A City too Busy to Hate???

I spent some time on Monday with my daughter and a very talented photographer. Dear Daughter was busy getting a few of her Senior pictures taken against the backdrop of the vibrant art and culture of the Little Five Points area of Atlanta.

However, if we had suddenly been transported back to September, 1906 our Little Five Points experience would have been very different……downright scary and dangerous.

You see….Dear Daughter and I are white and our expert photographer friend is black, and if the year had been 1906 we would have been caught up with the Atlanta Race Riot of that year since many of the scenes of violence were centered in the Little Five Points area.

It began on September 22, 1906 and by the time the event ended it has been reported twelve blacks and two whites were killed though some historians argue many, many more were killed. Some advise that some families took the bodies of their loved ones and quietly buried them not wanting to have the stigma of having taken part or having been a victim of a race riot. Others were quiet about the death of a family member because they understood the effect the riot could have on the economy of the city.

Things like that just didn’t happen in Atlanta.

After all……Atlanta is the city that is too busy to hate, right? It seems to me though the city was actually too busy to remember as the details regarding the riot have been mostly forgotten and not taught in schools.

The cause of the riot is actually very convoluted basically ranging from paternalism – a feeling blacks had to be taken care of to negrophobia – where whites believed blacks were always prone to crime and violence. The 1906 governor’s race has been held up as a major cause as the two men running for office both brought race relations to the forefront stating they would do what they could to keep black men from voting. Some historians blame the changing Atlanta economy – from an agrarian society to a highly industrialized transportation hub, and others state changes in black society also contributed. By 1906, there was a definite middle class that existed in Atlanta’s black neighborhoods and there were even a few wealthy families. Another cause had to do with several saloons or “dives”, as whites referred to them, on Decatur Street where black men frequented. Whites were worried about a rise in crime that could spill over into white areas. Add in competition between the races for jobs, a tug-of-war over civil rights, and other issues left over from Reconstruction...... a powder keg was most certainly brewing.

In the days leading up to the riots there had been some unproven reports black men had been attacking white women. Mob psychology took over. At the height of the riot reports state there were as many as 10,000 whites and hundreds of blacks involved. The violence occurred for a few days before the state militia was called out.

New Georgia Encyclopedia states the after effects of the riot include retrenchment of Atlanta’s black community, statewide prohibition and black suffrage, a turning away from the leadership of Booker T. Washington to W.E.B. DuBois who wrote a poem regarding the event titled The Litany of Atlanta.

Mainly……the event was minimalized and forgotten.

A Lone Grave

We’ve become very accustomed to seeing macabre crosses and wreaths on the side of the road marking some terrible tragedy, but an actual lone grave on the side of the road begs some explanation even though hundreds of people pass it each day with nary a notice.

At one time someone did take notice and surrounded the grave with a fence and actually enclosed the grave with bricks and a marker. A bench was added, a decorative sundial and the remnants of a few plantings still exist.

The grave is at the intersection of Burris and Land Roads in the Clayton Community of Cherokee County, and is at the outer edge of the property belonging to Clayton Elementary School.

The grave is marked Aaron Burris…..1796-1864. The year of death leads one to think perhaps Mr. Burris was a soldier in the Civil War, and was slain by an enemy bullet, but look at the birth and death dates again. Do some elementary subtraction and we discover Mr. Burris was 68 at the time of his death – a little old to be traipsing off to whoop some Yankee butt.

The story goes Mr. Burris was one of a few handful of men who were left behind with the ladies while their men folk marched gallantly off to defend the ill-fated Confederate cause. Some ailment took hold of Mr. Burris and he passed away.

Suddenly the women living in the Clayton Community had a neighbor to bury and no men were around to do the necessaries.

Now…….I consider myself to be a very strong Southern woman. In fact, if you knew half of what I’ve experienced over the last four to five years you would beg me to let you off my crazy roller coaster ride, BUT….prepare my neighbor’s body for burial and dig the grave????

I’m not THAT woman, but – perhaps I need to rethink here – my quickness in doubting my abilities betray the memories of those women and one in particular Sarah Emmaline Land (Cline), wife of James Johnson Land, my great-great grandmother.

