from Georgia’s past. https://georgiahistory.com//feat/sequoyah/brief-biography/ Image from the Georgia Historical Society Collection of Postcards, MS 1361-PC-HistoricSite-1

Have you ever memorized a poem just because you loved it? To commemorate National Poetry Month, Dr. Deaton in this Dispatch considers the power of poetry to evoke the beauty and tragedy of life as no other literary style canand recites his personal favorite.

, On this day in Cold War history, the United States launched the Nautilus, the first nuclear-powered submarine. Under Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, the U.S. naval nuclear propulsion program expanded and developed the Nautilus years ahead of schedule. The submarine’s atomic engine allowed sailors to remain underwater for extended periods of time because it did not require air and little fuel, like the previous diesel-electric submarines. The Nautilus did not embar...k on her maiden voyage until January 1955, but completed the 1,350-mile submerged trip from New London, Connecticut, to San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 84 hours. The Nautilus’ cruising speed of 20 knots can be compared to the 10 knots cruising speed of the WWII submarine Balao. The Nautilus’ success inspired the Navy to continue to pursue nuclear-powered fleets. Image Credit: The USS Nautilus launch on Jan. 21, 1954. Courtesy of the Department of Defense.

, On this day in Cold War history, the 444-day Iranian Hostage Crisis came to an end. On November 4, 1979, Iranian students seized the United States Embassy, including 66 US citizens, because the deposed Shah was allowed to travel to the US for medical treatment. Non-US citizens, women, and people of color were released early on, but 52 men remained in captivity for over 14 months. During that time, President Jimmy Carter tried to negotiate with Iran and other world leaders attempted to intervene on behalf of the US. The hostages were ultimately released on January 20, 1981, just minutes following the inauguration of Ronald Reagan as the 40th President of the United States. Image credit: The newly freed American hostages arrive in Wiesbaden, Germany, Jan. 20, 1981. (U.S. Air Force photo)

Join GHS Education Coordinator, Lisa Landers in this webinar to discover how your organization can create engaging K-12 educational resources and programming through historical inquiry and primary sources. Featuring examples from the brand new historical inquiry from GHS published for the Georgia History Festival, And That’s the Way It Is: Television and the Cold War Inquiry Kit, learn how to foster curiosity and engage students in meaningful conversations about the people,... places, or events highlighted through your own institutional collections. Join GHS for this free program on Thursday, January 21, 2021. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/creating-educational-resources This webinar is part of the Local History Webinar Series. Sponsored by: Critz Auto Group

Thank you, Atlanta Magazine for highlighting the Decatur High School students and their Commemorating King in Decatur Project. The students applied for a historical marker to identify the location of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s sentencing to prison in 1960. Their application was approved, and the historical marker will be dedicated this spring. Read more about the students' work in the article below.

Thank you Savannah Morning News & SavannahNow.com for sharing this article about the Abbott family's contribution to the Georgia Historical Society Endowment in memory of Laurie Kimball Abbott and Jane Maud Harty Abbott. https://www.savannahnow.com//abbott-family-don/6628286002/

Share this with your favorite educators! Free webinar this Thursday at 3:00 p.m. Register at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/historical-inquiry-with-ghs-ti.

In this week’s () highlight we are sharing, "John Abbot Pioneer Naturalist of Georgia". This article is featured in Vol. 41, No. 2 (June 1957) of the . This article explores the life and work of John Abbot, a naturalist, entomologist, and ornithologist, known for his detailed drawings of birds and insects. https://www.jstor.org/stable/40577768 Over the coming weeks, we will be sharing select articles covering vario...us topics in Georgia history previously published in the . Articles prior to 2016 are also available on JSTOR. If your library does not have access to JSTOR, you can visit www.jstor.org to create a MyJSTOR Account for free. Additionally, to support researchers during this time, JSTOR has also expanded free read-online access to 100 articles per month through June 30, 2021! Image of Great Brown Emperor Moth from The Natural History of the Rarer Lepidopterous Insects of Georgia, by J. Abbot

This week’s #MarkerMonday recognizes National Publicist Day on October 30, with the Ivy Ledbetter Lee, Founder of Modern Public Relations 1877-1934, historical marker. On October 28, 1906, a three-car train with the Pennsylvania Railroad Company ran off a trestle into a lake killing 50 people. Lee immediately started working with the companyhe sent out a formal statement to the press on its behalf and organized a train to take reporters to the scene of the incident. The New ...York Times printed the Statement from the Road two days later. This was one of many railway accidents and the Company was receiving backlash from the public. Their newfound need to sway public opinion inspired a long-term focus on safety. Click the link below to learn more about the first press release and Lee’s impact on corporate public relations. https://georgiahistory.com/marker-monday-ivy-ledbetter-lee/ The New York Times The Museum of Public Relations Cedartown, Georgia Georgia Traveler Georgia Historic Preservation Division

Please join us for two upcoming webinars for educators! , : ..... GHS Education Coordinator Lisa Landers will host a one-hour Teacher Webinar where she will illustrate inquiry-based strategies from the new "'And That's the Way It Is': Television and the Cold War" Inquiry Kit. The featured inquiry-based activities are designed to help students explore uniquely curated primary source sets from late20th-century Georgia and United States history. Participants will take away effective primary source exploration strategies for teaching in remote or in-person classroom settings. This program is FREE, but requires registration: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/historical-inquiry-with-ghs-ti : ’ , : .. In this special collaboration, Kate McLeod of the High Museum of Art, Atlanta and Lisa Landers of the Georgia Historical Society will host a teacher webinar that takes a deep dive into the roles of women and girls during the Civil Rights Movement and present strategies for examining art and primary source historical documents in elementary-school classrooms. Featuring the Picture the Dream: The Story of the Civil Rights Movement Through Picture Books exhibition at the High Museum of Art and learning strategies from the Georgia Historical Society, participants will learn to teach history through art in this free, interactive session. Grade Levels: K - 5 educators This program is FREE, but requires registration: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/history-and-art-women-and-girl GADOE Social Studies Georgia Council for the Social Studies (GCSS) GPB Education

We all remember the contested presidential election of 2000, but the greatest Constitutional crisis we ever faced was the disputed election of 1876, decided four months after the election and just two days before the inauguration.

