Georgia Archives – Page 5 of 14

Take that, Scarlett O’Hara: The tale of Tunis Campbell is the real story of Georgia Reconstruction

Tunis G. Campbell, Sr. Georgia Black Reconstruction Leader By Jonathan Grant @Brambleman In 1861, a 49-year-old black abolitionist named Tunis G. Campbell, Sr., walked into a recruiter’s office in New York City and attempted to enlist in the Union Army. Like all African-Americans in the war’s early stages, he was rejected as unfit on the basis of his race. Campbell, a well-educated restaurateur, baker, and published author, didn’t give up. He wrote a letter to President Lincoln outlining a self-improvement plan for freed slaves after the war. As a result, he was sent to Union-occupied Hilton Head, S.C., to work with General Rufus Saxton. In 1865, Campbell—a tall, imposing man who dressed formally and wore spectacles—was appointed military governor of five Georgia…

Recuse yourselves! Teresa Tomlinson calls on Perdue, Loeffler to step back from impeachment case they’ve prejudged

By Jonathan Grant @Brambleman As a lawyer, Teresa Tomlinson takes the Constitution seriously, and she doesn’t shy away from the impeachment debate. In a recent interview in her Columbus campaign office, she talked about the Founding Fathers, and how they set up the impeachment process as a safeguard against tyranny. She’s even tweeted out a Twitter treatise on Federalist Paper 66. She doesn’t want to see it as a political process, but as a Constitutional remedy to bad actors and demagogues in the White House. But it’s hard, if not impossible, to take the politics out of politics, as the old saying goes. In June, she said that House Democrats had a “duty” to begin impeachment hearings against Trump, regardless of…

Lynching in post-Reconstruction Georgia: State-sanctioned terrorism

The following passage is an excerpt from The Way It Was in the South: The Black Experience in Georgia, by Donald L. Grant (Jonathan L. Grant, ed.) Published by University of Georgia Press, 2001. All rights reserved. Book webpage. Lynching in the New South: Georgia After the Ku Klux Klan won its battle to maintain white supremacy, the lynch mob of the New South assumed a major role in maintaining blacks as a caste of peasants and serfs. Between 1889 and 1918, Georgia had more lynchings than any other state, and 94 percent of the victims were black. By no coincidence, Georgia had the South’s lowest cotton-field wages during this time. The post-Reconstruction reign of terror was nearly totally demoralizing. With good…

Take a look: Read Prologue and Chapter One of Brambleman

The story: Down-and-out Atlanta writer Charlie Sherman has no idea what madness awaits him when a mysterious stranger convinces him to finish a dead man’s book about a horrific crime that’s gone unpunished for decades. What Charlie inherits is an unwieldy manuscript about the mob-driven expulsion of more than 1,000 blacks from Forsyth County, Georgia in 1912. During the course of his work, Charlie uncovers a terrible secret involving a Forsyth County land grab. Due to its proximity to Atlanta, the stolen farm is now worth $20 million—and a sale is pending. When he finds the land’s rightful owner, Charlie becomes convinced he’s been chosen by a Higher Power to wreak justice and vengeance on those who profit from evil. Winner of the IBPA’s…

5-Star Review of Brambleman: Neil Gaiman meets Flannery O’Connor

My favorite review (oldie but goodie) Here’ s a review of Brambleman by G.D. Brennan, a Chicago author who gives it five stars. I’m flattered, of course, and I’m especially gratified when a reader gets out of the book what I was certain I put into it. Brennan’s observation echoes my feelings. When I was pitching the book, I said, “Imagine Neil Gaiman and Joseph Heller collaborating on To KIll a Mockingbird.” Close enough, G.D. To purchase a copy of Brambleman, click here. G.D. Brenna writes: Imagine Neil Gaiman and Flannery O’Connor collaborating on a story about the legacy of a true-life ethnic cleansing in rural Georgia. Better yet, imagine that story being told by someone with both of those authors’ greatest…

Abrams Playbook makes Georgia top target for Dems in 2020

By Jonathan Grant @Brambleman In the past, Georgia has not received top-tier attention or funding in presidential races. Due to demographic changes and her remarkably close finish in the 2018 gubernatorial race, Stacey Abrams wants to change that. She’s pushing Georgia to national Democrats as their best 2020 investment opportunity in her just-released Abrams Playbook (see below). It lays out a blueprint/game plan for campaigns to build on her 2018 successes to turn Georgia Blue. In her opening letter, Abrams argues: “When analyzing next year’s political landscape and electoral opportunities, any less than full investment in Georgia would amount to strategic malpractice.” The Abrams team does an excellent job laying out a case for treating Georgia like a must-win battleground state, and…

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