Generations

An unknown family on a Georgia Plantation picking cotton, circa 1850.

History of Slavery in Georgia

January 9, 1735, Slavery and rum outlawed in the colony of Georgia.

May 19, 1749, Trustees petition the king to allow the repeal of the prohibition of slavery.

October 26, 1749, Petition requesting slavery is approved.

January 1, 1751, Slavery officially becomes legal in Georgia.

March 15, 1758, Negro slaves prohibited from working as: carpenters, masons, bricklayers, plasterers, or joiners. The general assembly did this to encourage the settlement of skilled labor in the state of Georgia.

June 20, 1793, Eli Whitney files a patent application for the cotton gin, developed on the plantation of American Revolutionary hero General Nathaniel Greene.

July 27, 1848, The U. S. Senate passes the Clayton Compromise, a solution to the issue of slavery in the territories. It essentially let the courts decide the issue. Among those voting for the bill, which passed 33-22 were John C. Calhoun, John Berrien, Lewis Cass, and Jefferson Davis.

June 24, 1856, The Toombs Bill (authored by Robert Toombs), an attempt to bring a constitutional convention to Kansas amid growing involvement of pro-slavery and abolitionist forces is introduced into the Congress.

December 18, 1860, Lincoln writes Alexander Stephens to assure him that he (Lincoln) will not interfere with slavery in the South, directly or indirectly.

January 19, 1861, Georgia votes to secede from the Union at a convention held in Milledgeville, Georgia.

January 16, 1865, From his field headquarters in Savannah, General William Tecumseh Sherman issues Special Field Orders, No. 15, giving "negroes now made free by the acts of war" abandoned coastal land from Charleston to the St. Johns River in Florida.

July 27, 2002, Savannah unveils a bronze statue on River Street (Rousakis Plaza) commemorating African-Americans who had been forced into slavery and brought to Georgia through the port.

June 2, 2005, Wachovia apologized to African-Americans for the Charlotte, NC based banks ties to American slavery. Georgia Railroad and Banking Co. of Augusta, a predecessor bank, held at least 182 slaves to build a railroad.

Source: ourgeorgiahistory.com