LaGrange College



Triumph and Tragedy—National History Day ideas, sources, and descriptions found at the Georgia Archives1936 Gainesville Tornado – Disaster and Rebuilding Surviving Smallpox: Smallpox epidemics and inoculationsEpidemicsHolding on to the hope of home in the midst of the horror of World War IWorld War II – Merci train – Also known at the “Thank You” trainAustin Dabney, slave, Revolutionary War hero, a life of honorSlavery and Manumission before the Civil WarSlavery and Free Persons of Color: CoexistenceThe African CaseLeo Frank CaseWarm Springs [Foundation/Hospital]: A Haven for Polio victimsWar of Jenkin’s Ear -- Battle of Bloody MarshInvestigation of Convict Lease system, 1908Atlanta Race RiotCivil Rights Royal CharterDescriptions, Resources and How they fit into the themeDisasters?1936 Gainesville Tornado – Disaster and RebuildingTragedy: 5th worst tornado in US history Triumph: Swift rebuilding. Community working together.The?1936 Tupelo–Gainesville tornado outbreak?was an outbreak?of at least 12?tornadoes?that struck the?Southeastern United States?from April 5–6, 1936. Approximately 454 people were killed by these tornadoes—419 by two tornadoes alone. This outbreak is the second deadliest ever recorded in US history. Although the outbreak was centered on?Tupelo, Mississippi, and?Gainesville, Georgia, where the fourth and fifth deadliest tornadoes in U.S. history respectively occurred, other destructive tornadoes associated with the outbreak struck?Columbia, Tennessee;?Anderson, South Carolina; and?Acworth, Georgia.This is the only continuous tornado outbreak in the United States history to produce more than one tornado with triple digit death tolls. Severe?flash floods?from the associated storms produced millions of dollars in damage across the region.April 6, 1936 in Gainesville, Georgia over 200 people were killed, 1,600 people injured5th deadliest in US history.President Franklin D. Roosevelt went to Gainesville the next day and then on Mary 23, 1938 to dedicate the new courthouse.Sources at the Georgia Archives:Book: A City Laid Waste: Tornado Devastation at Gainesville, Ga., April 6, 1936 by William Malcolm Brice.Adjutant General recordsRCB-41430:?An order from Adjutant General Lindley W. Camp, regarding the tornado at Gainesville, 1936.Surviving Smallpox: Smallpox epidemics and inoculationsTragedy: Smallpox epidemics Triumph: inoculationsEpidemicsTragedy: yellow fever and other epidemicsTriumph: eradication of yellow fever (NARA, Atlanta) Records of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Record Group 442Sources at the Georgia Archives:Diseases and Medicine Narrower topics: Specific diseases like typhoid fever or small pox, Polio and the Warm Springs Foundation, Medical Education in Georgia?Virtual Vault:File II (F2) Counties and Subjects:Diseases – Contagious F2DiseasesContagious01C thru 04C: 1786 Savannah small pox proclamationF2DiseasesContagious12C thru 14C: Describes recommendation given by doctors that citizens of Savannah be inoculated for smallpox, as there was an infection in SC, across the river. 1800.F2DiseasesContagious17C:? Savannah made an arrangement with Levi Sheftall to lodge small pox convalescents at his house 3 miles outside of the city. 1800.Hospitals - Seaman's Hospital:?Letter to Governor George Walton from George Habersham?, Leonard Cecil and John Wallace about the Seaman’s Hospital in Savannah, 1789.Chatham County - Savannah, Small Pox: 1801-1802File II Names:?Herschel Vespasian Johnson: F2JohnsonHerschelVespasian08C and F2JohnsonHerschelVespasian09C: letter from Governor Herschel V. Johnson to John E. Ward, Mayor of Savannah, dated September 13, 1854.? Governor Johnson writes in response to a hurricane that came ashore near Savannah on September 8, 1854, and an ongoing yellow fever epidemic in the city.Ad hoc: Public Health Annual Report from 1919, reporting on influenza deathsVanishing Georgia:?images of Georgia hospitals and operating rooms, Warm Springs?Onsite:1973-0251M:?Charles Hall surgeon's examination book (civil war era)Several physician’s account books in manuscripts. See book and manuscript catalog.DOC-5210:?folder 2-06 outhouse plan and letter about open toilets causing dysenteryPellagra of today,?published 1928? (Rare pamphlet, RC627.P44 S72; also available on microfilm)??DOC2-802:?Mortuary Record of the Epidemic in Savannah, GA, 1876 (large yellow fever outbreak)Government Record Prints:?Record Group 26: photographs from the Department of Public Health. 