A number of significant historical events have occurred in Georgia during the month of September.
1700-1749
1736
Yamacraw Indian chief Tomochichi, with the help of Benjamin Ingham, a friend of brothers John Wesley and Charles Wesley, secured a school at Irene, outside Savannah.
1750-1799
1780
During the Revolutionary War (1775-83), Lieutenant Colonel Elijah Clarke, with 600 men who had taken an oath of allegiance to the king of England, attacked Augusta on September 14.
1850-1899
1855
The first class of the Atlanta Medical College (later Emory University School of Medicine) graduated.
1863
The Battle of Chickamauga, the largest battle ever fought in Georgia, occurred on September 18-20, during the Civil War (1861-65).
1864
On September 1, at the end of Union general William T. Sherman’s Atlanta campaign, the Confederate army was forced out of the city. The mayor surrendered Atlanta to Union soldiers the next day.
Courtesy of Georgia Archives.
1865
The First National Bank of Atlanta (later Wachovia Bank, and then Wells Fargo) was chartered.
1868
The Camilla Massacre, one of the more violent episodes during Reconstruction in Georgia, took place on September 19.
1885
The marble cornerstone for Georgia’s current state capitol was laid on September 2.
1895
On September 18, the opening day of the Cotton States and International Exposition, Booker T. Washington gave his famous Atlanta Compromise speech.
From 'The Succesful Training of the Negro' (1903), by B. T. Washington.
1900-1949
1906
In late September, a race massacre occurred in Atlanta. It lasted for three days and resulted in the deaths of dozens of Black citizens.
1927
The first issue of the Atlanta Historical Bulletin (later Atlanta History journal) was published.
1928
Ty Cobb set the National League record for career hits with his last (4,191th) major league baseball hit on September 3.
1930
Golfer Bobby Jones became the first player ever to win the sport’s “Grand Slam,” clinching all four major titles with his win in the U.S. Amateur championship on September 27.
1934
The General Textile Strike of 1934 resulted in skirmishes across the state between textile industry laborers and authorities, who also launched raids to apprehend suspected Communists.
1934
The groundbreaking for Techwood Homes, the first public housing project built in the United States, took place in Atlanta.
1941
On September 1, the official groundbreaking ceremony for Robins Air Force Base occurred in Warner Robins.
1948
WSB-TV broadcast the first live commercial television program in Georgia on September 29.
1949
On September 25, Louise Suggs won the U.S. Women’s Gold Championship in golf.
1950-1999
1955
Waffle House opened its first restaurant in Avondale Estates, an Atlanta suburb.
Courtesy of Waffle House
1955
Little Richard recorded his hit song “Tutti Frutti.”
1957
The film adaptation of the book The Three Faces of Eve, which chronicles the treatment of a schizophrenic woman in Augusta, premiered in that city’s Miller Theater.
1961
On September 27, Georgia Tech became the first institution of higher education in the Deep South to integrate peacefully and without a court order.
1963
Gene Patterson, the editor of the Atlanta Constitution, wrote a column denouncing the bombing on September 15 of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, in which four African American children were killed. Entitled “A Flower for the Graves,” the column received national attention.
1985
Georgia Trend magazine was launched.
1985
Boxer Larry Holmes lost the world heavyweight championship title, which he had held since 1978.
Courtesy of Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
1990
The International Olympic Committee named Atlanta as the host city for the 1996 Olympic Games.
1995
The Georgia International Horse Park, the equestrian venue for the Olympics, opened in Conyers.
1995
GALILEO, Georgia’s virtual library, debuted on September 21.
1996
The Georgia Music Hall of Fame opened.
1997
Atlanta media mogul Ted Turner announced that he would donate $1 billion to United Nations charities.
Courtesy of Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
2000-Present
2006
Panda bear Mei Lan (“Atlanta Beauty”) was born at Zoo Atlanta.
2008
The Naturalist Center at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History in Atlanta opened.
September Birthdays
- September 21, 1757 James Jackson, politician
- September 8, 1780 George Troup, politician
- September [?], 1790 Augustus Baldwin Longstreet, writer
- September 1, 1801 William Brown Hodgson, scholar-diplomat
- September 18, 1812 Herschel Johnson, politician
- September 7, 1815 Howell Cobb, politician
- September 6, 1816 Francis S. Bartow, politician
- September 14, 1823 Benjamin Hill, politician
- September 23, 1826 Joseph Addison Turner, publisher
- September 15, 1831 Neptune Small, an enslaved man who accompanied members of the Thomas Butler King family to fight in the Civil War
- September 4, 1836 Henry McDaniel, Georgia governor
- September 2, 1855 Hoke Smith, Georgia governor
- September 5, 1856 Thomas E. Watson, politician
- September 21, 1863 Clark Howell, politician
- September 26, 1865 Archibald Butt, Titanic casualty
- September 10, 1877 Georgia Douglas Johnson, writer
- September 20, 1881 Hilda Belcher, artist
- September 23, 1884 Eugene Talmadge, politician
- September 30, 1884 Nap Rucker, baseball player
- September 22, 1891 Alma Thomas, artist
- September 28, 1892 John Donald Wade, Georgia governor
- September 11, 1894 Helen Douglas Mankin, politician
- September 6, 1900 Julien Green, writer
- September 11, 1901 D. W. Brooks, businessman
- September 22, 1905 Roy “Pop” Lewis of the Lewis Family, musician
- September 4, 1907 Marvin Griffin, Georgia governor
- September 12, 1907 Spud Chandler, athlete
- September 22, 1909 Lamar Dodd, artist
- September 17, 1913 Eugene Odum, ecologist
- September 30, 1915 Lester Maddox, Georgia governor
- September 5, 1916 Frank Yerby, writer
- September 14, 1917 Byron Herbert Reece, writer
- September 6, 1918 Hugh Gillis, politician
- September 16, 1920 Charles Dryden, aviator
- September 26, 1922 Ferrol Sams, writer
- September 7, 1923 Louise Suggs, golfer and LPGA charter member
- September 17, 1926 Hovie Lister, musician
- September 23, 1930 Ray Charles, musician
- September 30, 1930 Phinizy Spalding, historian
- September 4, 1932 Vince Dooley, coach
- September 8, 1938 Sam Nunn, politician
- September 17, 1938 Larry Connatser, artist
- September 9, 1941 Otis Redding, musician
- September 16, 1943 James Alan McPherson, writer
- September 21, 1944 Hamilton Jordan, politician
- September 15, 1945 Jessye Norman, musician
- September 16, 1946 Mary Hood, writer
- September 25, 1946 Robert Benham, justice
- September 10, 1947 Larry Nelson, golfer
- September 11, 1949 David Bottoms, writer
- September 6, 1958 Jeff Foxworthy, comedian
- September 19, 1964 Trisha Yearwood, musician
- September 14, 1969 Tyler Perry, filmmaker
- September 23, 1972 Jermaine Dupri, music producer
- September 11, 1977 Ludacris, musician
