The Georgia Carnival---Edition Six

The Georgia Carnival remains on the road.

Edition Six can be found over at Provocative Church. Bill has done an excellent job of putting together posts and even added pop up comments along the way.

The next edition will be up Friday, March 30th. Melanie over at Blog For Democracy will be the host. You can submit posts to her at melaniegoux@mindspring.com or you can also use the handy submission form.

Thanks for continuing to support the Georgia Carnival and the Georgia blogroll. In order for the carnival to grow it needs your support. Please link to it and let others know about it. I think it has a real valid place in the blogosphere.

I know there are more of you out there. Where are you?

Head on over and thank Bill for putting the carnival together and don’t forget to submit something for the next edition.

A Shameful Part of Georgia's History

When I teach students about the U.S. Constitution they are generally appalled when I explain the Three-Fifths Compromise.

“Elementaryhistoryteacher, what do you mean? How can a whole person not be a whole person?” somone invaribly asks.

It does seem strange, doesn’t it? In the effort for compromise though that’s exactly what the delegates to the Constitutional Convention did. They agreed that a slave was only worth three-fifths of a person and then had the audacity to totally ignore the opportunity that was there for them to eradicate slavery from the young United States. Instead the delegates decided to let slavery go on for some 20 more years and then Congress would take the matter up.

I like for young students to notice the missed chances….the opportunties missed due to ignorance, pride, an unwillingness to innovate, and selfishness. I generally bring these matters to the forefront to build background for students once we get to the Civil War so that students can look all the way back to the Constitutional Convention and see a chain of missed opportunties.

Congress did follow through after 20 or so years and in 1808 their actions did not end slavery, but did end the importation of Africans for the purpose of slavery. Once again a compromise had stalled progress and led us one more step closer to the Civil War.

Last week over at History is Elementary I posted the image you see here and asked you to guess the importance of the ship. I’ve decided to post the explanation here because it involves a Georgian and Georgia history.

Some slave traders and large plantation owners across the South were very upset about the end of the African slave trade because they saw a huge loss in income. By 1857 Charles Lamar of Savannah was determined to reopen the slave trade and was willing to do whatever it took. He initially found plenty of investors from Georgia to New York.

Lamar’s actions were suspect by U.S. officials from the beginning as he tried to get the necessary travel papers for a boat called the E.A. Rawlins. The book, The Slave Ship Wanderer, by Henderson Wells (1967) mentions Lamar entered into partnership with a Louisiana sugar plantation owner and a Charleston gentleman to scheme to use a ship that Lamar would have built up north. In this way the ship might be under less suspicion.

The ship named The Wanderer was built in Setauket, Long Island and was to be outfitted as a very luxurious racing yacht. It could reach speeds of 20 knots. In fact soon after the ship was completed it was sailed down the east coast to New Orleans and entered yacht competitions along the way. Thinking they had sucessfully diverted attention from their true intent one of the other partners took control of the ship and outfitted her with 15,000 gallon water tanks.

At one point, however, the U.S. Revenue Marine did become suspicious after the entire crew had been replaced….one hint among many others. Officials gave chase and overtook The Wanderer. Finding nothing amiss they let it go---later it was thought that officials had been bribed or the lavish accomodations of the yacht completely fooled everyone.

Once The Wanderer headed out to open sea Lamar contacted a New York investor:

“I have as you know, a vessel now afloat…If she gets clear of the Coast they can’t catch her…and all the negroes can be sold as fast as landed at $650 a head…If you know of any who would like to take an interest, mention it to them confidentially and let me know who they are. I want none but reliable men and men who will have money the moment it is called for.”
The vessel was totally changed as it sailed up the Congo River. The crew of The Wanderer built pens on deck and below that would eventually hold between 400 and 600 Africans. Once the ship reached the coast of Georgia it landed at Jekyll Island where the Africans who did not die during the passage where quickly hustled away and sent to all parts of the South.

Eventually word got out about what happened and there was a trial. Lamar was brought up on charges along with others, however, everyone was aquitted.

Amazing.

Erik Colonius recently published a book called The Wanderer: The Last American Slave Ship and the Conspiracy That Set Its Sails.

You can read about it in an article published in a Memphis paper titled Rescue Effort and there’s even More from Mike's Civil War Musings.