20th?century.DOC-2559: 1898 - Report on the Origin and Spread of Typhoid Fever in U.S. Military Camps during the Spanish/American WarRCB-47325:?Crawford County Superior Court Case Files: Mathews, J. N. (ordinary) v. O. P. Wright; orders regarding scarlet fever quarantine, May 1895Warm Springs Foundation records?(RG 75-19-) Correspondence and subject files, 1929-1965. See Finding Aids for more information.0000-0256M:?Jasper Norris Civil War letter mentions smallpoxGeorgia Laws?related to diseases. Also available online, keyword search at Georgia Legislative Documents.?Historic newspapers will document epidemics. Savannah had yellow fever epidemics in 1820, 1854, 1876.?Secondary sources:History of public health in Georgia, 1733-1950. (Search Room RA447.G5 A6)????Holding on to the hope of home in the midst of the horror of World War ITragedy: the horrors of WWI Triumph: hope through contact with home, family and friendsSources at the Georgia Archives:Virtual Vault:Vanishing Georgia:?images of camps, troops leaving on train, armistice announcement, troops/individual soldiers posing for photoWorld War I Casualties scrapbooks?Onsite:1945-0600M:?Rowena Hanes Ford collection: letters by Mrs. Ford's sons while serving in World War I.2001-0003M: Dougherty family papers: Letters are between Daniel O. Dougherty, Jr., and his wife Wilhelmina while he was in France and she remained at home in Atlanta in 1918-1919.1980-0039M:?Nicolson family papers: William Perrin Nicolson, Jr. (of Atlanta) trip to Germany in the summer of 1914 to continue his studies and abrupt interruption by World War I. The letters continue through his service in France up to his marriage in 1919 to Elizabeth Tuller.1977-0113M:?Claude R. Knight papers: Letters from girlfriends and army buddies to Knight during and after World War I. Includes a few army records.1975-0468M:?Roy L. Bauer Papers: letters, postcards, photographs, and news clippings. Most of the letters are written by Bauer to his family: his impressions of France, the people, and the government's attitude toward the war, which he personally felt could not end before 1919. He also discussed the Allies' logistical problems, mainly mud, and described life in the trenches.1969-0250M:?Theodore K Jones World War I Papers:?The collection contains Jones' diaries from 1917-1919 while he served with American Expeditionary Forces in Europe, Battery B, 320th Regt. Field Arty., and an expanded narrative draft he wrote from these notes. Also included are a "Gas" notebook, illustrated, concerning the use and effects of gas and pictures of A.E.F. insignias; a roster of Battery B; and a scrapbook of war and personal memorabilia.DOC-2964, folder Slaton – Official Material:?Notice to American Citizens who Contemplate Visiting Belligerent Countries, 1914, U.S. State DepartmentGeorgia State Memorial Book?(Oversize?? E494 .G46x B68x): photographs of soldiers from Georgia who died during the war.?World War II – Merci train – Also known at the “Thank You” train. Tragedy: Hunger and lack of supplies for the French people after WWII. Triumph: The United States sending relief in 1948 and the French citizens showing appreciation by the filling the Merci Train with presents.?The Merci Train was the response of the people of France to food shipments sent by American states to post-World War II Europe. The?Merci Train, also known as the?French Gratitude Train?or the?Forty and Eight, was the 1949 Europe-US response to the?Friendship Train. Composed of 49 cars and filled with "gifts of gratitude,” the Merci Train arrived in New York City on February 3, 1949, and was divided amongst the 48 states with the remaining car to be shared by the?District of Columbia?and?Hawaii. French Citizens were showing their appreciation for the more than 700 American box cars of relief goods sent to them by (primarily) individual Americans in 1948.Sources at the Georgia Archives:Several matches in “Finding Aids” Especially, DOC 3600: GEORGIA DEPT. OF ARCHIVES AND HISTORY - ADMINISTRATION - SPECIAL EVENTS RECORDS - 1948 - 1949 - French?Merci Train.Documents in Virtual Vault Austin Dabney, slave, Revolutionary War hero, a life of honorTragedy: Dabney was in servitude as a slave. Triumph: Because of his personal heroism during the Revolutionary War he was emancipated by the legislature, recognized by those in power and led a successful life.Austin Dabney?