White House Blogs
 Official Podcasts |
Government
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Georgia |
|
800-VISIT-GA Â
  # Entered Union  Year Settled 4th         Jan. 2, 1788         1733  Nickname Peach State  Rank     Population 9th         9,685,744  Rank     Square Miles 24th      59,425  State Bird Bobwhite Quail (state game bird)  State Flower Cherokee Rose Azalea (state wildflower)  State Tree  State Motto Wisdom, justice, and moderation  Known today as the "Peach State," Georgia, founded in 1733, is one of the original 13 states. It was named in honor of England's King George II. During the Civil War, the fall of Atlanta was a crucial turning point in the defeat of the South.  Today, Atlanta, which became Georgia's capital in 1868, is a thriving city with major national corporations, and it is considered the economic and cultural center of the Southeast.  You've probably heard of the California Gold Rush of 1848. But did you know there was also a gold rush in Georgia?  Gold was discovered in Dahlonega, Georgia, in 1828. Nestled in the mountains of northern Georgia, Dahlonega is home to the Consolidated Gold Mine. At the turn of the 20th century, the mine was reportedly the largest gold mining operation east of the Mississippi River. In 1901, during a cleanup, 54 pounds of gold were recovered from it.  Each October, Dahlonega, which comes from the Indian word "talonaga," meaning "precious metal," celebrates the first big gold rush with a two-day festival that has grown into one of the biggest events in the area. Another festival, called the World Open Gold Panning Championship, began in California in 1961 to remember the 1842 discovery of gold in Los Angeles County. This festival moved to the Consolidated Gold Mine in Dahlonega in the late 1980s. The Championship includes a contest in which the winner is the fastest person to pan eight nuggets of gold from a full pan of sand. How long do you think it would take you to pan gold nuggets?  Atlanta's Role in the Civil War Atlanta played an important role during the Civil War. Do you know what it was?  Founded in 1837 as a railway center for northwestern Georgia, Atlanta's original name was "Terminus." By 1852, its population had reached 3,000, including some 500 slaves. Because of its location and commercial importance, Atlanta was used as a center for military operations and as a supply route by the Confederate army during the Civil War. Therefore, it also became a target for the Union army.  General William Tecumseh Sherman and his troops captured the city in 1864. In order to weaken the Confederate military organization, Union troops burned Atlanta to the ground before they moved on. Do you think that burning the city was an extreme action?  Today, Atlanta is the capital of Georgia. It is known for its robust economy and as the birthplace of Martin Luther King Jr.  The civil rights movement had a big year in 1964. Martin Luther King Jr. won the Nobel Peace Prize, and Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This law made it illegal to treat people differently because of the color of their skin when they were trying to buy a house, rent an apartment or go to a restaurant, for example. But passing this law did not always make things better for African-Americans.  King believed that the situation would not change until more blacks voted in elections. Although they had the legal right to vote, very few blacks were registered, and many states had rules that made it difficult for them to register and vote. King believed that most of the states' voter registration requirements should be removed.  King went to Washington, D.C., to discuss a voting rights bill with President Lyndon Johnson. Although the president was supportive, he didn't think the bill could pass. He told King to wait, but King did not want to wait. He and other activists decided to protest in Selma, Alabama. Selma was a typical Southern city. Very few blacks were registered to vote, even though about half the population was black. The protests began in January 1965. A month later, a protester, Jimmie Lee Jackson, was shot and killed by state troopers. Jackson's death spurred King and the others to organize a voting-rights protest march from Selma to Montgomery, the state capital.  On March 7, 1965, hundreds of marchers set out for the capitol building (King was not able to be with them). When the marchers reached Selma's Edmund Pettus Bridge, they met a group of state troopers who told them to turn back. The marchers refused, but, as King would have wanted, there was no violence on their part. Instead, they knelt on the sidewalk. The state troopers were not so peaceful. They used tear gas, sticks, and whips to attack the marchers. People all over the country were horrified.  King was not discouraged. They tried the march again, and this time made it to Montgomery.  Days before, President Johnson had addressed Congress and America. He introduced the Voting Rights Act. After the Selma protests and violence, the time was right.  On August 6, President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965. King and the other protesters' actions had successfully led to legal change. Now the federal government would help blacks use their right to vote.  Are you a Girl Scout or a Boy Scout? Do you know where the idea for these troops came from? The original idea came from England, but the first Girl Scout group in the United States began in Savannah, Georgia, and all because one woman had a vision.  Juliette "Daisy" Gordon Low organized the first group of Girl Scouts on March 12, 1912, because she wanted to give girls the opportunity to get out of the house and get involved in their community and the outdoors. She got the idea of starting a girl's group after spending time in England with General Robert Baden-Powell and his sister Agnes, who had founded the Boy Scouts and the Girl Guides.  Low took these ideas back to the U.S. and established the Girl Guides of America. It started out as a group of 18 girls who met regularly with a naturalist to go on nature walks, cook meals over campfires, and do other "scouting" activities.  Low was so dedicated to this group that she sold a strand of rare matched pearls for $8,000 to pay for operations in the beginning. Today, Low's birthplace in Savannah is open to the public as a museum and contains information about the early Girl Scouts.  |