The Civil War/Atlanta page at The Examiner has more information regarding women on the home front.

Wordless

This is the boyhood home of President Woodrow Wilson and is located in Augusta, Georgia.

          You can visit their website here

Other bloggers post wordless images on Wednesday , too. Visit the main page HERE to find them.

A Few Remarks Regarding Labor for Labor Day

It seems appropriate this close to Labor Day to remember a few labor disputes in Atlanta surrounding the Fulton Bag and Cotton Mill.

In August, 1887 a strike occurred when the owners of the mill decided to hire 25 black women to work alongside whites. Over 200 women and 400 men walked out. The strike lasted five days and even the New York Times took notice.

During the 1880s hundreds of women and children arrived at the doors of mills across the state asking for work because mill owners provided decent housing….something that was sorely lacking in Georgia at the time. By 1890, the New Georgia Encyclopedia states of the total of mill employees across the state 39 percent were men, 37 percent were women, and 24 percent were children.

Another more serious strike occurred in 1934 when various mills all over Georgia experienced walk outs. This strike is normally referred to in Georgia history as the General Textile Strike of 1934 or the Uprising of ’34. It wasn’t just a Georgia strike but included workers in the North as well as across the South. Approximately 44,000 workers walked out in Georgia. New Georgia Encyclopedia reports violence was scattered throughout the state including the towns of Cedartown, Columbus, Macon, and Porterdale. There were deaths in Trion and Augusta.

You can find an archive of historical images and information at the Fulton Bag and Cotton Mill Digital Collection managed by the Georgia Tech Archives and Record Management.

Today, the Fulton Bag and Cotton Mills now houses loft apartments for folks who want to live in Atlanta…..It’s nice to see historic locations preserved and used for more than just another museum as this video shows:

Wordless

Happy Wednesday!

Isn’t this an interesting looking lady?

She is Etheldra Prothro King……Mrs. Walter Ernest – and she is dressed to go to the opera….can’t imagine one in Cuthbert where she was from, so she must have traveled to Augusta…..or perhaps she was traveling to the Springer Opera House in Columbus.

The picture vault at the Georgia Archives lists her as president of the garden club in Cuthbert and instrumental in the Iris Garden. The garden still exists today…..This link shows students from Andrew College working in the garden.

Other bloggers post wordless images on Wednesday , too. Visit the main page HERE to find them.

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Two Randolph Counties?!?

If you dig a little bit you discover that Georgia has not had one, but two Randolph Counties. One that was created in 1807, but five years later the name was changed to Jasper County. Jasper County has the distinction of being the home of Trisha Yearwood – country singing star. The second Randolph County was created in 1828 from a portion of Lee County, and has the distinction of claiming the very first pecan tree brought to Georgia from Texas – the mother tree that gave birth to the pecan industry here in Georgia.

So, why did the first Randolph County become Jasper County? The answer is very simple. Both Randolph Counties were named for John Randolph, a United States Senator who claimed Pocahontas as an ancestor. He is quite an interesting character, but THAT is story for another day. I can tell you that when he became the master of his family’s plantation he took to referring to himself as John Randolph of Roanoke…..the name of the plantation, because he didn’t want to be confused with a relative known as “Possum John”. Oh my…….my mind is turning over several possible reasons for that moniker!

It seems the Georgia General Assembly took offense to John Randolph’s negative position regarding the War of 1812…..In fact, the declaration of war was passed by Congress by the smallest margin recorded on a war vote….so Randolph wasn’t the only Congressman who objected to going to war with Britain, but the esteemed men of the General Assembly wanted to make a point to the Senator, and they had his name stricken from the records. It was only later following the war when minds forgot his infraction that the second and current Randolph County was birthed.

Atlanta: Mysteries, Myths and Urban Legends

I have lived in Atlanta all my life and her mysteries, myths and urban legends never cease to amaze me. Her citizens and visitors alike walk over hallowed battle grounds every day and pass locations with significant or quirky history that is often ignored or overlooked.