(c. 1765-1830) was a slave?who fought against the British in the?American Revolutionary War. Because of his heroism, the state of Georgia purchased Dabney and emancipated him in 1786.?Sources at the Georgia Archives:Georgia Archives: Information found in the Ad Hoc collection online. Georgia Archives: Online Finding AidsDOC 3979: SURVEYOR GENERAL - HEADRIGHT LAND GRANT RECORDS - HEADRIGHT AND BOUNTY DOCUMENTS - 1783 - 1909, Curey, William - Dansby, John??C 161809:?Dabney, AustinOther sources: The story of Austin Dabney as person and legend must be pieced together from the Wilkes County, Georgia, court and deed records used in conjunction with Kenneth H. Thomas, Jr., “Georgia Family Lines: Harris,”?Georgia Life Magazine?2 (Winter 1975-1976): 48-49; Lizzie R. Mitchell,?History of Pike County, Georgia?(1932); George R. Gilmer,?Georgians Sketches of Some of the First Settlers of Upper Georgia?(1855);?Final Revolutionary War Pension Payment Vouchers: Georgia?(National Archives microfilm M1746, roll 2); Watson W. Jennison,?Cultivating Race: The Expansion of Slavery in Georgia, 1750-1860?(Lexington, Ky., 2011); and Austin Dabney File, File II Names, Georgia Archives, Morrow. Taken from: Slavery and Manumission before the Civil WarTragedy: slaveryTriumph: manumission (see acts below)Slavery and Free Persons of Color: CoexistenceTragedy: living during a time when slavery was legalTriumph: living during a time when slavery was legal as a free person of colorManumission: Act of 1801 – Outlawed except by application to the legislature. (1801)Act of 1815 – Clerks of Inferior Court (probate) prohibited from recording any deed of manumission.Act of 1818 – Fines increased from $200 to $500. (1818) – “Manumission by will, deed, contract, agreement, stipulation in writing or by parol (word) for the purpose of manumission is null and void.” Slaves cannot work for freedom or profit from labor. Every slave so manumitted arrested and sold at auction. – Free persons of color required to register. – Free persons of color forbidden to own real estate or slave. Act of 1859 prohibits manumission of slaves by deed or will after Supreme Court decision declared such manumission contrary to the Acts of 1801 and 1818.Sources at the Georgia Archives:Free Persons of Color Registers?(Chatham County, Richmond County, etc.)RCB-6540/FLAT-2356:?Crawford County Probate Court, William Zeigler. Records document manumitted family: Mary and her three children Henry, William and Octavia, who were sent to Ohio to be manumitted after William’s death.The State vs. Jacob, a slave:?testimony taken in the case, 1858. Bibb County Superior Court Minutes. (microfilm)Original and Recorded Will of Sarah Parks, July 4, 1834. Parks attempted to manumit her slaves, but was not able to have the manumissions included in the recorded will, by Georgia law. Franklin County Probate Court. (microfilm)Virtual Vault:File II Counties and Subjects: Franklin County - Deeds:?F2ForsythCoRecordsDeedsLands_01C: Deed of sale between James A. Green and Josiah H Woodliff for the sale of Nat, a slave for life, recorded in Franklin County, 1849.Ad hoc Collection:?Act Emancipating Austin Dabney?Other sources:Historic newspapers (available for free through Digital Library of Georgia) include printed information from the Free Persons of Color registers, notices and rewards for return of runaway slaves, city ordinances re: Free Persons of Color and slaves- for example, ordinances that restricted assembly by Free Persons of ColorGeorgia Laws on slavery and manumission. Available online, keyword searchable at Georgia Legislative Documents9. The African CaseTriumph: The?Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves?of 1807Tragedy: During court battles, the slaves were eventually sold by the stateIn October 1817, ninety-five African slaves were taken by privateers (pirates) from the Portuguese ship “Jesu Nasareno” owned by Miguel de Castro. The Africans, originally bound for Havana, Cuba, were taken to Amelia Island off the cost of East Florida, sold to William Bowen, an agent for a Savannah merchant, and subsequently transported through Georgia t the Creek Indian territory. The ensuing case involved violations of the Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves?of 1807 in which the importation of slaves into the United States was outlawed.Sources at the Georgia Archives:“African Case” documents in Virtual VaultLeo Frank CaseTragedy: Unfair trail and mob violence lynching of Leo Frank. The Leo Frank case inspired Klan-sympathizing racists to expand the parameters of hate by including Jews.Triumph: The posthumous pardon in 1986. The?Anti-Defamation League was formed the same year (1913). The trial served as a confirmation that American Jews needed an institution to combat anti-Semitism.The Leo Frank case is one of the most notorious and publicized cases in Georgia. A Jewish man in Atlanta was placed on trial and convicted