2012 is the one-hundred-fiftieth anniversary of the Morrill Act, (also known as the Land-Grant College Act, or the Morrill-Wade Act), a two-part piece of legislation, the first of which was signed into law by President Lincoln in 1862. Its sponsor, Justin Smith Morrill, a U.S. representative from Vermont (and self-made businessman who did not attend […]
Colonel John H. Seals and his brother William H. Seals established the Sunny South literary magazine in Atlanta in November 1874. Each issue was made from newsprint and cost readers five cents an issue or $2.50 for a yearly subscription. The magazine struggled during the early months of its publication. Colonel Seals was forced to […]
Put on your thinking caps, because it’s time for another game of DLG trivia! How many of these Georgia-related trivia questions can you get right without clicking onto the answers? Born into slavery, this Georgian’s musical talent was so great that his owner would eventually send him on a nationwide concert tour. Even more […]
The tradition of African American History Month was initiated by the educator and historian Carter G. Woodson, a son of former slaves who became the second African American man to receive a Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1912. Woodson founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History in 1915, which he operated […]
In May of 1864, General William T. Sherman and his Union force of 110,000 soldiers invaded Georgia from Chattanooga, beginning a series of battles with Confederate forces in north Georgia that historians later referred to as the Atlanta Campaign. Union troops captured the city of Atlanta on September 2 that same year. Following a brief […]
During this week in 1759, Robert Burns was born in Alloway, Ayrshire, Scotland. A writer and lyricist devoted to the representation of the lives and opinions of ordinary Scots and the assertion of Scottish cultural independence and identity, he is celebrated worldwide by people of Scottish descent on the anniversary of his birthday, January […]
Today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, a federal holiday that honors the memory of the most prominent African American leader of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s on his birthday (this year, Dr. King would have been 83 years old). The holiday was first observed in 1986, after years of effort […]
In the first decade of the twentieth century, Tuberculosis (sometimes referred to as TB or consumption) was the leading cause of death in the United States. Its prevalence led to the nationwide creation of organizations for combating the disease. In Atlanta, the Fulton County Medical Society created the Fulton Sanitary and Tuberculosis Prevention Society in […]
The first night of Hanukkah in 2011 begins on Tuesday, December 20. It is one of the best known Jewish holidays in the United States, despite the fact that it is of lesser religious significance than major holidays, such as Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Passover. The events commemorated by the celebration of Hanukkah do […]
Coca-Cola is an iconic soft drink, invented right here in Georgia by medical chemist and businessman John S. Pemberton in 1886. One of its earliest uses was as a cure for headaches, and the beverage was dispensed from drug store soda fountains. This can be seen in an early advertisement from druggists Evans and Howard, […]