Howard Finster saw things; he literally had visions. They inspired him to create a universe of unusual paintings, sculptures, and drawings. A self-taught folk artist and preacher, he became one of the most important creative artists of the twentieth century. In 1961, Finster began his most famous work, Paradise Gardens. He turned rescued trash into religious works like the Mirror House and Hubcap Tower, along with historical and cultural figures from George Washington to Elvi...s. His work filled hundreds of exhibitions, including a permanent display at the High Museum in Atlanta. Howard Finster’s studio created more than 46,000 pieces of art by the time he died on October 22, 2001, Today in Georgia History. Click the link below to watch the full episode of Today In Georgia History about Howard Finster. https://www.todayingeorgiahistory.org/content/howard-finster GPB Education Georgia Public Broadcasting High Museum of Art, Atlanta Howard Finster's Paradise Garden R.E.M. Talking Heads (official) Chattooga County, Georgia

Read the latest GHS news in this edition of Headlines.

Presidential Leadership During the Cold War Dr. William L. Hitchcock TODAY, October 21, 2020, 1:00 P.M. Presented with support from Chick-fil-A... GHS and UVaClub of Savannah present Presidential Leadership During the Cold War, a discussion with Dr. William L. Hitchcock. Hitchcock is the William W. Corcoran Professor of History at the University of Virginia (UVA) and author of The Age of Eisenhower: America and the World in the 1950s (Simon& Schuster, 2018). With the presidential election coming in November, we will focus on the Cold War’s impact on American politics and presidential elections, from FDR to Clinton. This event is FREE and open to the public, but registration is required. Register for the event here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/uva-club-of-savannah-an-aftern

In this week’s () highlight we are sharing, ""That Cursed Evil Rum": The Trustees' Prohibition Policy in Colonial Georgia". This article is featured in Vol. 94, No. 1 (Spring 2010) of the . This article examines the Trustees' attempt to prohibit spirits in Georgia and the backlash they received from the colonists. https://www.jstor.org/stable/40585152 Over the coming weeks, we will be sharing select articles coverin...g various topics in Georgia history previously published in the . Articles prior to 2016 are also available on JSTOR. If your library does not have access to JSTOR, you can visit www.jstor.org to create a MyJSTOR Account for free. Additionally, to support researchers during this time, JSTOR has also expanded free read-online access to 100 articles per month through December 31, 2020. See more

Presidential Leadership During the Cold War Dr. William L. Hitchcock October 21, 2020, 1:00 P.M. Presented with support from Chick-fil-A... On October 21, GHS and UVaClub of Savannah present Presidential Leadership During the Cold War, a discussion with Dr. William L. Hitchcock. Hitchcock is the William W. Corcoran Professor of History at the University of Virginia (UVA) and author of The Age of Eisenhower: America and the World in the 1950s (Simon& Schuster, 2018). With the presidential election coming in November, we will focus on the Cold War’s impact on American politics and presidential elections, from FDR to Clinton. This event is FREE and open to the public, but registration is required. Register for the event here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/uva-club-of-savannah-an-aftern

GHS and UVa Club of Savannah present the second installment in the Georgia History Festival virtual event series, Presidential Leadership During the Cold War A Conversation with William Hitchcock. Join Dr. Stan Deaton, the Dr. Elaine B. Andrews Distinguished Historian at GHS, and William Hitchcock, the UVa William W. Corcoran Professor of History at the University of Virginia and author of The Age of Eisenhower: America and the World in the 1950s (Simon & Schuster, 2018),... Wednesday, October 21, 2020 for a conversation on presidential leadership during the Cold War. The conversation will focus on the Cold War’s impact on American politics and presidential electionsand how presidential politics have been impacted by the end of the Cold War as well. This event is FREE and open to the public, but registration is required. You can register for the event here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/uva-club-of-savannah-an-aftern Presented with support from Chick-fil-A

To highlight this year’s Georgia History Festival theme, Tear Down This Wall: Georgia in Cold War America, this week’s #MarkerMonday will look at the President Jimmy Carter historical marker in Sumter County. President Carter was inaugurated in 1977, and focused his presidency on what he valued most, human rights, environmental quality, nuclear arms control, and the search for justice and peace. With the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, President Carter attempted to turn ...America away from a foreign policy focused on military interventions and towards a policy focused on promoting human rights. Click the link below to learn more about the human rights policies implemented by President Carter in the domestic and international front. https://georgiahistory.com/marker-monday-president-jimmy-c/ Jimmy Carter Presidential Library President Jimmy Carter The Carter Center New Georgia Encyclopedia Explore Georgia Georgia Historic Preservation Division Sumter County, Georgia