of raping and murdering a thirteen-year-old girl who worked for the National Pencil Company, which he managed. Before the lynching of Frank two years later, the case became known throughout the nations. Anti-Semitism was involved in Frank’s conviction and subsequent lynching. Sources at the Georgia Archives:Leo Frank files found in “Finding Aids” and in the “Virtual Vault,” and “Book Manuscript Catalog.” Searchable online.Warm Springs [Foundation/Hospital]: A Haven for Polio victimsTragedy: Polio one of the most feared diseases, paralyzed hundreds of thousands of people every year. Many victims were hidden from society.Triumph: Polio patients learned how to function in society. Creation of (what would be known as) The March of Dimes.In the early 20th century, polio was one of the most feared diseases in industrialized countries, paralyzing hundreds of thousands of children every year. Soon after the introduction of effective vaccines in the 1950s and 1960s however, polio was brought under control and practically eliminated as a public health problem in these countries.In 1926, Franklin D. Roosevelt invested two-thirds of his savings in property at Warm Springs and incorporated the Georgia Warm Springs Foundation in 1927. (Roosevelt was the Democratic candidate for vice president in 1920, and had contracted polio in 1921.) An enclosed pool for the polio patients was funded by automotive pioneer Henry Ford’s son Edsel was added. The “spirit of Warm Springs” became firmly entrenched as patients relearned to function in society and laugh and enjoy life. On January 30, 1934, the first of the President’s Birthday Balls were held throughout the United States to raise money for polio research. They helped put the foundation on a sound financial basis and later became known as the March of Dimes. at the Georgia Archives:Many resources are on the Warm Springs Foundation are found in the “Finding Aids.”Resources available in the Reference Library. Searchable online in the “Book and Manuscript Catalog.”War of Jenkin’s Ear Battle of Bloody Marsh (account in Virtual Vault)Tragedy: The survival of the colony of Georgia hung in the balance once formal hostilities in the War of Jenkin’s Ear began in 1739. Triumph: Decisive English victory in 1742. Neither Spain nor Britain undertook offensive operations on the North American mainland again. In 1742, the Spanish launched an attempt to seize the British colony of?Georgia. Manuel de Montiano commanded 2,000 troops, who were landed on?St Simons Island?off the coast. General Oglethorpe rallied the local forces and defeated the Spanish regulars at?Bloody Marsh?and?Gully Hole Creek, forcing them to withdraw. Border clashes between the colonies of Florida and Georgia continued for the next few years, but neither Spain nor Britain undertook offensive operations on the North American mainland.Sources at the Georgia Archives: Virtual Vault, Ad Hoc Collection, (ah00641)“An Account of the late Invasion of Georgia drawn out by Lieut. Patrick Sutherland of General Oglethorpe’s Regiment who lately arrived in England and was sent Express on that occasion, but being taken by the Spaniards off the Lizard was obliged to throw the said Express and other Papers overboard.”Investigation of Convict Lease system, 1908 Tragedy: After the Civil War, the convict lease system, used as a way to control African-Americans into forced labor.Triumph: Abolished in Georgia in 1908 (Nationwide, 1941)Some Georgians saw the prisoners at the state’s penitentiary in Milledgeville as the solution to their problems – a workforce that could be firmly controlled. Georgia leaders were also concerned about the costs associated with operating a penitentiary. Convict labor included more African Americans. In an effort to resolve these issues, officials during Reconstruction approved the leasing of prisoners to private citizens.Convict leasing became less profitable during the first decade of the twentieth century with the rise of progressivism. Progressives, influenced by the media exposure of convict leasing’s inhumane conditions, pushed through legislation in 1908 outlawing the convict lease system.Sources at the Georgia ArchivesMicrofilm (drawer 252, boxes 14 and 15)(Finding Aids online) Prisons??State Prison CommissionPrisons - State Prison Commission - Leased Convicts Account Book, 1872-1876?21/1/13VOL2 7042: PRISONS - STATE PRISON COMMISSION - LEASED CONVICTS ACCOUNT BOOK - 1872 - 1876Prisons - State Prison Commission - Misc. Records, 1816-1909?21/1/19DOC 2761: PRISONS - STATE PRISON COMMISSION - MISC. RECORDS - 1866 - 1909 - see content listing??C 