People
Explore the life and times of Georgia’s most accomplished politicians, artists, and performers.
Clarence A. Bacote
Clarence A. Bacote was a political organizer who helped thousands of African Americans register to vote. A professor of political history at Atlanta University in the 1940s, Bacote was well aware of the many hurdles African Americans had to face in order to participate in the political process. As chair of the Atlanta All-Citizens Registration Committee, Bacote increased the number of Black registered voters from 6,976 to 21,244 in six months.
Sample Primary Sources
Civil Rights Digital Library
Digital Library of Georgia
Georgia Historic Newspapers
Cornelia Bailey
Cornelia Bailey was the “griot” or historian of Sapelo Island. The unique culture of Sapelo, known as Geechee culture, formed from the blending of Christian and Islamic beliefs and West African traditions. And Sapelo Island’s geographic isolation helped preserve this culture for hundreds of years. Throughout her life, Bailey fought the loss of her community’s cultural heritage and worked to educate the public about Geechee history.
Sample Primary Sources
Digital Library of Georgia – Cornelia Bailey
Digital Library of Georgia – Geechee
Digital Library of Georgia – Gullah
Clifford “Baldy” Baldowski
An editorial cartoonist for the Augusta Chronicle, Miami Herald, and Atlanta Constitution, Clifford “Baldy” Baldowski was a leading voice of moderation in Georgia during the fight over school desegregation in the 1950s and 1960s. Combining humor, art, and politics, Baldowski’s cartoons caught the attention of a national audience, eventually earning him a Pulitzer Prize nomination, along with many other awards.
Sample Primary Sources
Digital Library of Georgia
Creek Indian Leaders
For Creek Indian leaders, maintaining authority was a constant test of intellect and strategy. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Creek leaders struggled to protect their sovereignty amid a growing tide of westward settlement. A mico or chief was expected to protect Indigenous rights and ancestral lands, even if it meant denying increasingly tempting offers of land treaties that benefited them personally.
Sample Primary Sources
Digital Library of Georgia – Alexander McGillivray
Digital Library of Georgia – Tomochichi
Digital Library of Georgia – Brims
Digital Library of Georgia – Malatchi
Digital Library of Georgia – William McIntosh
Georgia Historic Newspapers
W. E. B. Du Bois in Georgia
W. E. B. Du Bois was an outspoken educator, activist, historian, and sociologist who tackled social issues and racial discrimination with strength, passion, and dedication. Du Bois accomplished a great deal while living in Georgia, writing several books that improved the lives of African Americans in the state and across the country.
Sample Primary Sources
Digital Library of Georgia
Georgia Historic Newspapers
Charlayne Hunter-Gault
An award-winning journalist, Charlayne Hunter-Gault was one of the first two Black students at the University of Georgia (UGA). She and Hamilton Holmes were denied entry to UGA despite their abilities, but continued to send in applications to challenge segregation at the university. After winning a legal battle, they were admitted in 1961.
Sample Primary Sources
Digital Library of Georgia
Fanny Kemble
Born in 1809, Fanny Kemble was an English actress famous for her portrayal of Juliet in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. In 1838, Kemble relocated to her husband’s holdings on St. Simon’s islands, where she recorded extensive accounts of the horrors of slavery. When her journal was finally published in 1863, it gave readers outside the antebellum South vivid insight into the atrocities committed in Georgia.
Sample Primary Sources
Digital Library of Georgia
Georgia Historic Newspapers
Martin Luther King Jr.
Pastor and activist Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was the nation’s most prominent spokesperson for civil rights during the 1950s and 1960s. As president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), King organized protests, strikes, and sit-ins to fight racial discrimination–efforts that earned him a Nobel Prize in 1964. King’s legacy of nonviolent social activism continues to empower Black communities and allies across the globe.
Sample Primary Sources
Civil Rights Digital Library
Digital Library of Georgia
John Lewis
As one of the founding fathers of the civil rights movement, John Lewis made his life’s mission the peaceful and unwavering fight against civil inequality. Lewis participated in and organized protests throughout his adult life and was arrested or viciously beaten by segregationists on multiple occasions. In 1986, Atlanta’s voters elected Lewis to the U.S. House of Representatives, and the voters’ continued support guaranteed his re-election for sixteen consecutive terms. Through determination and a firm resolve, John Lewis was able to help publicize the plights of African Americans both in and out of office.
Sample Primary Sources
Digital Library of Georgia
Civil Rights Digital Library
Georgia Historic Newspapers
Ralph McGill
Ralph McGill was the editor and publisher of the Atlanta Constitution during a period of dramatic social change. He passionately urged southerners to accept the end of segregation, becoming a leading voice for racial and ethnic tolerance. McGill’s trenchant columns and fearless leadership at the paper were rewarded with a Pulitzer Prize in 1959.
Sample Primary Sources
Digital Library of Georgia
Georgia Historic Newspapers
Annie McPheeters
Annie McPheeters, a native of Floyd County, enjoyed a long career as a librarian, author, and educator. In the 1940s she launched the Negro History Collection at the Auburn Branch of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System, where she collected books by and about people of African descent.
Sample Primary Sources
Digital Library of Georgia
Mary Musgrove
As an expert in the arts of trade and negotiation, Mary Musgrove—also known as Coosaponakeesa among Creek Indians—formed a crucial link between colonists and Native Americans in Georgia at the time of Savannah’s founding. As the daughter of a European tradesman and a Creek mother, Musgrove was well-versed in the language and customs of two different worlds. She used her knowledge to foster good relations between the two communities and to boost her own status in an ever-changing society.
Sample Primary Sources
Digital Library of Georgia
Hale Woodruff
Painter and printmaker Hale Woodruff was known across the South for single-handedly establishing Atlanta University’s art department. In his twenties, he spent four years living and studying in Paris, where he defined his style and began collecting African art. When he returned to the United States, he initiated an annual art competition for Black artists and taught at both Atlanta University and New York University for the rest of his life.
Sample Primary Sources
Digital Library of Georgia
Georgia Historic Newspapers