Coca-Cola is about as Atlanta as you can get and their unique bottle design is recognized all over the world. Many people believe the shape was modeled after hobble-skirts popular in 1916 when the bottle design was approved. The company website mentions this. Still others including various Coca-Cola museum employees in Atlanta and Las Vegas state there was a desire to make the bottle into the shape of the kola nut or coca leaf since those two items are key in making the official drink of Atlanta. The story goes a researcher was sent out to discover the exact shape of the items but a mistake was made along the way since the bottle actually resembles the shape of a cacao tree seed pod which yields chocolate. Another theory advises the shape of the bottle actually has to do with a sense of recognition by feel. Back in the day the only way to get an icy cold Coke was to place the bottles in containers full of ice. The company wanted to make sure when patrons stuck their hands down in the icy slush they emerged with a Coke and not the drink of a competitor. The unusual shape helped to identify their product by feel.

More times than not when you locate a Lowe’s Home Improvement Center in Atlanta you will also find a Home Depot close by. Though the two companies are fierce competitors they seem to like to cohabitate the same area. The explanation has become an urban legend that has gone awry. It has also reached viral email proportions. A popular email chain letter that makes the rounds every so often states the reason for the close relationship has to do with a marital feud. The story goes a wife of one of the Home Depot founders was jilted and in retaliation she began the Lowe’s business. This is terrible misinformation as both companies were founded by men. Lowe’s began in 1946 while Home Depot hit the scene in 1978.

A little mystery surrounds Lenox Mall – the first major shopping mall in Georgia. A huge boulder was unearthed when developers were clearing the land. What made this rock so special is it bore the name Colonel McCormack. Researchers poured over Civil War rolls but no connections were ever made that could explain the boulder carving or how it came to be on the property.

Hundreds of people walk by an interesting cornerstone every day at the Carnegie Street entrance for the Peachtree Center MARTA Station. What they do not realize is the cornerstone does not refer to the station. It was the cornerstone for a building that stood on the property prior to the station being built. Jasper Newton Smith was a real estate investor who owned the commercial building that sat at the station site. Mr. Smith stipulated that if the building was ever torn down the cornerstone could not leave the property. It hasn’t. That was not the end of Mr. Smith’s eccentricity. He is resting quietly at Oakland Cemeterywith a life-size statue of himself sitting on top of his grave.

Atlanta has been known by several other names. School children learn all about Standing Peachtree which dates back to Indian times, Terminus which referred to the eastern end of the rail line that ended in Atlanta , and Marthasville named after the daughter of a Georgia governor, but many do not realize Atlanta was also known as Thrasherville at one time. John Thrasher was an employee of the Western and Atlantic Railroad. He and his crew lived in what is today downtown Atlanta while the rails were being laid and eventually Thrasher had a few homes and general store there. a state historical marker tells of Thrashers importance to the city of Atlanta located outside the Federal Reserve Bank on Marietta Street. Another tale explains how Atlanta got her name. Apparently an employee of the Western and Atlantic Railroad suggested the settlement should be called Atlantica-Pacifica but thankfully it was shortened to Atlanta. Instead of current citizens telling people they are from the A-T-L, they could be saying they hail from the A and P.

Sadly the battle that began Sherman’s March to the Sea – the Battle of Atlanta - remains somewhat of a mystery to citizens of Atlanta as well as her many visitors. The area where the fighting occurred is very heavily commercialized today and few markers tell the story. Most people simply know the story of the battle through the movie Gone with the Wind which makes it seem like the battle was one very long day as Miss Melanie was giving birth to Ashley’s baby, but in actuality the battle was a four month long siege and consisted of smaller battles such as the Battle of Peachtree Creek and the Battle of Ezra Church. The Atlanta Cyclorama is the best place to get a true feel for the battle.

The very emblem for the city of Atlanta contains a myth. A phoenix, a mythical bird from ancient times is depicted on the city’s seal. A phoenix will burn to ashes and then rise again. The cycle is thought to be a continuous process and fits the image of Atlanta dating back to the burning of Atlanta during the Civil War. A very popular statue in Atlanta titled From the Ashes aka The Phoenix Statue resides in Woodruff Park. Originally it was commissioned from sculptor Jim Segler by Rich’s Department Store. The statue depicts a woman holding a phoenix above her head. The statue symbolizes Atlanta’s comeback and rebirth of the Civil War as well as recognizes the 100th birthday of the department store in 1967.