229116: 1871 - Lists of Leased Convicts to Albany and Brunswick RailroadAtlanta Race RiotTragedy: Indiscriminate violence toward the black population due to racism.Triumph: The aftermath of the riot gave testimony to the more aggressive faction of the Civil Rights movement.From September 22 – 24, 1906, Atlanta witnessed mob violence directed toward its black citizenry. Around 25 to 40 African-Americans were killed, men and women were beaten, and black-owned businesses were destroyed. Two whites were killed.This event made an imprint on the official state records because the state militia was called into Atlanta to maintain order. Although the central record sources for this event are likely concentrated in the records of local governments and private accounts, a substantial number of Georgia state records are productive resources for investigating this important event. Sources at the Georgia ArchivesRecords of the Adjutant General (RG 22-)Because the adjutant general controlled the state militia (which was evolving into the National Guard), the records of this agency have the highest level of material relevant to the 1906 Riots. Adjutant General’s Miscellaneous Files (RG 22-1-10). The descriptive inventory for this series has substantial folder control (frequently with dates), but it is not ordered chronologically. Because various Guard units reported activity in their “returns,” it is possible that any of the unit returns filed around this date would provide information. Two examples are given here: In Unit 9 of this series we located a “Return of Co. F, 2nd National Guard of Georgia for Quarter ending December 31, 1906.” This document references riot duty and indicates a statewide concern. Unit 2 of this series contains a folder (Folder 17 by count—not noted on the folder) entitled “Georgia National Guard Army Quarterly Returns, Cedartown Guards 1906 to 1912.” The last document in the folder is “Return of Company G, 5th Infantry National Guard of Georgia.” This Cedartown unit reports that the riot duty in Atlanta was good training. Incoming Correspondence to the Adjutant General (RG22-1-17)The richest concentration of 1906 riot-related materials exists in two files in Unit 37. These files are “370.6 Atlanta Riot Duty 1906” and “370.6 Riot Duty 1906.” These are adjacent files containing letters, orders, and reports concerning riot duty on the part of the militia units. A cursory examination of this series located these documents. It is very likely that in -depth examination of the series will reveal additional material relevant to this event or its aftermath. Adjutant General’s Letterbooks (RG 22-1-1)Unit 62 of this series covers the time period of the riot. A careful reading of its contents would be required to determine the level of relevance to the 1906 Riot. This volume is comprised of copies of outgoing letters. The William J. Northen Papers (AC0000-0074M)This private collection contains information related to the riot and represents the point of view of Georgia’s most prominent white activist against mob action. Much in this collection will have relevance to research on the 1906 Riot. Series 3, folder 5 contains a brochure entitled An Illustrated Lecture: the Atlanta Riot and the Minister’s View-Point (undated, 3 pages). Selected NewspapersThe Atlanta Independent: January 6-December 22, 1906, microfilm drawer 210, box 74.The Christian Index: January 4-December 27, 1906 (Southern Baptist publication), microfilm drawer 204, box 63.The Voice of the People: 1901-1904 (Publication of Bishop H. M. Turner, a monthly organ of the Colored National Emigration Association; provides important background information for the riot, microfilm drawer 60, box 22.The Atlanta Constitution: 1906 (microfilm drawer 392; select box by date). Additional SuggestionsThe sources provided above are not exhaustive. Additional information for this important event might be encountered in additional official and private records. The governor’s records could contain relevant information. For example, the Executive Minutes (RG 1-1-3) record the daily official activity of the governor. Although a cursory search of the minutes did not reveal references to the riot, closer examination of this series of records might provide a basis for interpretation of relevant actions or even meaningful inaction. Incoming Correspondence to the Governor (RG 1-1-5) might contain citizen concerns or reaction to the riot. The published journals and laws of the Georgia General Assembly might indicate direct or indirect political responses. The full text of the historic Georgia laws