From Politico: President Obama was just in Atlanta this week, but will be back in May to deliver the commencement address at Morehouse College, the White House confirmed to POLITICO. “Morehouse College, one of the nation’s leading Historical Black Colleges and Universities, is among the best and brightest institutions of higher education in the country,” the White House said in a statement. Commencement is scheduled for May 19. “Known for its high standard for excellence in learning and social consciousness, Morehouse is home to a long list of notable alumni that spans the last three centuries,” the White House added. Alumni of the all-male liberal arts college include Martin Luther King, Jr., Spike Lee and Maynard Jackson, the first African-American mayor of…

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It takes a special kind of person to father a black child and then go on to become a very successful professional bigot, but the South was filled with them back in the day. Essie Mae Washington Williams, daughter of late South Carolina Sen. Strom Thurmond, has died.  Thurmond who spent much of his long political career as an arch-segregationist, never publicly acknowledged his “other” daughter’s existence during his lifetime.  Thurmond, who even ran as a third-party Dixiecrat in 1948 to combat President Harry S. Truman’s liberal policies, is regarded as one of the founding fathers of the South’s modern-day GOP.  He died in 2003 at the age of 100. I saw Strom Thurmond once, in the summer of 2001. I was with…

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Yesterday’s weather was horrific for a lot of folks around here, including my brother-in-law Steve and his family. My niece’s house in Gordon County was damaged by high winds (tornado) and the power is out all over the place up around Adairsville and Calhoun. Our thoughts are with all those who are suffering. We had our own close call.  You see, Trouble came to visit our house late last night.  For those of you who haven’t read Brambleman, Trouble is a myseterious fellow “not from around here” who has a strange affinity for lightning. I’d just gone to bed, and I was looking out the window when I saw a flash of light across the sky. An instant later, the electrical feed to the house,…

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Review of Brambleman by Amazon.com reviewer Thinfilm: “Thank goodness I don’t work in a library or any other job that requires categorizing books….because I wouldn’t have the faintest idea where to place this one. Social history? Mystery? Supernatural and the Occult?…or even Humour? Mr Grant takes us on an amazing journey in time to teach us something about some very disturbing chaqpters in American history, in a most engaging, weird and sometimes funny way. His style is light and flowing and even though the book is long it never seems to get cumbersome or heavy slogging. The characters are exaggerated almost to the point of being unbelievable… “almost” but never “quite” (…well, maybe Trouble is a bit far-fetched but he adds a…

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Similar measures have been introduced in the Georgia General Assembly before, but none have passed.  Senate Resolution 28, sponsored by Sen. Barry Loudermilk (R-Cassville) and others, stops short of apologizing for slavery. According to an article in the Atlanta Journal Constituion, “Loudermilk believes it’s not realistic for the current Legislature to apologize for acts of past lawmakers.” Here’s the text of the resolution, which notes the colony of Georgia’s orginal ban on slavery (that didn’t last long. In fact, Savannah was built by slaves before the official ban was lifted in 1751). By: Senators Loudermilk of the 14th, Ligon, Jr. of the 3rd, Heath of the 31st, Crane of the 28th, Hill of the 32nd and others A RESOLUTION Expressing remorse for the state’s past…

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