If you followed these two links you see that this April there will be walking tour in Savannah that will educate people about this often forgotten aspect of slavery in America. For example, the Owens Thomas House will be a stop on the tour since John Owen who lived in the house represented Charles Lamar in the infamous lawsuit.

Another interesting link that details this facinating story from the aspect of the slave and subsequent generations can be found in this Newsday article.

Carnival Submissions Are Due

Please remember that the Georgia Carnival will be posted this Friday. The Carnival is currently on the road. It will be hosted by Bill over at Provocative Church. You can submit your posts by emailing them to breichart@bigcreekchurch.com or use the handy submission form. Submissions should be received no later than 6 p.m. Thursday, March 15, 2007. Please include the title of your post and URL, if possible. Barring unforeseen circumstances, the carnival should be posted sometime Friday, March 16th.

Go here to see Bill's creative way to advertise the upcoming carnival.

Over at History Is Elementary I am in the process of remembering my mother. This will be her first birthday since her death. You can see the first post here.

Stuckey's Pecan Roll?

No, No, No No......not Stuckey's pecan roll. It's new additions to the Georgia Blogroll......

This week we have four new additions to the Georgia Blogroll.

Colors of Ink is an interesting site. Johnna, the blog owner, is an artist who shares and sells her art. She writes to make us more aware about the homeless problem and proceeds from some of her art sales goes towards her work as well.

Blog For Democracy is well known among Georgia’s political blogs and will be hosting the Georgia Carnival on March 30th.

Best Practices in Education was started recently by 30plus teacher. No, she’s not 30 years old……she has over 30 years in the classroom…..

Huffenglish is a blog written by Dana, a highschool English teacher. Her site includes issues, ideas and discussion about teaching English.

Well, those are the newbies to the blogroll. You may know some Georgians not on the roll. Encourage them to join in.

If you would like to present the blogroll on your site I can send send you the code. Just email me at gamind@mail.com. Let me know if you want it in list form like you see here or if you want it in a scrolling box like I have it at History Is Elementary.

A Night Out

Dear Hubby and I traveled to the beautiful square in McDonough, Georgia last night for dinner with his business partner, the partner’s wife, and another couple. I have a couple of family members that live nearby, my mother lived there for a time before she went into a nursing home, and back in my legal research days I frequented the courthouse often in McDonough.

The quaint town really does have a lovely square with actual green grass and real trees that haven’t been planted in the last five years like some town square do-overs. There are several old homes that are loved. There are also several that need to be loved, but there original grace and charm are still evident. McDonough really is a lovely town to visit.

We had a very nice dinner at Redz Restaurant. It’s right off the square. The website told me that the owner used to work with the Buckhead Restaurant Group which means he must know what he’s doing. We began with enough appetizers to share that including shrimp, beef, crabcakes, and stuffed mushrooms. The ceasar salad I had was great. The dressing wasn’t what I normally like…..creamy, but it was really good. Dear Hubby had the grilled tuna, I had a nice New York strip with Vidalia onion straws, and one of our companions had the lamb. Rather than a baked potato our meals were accompanied by half of a large peeled and roasted spud with grilled yellow squash paired with zuchinni. It was a nice change from the normal butter and sour cream ladened pile of starch I normally get. Everyone seemed to be really pleased with their meals.

The bar is downstairs and it looked like there were a few tables down there. We were directed upstairs where we sat at a very roomy corner booth. There was lots of red everywhere which I would imagine is where the name comes from. A group was braving the chill after such a nice day and was sitting out on the upstairs patio. It would seem that they welcome children as there was a rather large party across from us with several. They were celebrating someone’s birthday, but they weren’t overly loud.

They are only open for dinner and I would recommend making reservations since they are in a small location and they cater to large parties sometimes.

It really was worth the 45 minute drive to get there.

Pop Quiz: Georgians Who Deserve to Be Remembered

Quick.....name someone from our state who painted with some of the top Impressionist painters in our nation during the earliest days of the twentieth century.

Need another hint?

This female was from Rome, Georgia. Her father was a minister.

She rubbed elbows with some very powerful people at the uppermost levels of our national government.

Still not sure?

Head on over to History Is Elementary and find out who I'm referring to.

Georgia Carnival-Edition Five

The Georgia Carnival is on the road. You can find it over at Got Bible?. Thanks Elisheva for posting a fine carnival.

The 49th History Carnival can be found over at History Is Elementary.