are available on a searchable database linked to our website at : click on “What do we have?” and then on “Online Records” and select “Georgia Legislative Documents.” Follow the links to the search page. Note that the search can be restricted by date. Civil RightsTragedy: state government enforcement of segregationTriumph: Civil Rights Movement (many documents at NARA, AtlantaInformation related to the struggle for civil rights--like information on nearly every historical topic--is often scattered throughout archival records. Researchers investigating civil rights in Georgia may find material in the following records. Georgia’s response to the Civil Right’s movement will be found in these records.Sources at the Georgia Archives:Civil Rights ResourcesLaws and legislationActs of the legislature relating to segregation Public Schools – Separation of Races (1955) Enforcement of segregation (1956, requires members of the State Patrol and Bureau of Investigation to enforce segregation when requested to by any citizen) [see also Peace Officers’ Retirement System Amended, 1956, which penalized officers who do not enforce segregation by forfeiting all retirement benefits disability payments, and death payments] Education – Freedom from compulsory association (proposed constitutional amendment) (1961) Grants for education (grants to enable students to attend schools of choice), 1961 Acts relating to communism, subversive activities Loyalty Oath required of all state employees (1949) Sedition and subversive activities (1953) National security – telegram to president regarding the possible role of “communist conspirators’ in stirring up “class antagonisms” by bombing Negro churches and parsonages (1957) Acts relating to voting rights, the U.S. constitution and state rights: Voter registration (1949, 1958, and 1964) Interposition resolution (1956), declaring the Supreme Court decisions of 1954 and 1955 re school segregation “null, void, and of no effect” Impeachment of Certain U.S. Supreme Court Justices who are “guilty of attempting to subvert the Constitution of the United States,” etc. (1957) Bills and resolutions that did not pass but that reflect the temper of the times (such as a bill requiring the revocation of municipal charters for cities that failed to enforce segregation) House and Senate JournalsThe Journals from the mid-1950s forward contain speeches, communications between the governor and the assembly, and other evidence documenting the legislative reaction to changes in society. Original RecordsGovernors correspondence/subject files Lieutenant Governor correspondence Secretary of State correspondence Executive Orders House and Senate Journals Secretary of State records contain correspondence relating to School Board Minutes include Education annual reports Division of Negro Education files Photographs Audio/moving image material Royal CharterTragedy: Failure of the utopian experiment in the colony of Georgia. King George revoked the charter in 1752 and Georgia became a royal colony. One of the world's best organized utopian experiments came to an abrupt end.Triumph: Creation of a utopian colony of Georgia in 1733, promoting the small farmer, banning slavery and hard liquorThe copy of Georgia's Royal Charter in the collection of the Georgia Archives is the official American copy of Georgia's Royal Charter of June 9, 1732. While an original remained in England, this copy was recorded in the minute books of the British royal colony of South Carolina, Georgia's already-established neighbor. In 1965 the document was presented to the Georgia Archives in a beautiful leather binding with these words inscribed inside: This copy of the Royal Charter Incorporating the Trustees for Establishing the Colony of Georgia in America was recorded February 22, 1734-35 by the Secretary of the Province of South Carolina in Miscellaneous Records Book DD, from a copy carried across the Atlantic by James Oglethorpe on the expedition to settle Georgia. It was safeguarded in the archives of South Carolina for more than two hundred and thirty years and placed in the Georgia Archives and Records Building at its dedication, October 11, 1965. Sources at the Georgia Archives:Royal Charter, Virtual VaultColonial Records, Virtual VaultReference Library: Perceval, J., & Trustees for Establishing the Colony of Georgia in America. (1738).?Transactions of the Trustees for the Establishment of the Colony of Georgia, 1738-1744. Georgia, & Georgia Secretary. (1754).?Governors' Commission Book, 1754-1778. ................
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