Historical Note:
A debt of gratitude . . .
In 1733 General James Edward Oglethorpe sailed from England with a group of 35 families, many of whom were released from debtor's prison, to establish England's last colony, Georgia. An ardent prison reformer, Oglethorpe wanted to start a new colony to help "the industrious yet unfortunate poor" get a second chance in life. King George wanted a buffer state between the Carolina colony and the menacing Spanish in Florida. Both accomplished their goals. Oglethorpe's unique city plan to build a community of squares, wherein homes surround a common green area on every block, remains alive today in the beautiful city of Savannah.
Name Origin: English. (Named after George II)
Capital: Atlanta
Population: 7,055,000
Area: 58,910 square miles
Statehood: January 2, 1788 (4th)
Nickname: The Peach State
Motto: "Wisdom, justice and moderation"
Famous For: Stone Mountain, Okefenokee Swamp, LIve Oak Trees, Islands, Beaches, Peaches, Historic Savannah
Trivia Questions:
Georgia had four capitals before 1879 when Atlanta became the permanent state capital. Can you name the four capital cities preceding Atlanta? What was the capital of Georgia during the Revolutionary War? What was the capital during the Civil War? -- Georgia's capital cities are listed below in chronological order:
- Savannah 1733-1786*
- Augusta 1786-1796
- Louisville 1796-1807
- Milledgeville 1807-1868**
- Atlanta 1868 -- present
*Savannah was the state capital during the Revolutionary War.
**Milledgeville was the state capital during the Civil War.
In 1916 the United Daughters of the Confederacy commissioned sculptor Gutzon Borglum to carve the Confederate Memorial on Stone Mountain, but in 1925, Borglum was dismissed from the project and moved on to complete another memorial in the Black HIlls of South Dakota. What is the name of this memorial? -- Gutzon Borglum went on to complete the presidential countenances on Mount Rushmore.
Who said, "Nonviolence, to be a potent force, must begin with the mind. Nonviolence of the mere body without the cooperation of the mind is nonviolence of the weak or the cowardly, and has, therefore, no potency. It is a degrading performance. If we bear malice and hatred in our bosoms and pretend not to retaliate, it must recoil upon us and lead to our destruction." -- This is a quote from Mahatma Gandhi who was an inspiration to Martin Luther King, Jr. when King became a leader in the civil rights movement. In 1959, three years after the Montgomery bus boycott ended, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., accompanied by Dr. Lawrence D. Reddick, an African American professor at Alabama State University, traveled to India to study Gandhi's philosophy and technique of nonviolence. They were guests of Prime Minister Nehru, a disciple of Gandhi's.
Which nut is Georgia's official State crop, the pecan or the peanut? -- The peanut is the official State crop.
What did Jimmy Carter do before becoming President? He was: (A) a submarine naval officer, (B) a teacher of nuclear physics, (C) a peanut farmer, (D) Governor of Georgia, (E) All of the above, (F) None of the above. -- (E) All of the above. Jimmy Carter was a submarine naval officer where he taught nuclear physics. When his father died he quit the Navy and moved back to Plains to take over his father's peanut farm. As a peanut farmer he was elected State Senator and Governor of Georgia, before becoming the 39th President of the United States. Today he remains a peanut farmer in Plains, yet is also active with The Habitat for Humanity and the Carter Presidential Center where experts meet to prevent and resolve social and political problems.
