All Episodes

Long before Europeans arrived in Georgia, Mississippian Indians built thriving towns, crafted pottery and stone tools, and passed down traditions through art and storytelling. 

Learn how groups like the Jews, Salzburgers, Highland Scots, and others shaped early Georgia—and how their arrival, contributions, and beliefs influenced the colony’s economy, culture, and early debates over slavery.

Learn why state leaders founded the University of Georgia, and how education and government worked together to guide the state’s growth.

Discover how European nations raced to the New World during the Age of Exploration, and explore how their quests for wealth, power, and new trade routes forever changed North America. 

Explore Georgia’s five state capitals and learn why each move happened. See how population trends, politics, geography, and growth shaped the capital’s location and what that reveals about Georgia’s shifting identity.

Explore the history and meaning behind the pledge, the state flag, and Georgia's four guiding principles: wisdom, justice, moderation, and courage.

From the headright system to the Yazoo Land Fraud to land lotteries, Georgia’s land policies shaped who owned land, who lost it, and how the state grew.

Explore how Georgia shifted from the Trustees' rule to British control, and learn what that change meant for the colony. Discover how royal governance worked, and how new policies reshaped Georgia.

From cargo ships in Savannah to jets flying out of Atlanta, Georgia’s transportation network keeps the world moving. Discover how the state’s four major systems—water, rail, road, and air—work together to deliver everything from groceries to sneakers. 

Discover how Henry Grady became the leading voice of the “New South.” Explore his vision for economic growth, industrial development, and a rebranded Southern identity, while also examining the limits and controversies behind his message.

Explore Georgia's response to the Brown v. Board of Education decision–including the 1956 flag and the Sibley Commission–and discover what it meant for public schools across the state.

Discover how Georgia’s first city came to life! In 1733, James Oglethorpe, Chief Tomochichi, and Mary Musgrove joined forces at Yamacraw Bluff to create Savannah—a city built on cooperation, planning, and vision. 

From sit-ins and Freedom Rides to “Bloody Sunday” and voting rights victories, learn how John Lewis made “good trouble” and left a lasting legacy in the fight for equality.

The 1996 Summer Olympics put Atlanta (and Georgia) on the world stage. Discover how hosting the Games transformed the city’s economy, population, and reputation, turning Atlanta into a global powerhouse.

Learn how the boll weevil wiped out half of Georgia’s cotton production, how a major drought made things even worse, and how these challenges forced Georgia to rethink its farming and economy.

Discover how three powerful Georgia leaders, known as the Bourbon Triumvirate, shaped the state’s politics and economy after Reconstruction.

Discover how the Port of Savannah helps power Georgia’s economy and how the completion of the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project (SHEP) has contributed to Georgia's economic growth.

From peanut farmer to president, Jimmy Carter’s story sounds almost too incredible to be true. Born in Plains, Georgia, Carter went from serving on a nuclear submarine to leading the nation, and later, to dedicating his life to peace, human rights, and helping others.

From income and budgeting to saving, debt, and investing, this episode of Georgia Stories breaks down the basics of personal finance in a way that’s easy to understand. Learn how to set smart goals, build good money habits, and take control of your financial future.

Explore where the state of Georgia is located in the world and dive into its five geographic regions: the Appalachian Plateau, Valley and Ridge, Blue Ridge, Piedmont, and Coastal Plain.

From the Declaration of Independence to the Constitutional Convention, this episode of Georgia Stories breaks down how the United States—and Georgia—built their first governments. 

Discover how the Charter of 1732 laid the foundation for the colony of Georgia. Learn why Britain created Georgia, who controlled it, and how early rules shaped life in the colony.

Meet the team that keeps Georgia running! Learn about the state's executive branch and explore how the governor, lieutenant governor, and key state agencies work together.

Learn about the different levels of courts in Georgia, the roles of judges and juries, and how the judicial branch helps interpret state laws and protect citizens’ rights.

Ever wonder what really happens inside Georgia’s Capitol—the building with the shiny gold dome? This video breaks down how Georgia’s General Assembly works and how laws are made.

Long before corn was a staple around the world, Indigenous people in Georgia mastered growing and preparing corn, making it a central part of their culture. 

Dive into the Siege of Savannah, one of the most significant—and complex—battles of the American Revolution in Georgia.

Uncover the complicated legacy of Chief William McIntosh, a Muscogee (Creek) chief whose choices shaped Georgia. Learn how his mixed heritage positioned him between cultures, why he supported certain U.S. policies, and how his role in key treaties led to deep divisions within the Muscogee (Creek) Nation.

Discover how the Union blockade became a powerful naval strategy during the Civil War. Learn how controlling ports and trade routes weakened the Confederate economy and shaped Georgia’s wartime experience.

Learn about the rise of Tom Watson and the Populist movement in Georgia during the late 19th century. Examine the complexities of populism, power, and politics in Georgia's history.

Learn how settlers experimented with silk, indigo, and rice, traded goods with England, and built the foundations of Georgia’s agriculture and trade.

Explore the political, economic, and ideological causes of the American Revolution, including taxation without representation, colonial protests, and growing tensions between Britain and its colonies.

During the Civil War, one of the deadliest places a soldier could end up wasn’t the battlefield—it was Andersonville Prison in Georgia. Nearly 13,000 Union soldiers died there from starvation, disease, and exposure.

Nick Giles is the sheriff of Taylor County, a rural county slightly southwest of Macon. Away from the big city the picture of law enforcement looks a lot different. Giles explains procedures, challenges, and the benefits of keeping order in a small county.

Reenactors describe the difficulties faced by Black soldiers and their white officers. First, they fought for the right to fight when many whites did not want them to take up arms, and then they fought and died for a cause bigger than themselves.

The Atlanta fire ravaged the northeastern section of the city in 1917. In interviews with witnesses, the devastation of nearly 3,400 buildings is recounted. 

Savannah tour guide Ogbanna explains the Underground Railroad and the First African Baptist Church in Savannah, established in 1773. Murry Dorty of the Coastal Heritage Society explains how songs had hidden meanings to help and inspire runaways along the way.

Just a short ferry boat ride away from the Georgia coast lies Hog Hammock, an African-American community on Sapelo Island with cultural traditions that tie it to Africa. Today, the residents of Hog Hammock are recognized for the African cultural traditions they pass on, such as making baskets, cast nets, and the unique music of the Sea Island Singers.

Abraham Baldwin lived only fifty three years. But in that time he was a lawyer, Yale graduate, state legislator, army chaplain, signer of the U.S. Constitution, House Representative, Senator, and founder and president of a university. One of his greatest legacies was forcing the Constitutional Convention into the Great Compromise creating a bicameral legislature for representation of the states in America's federal system.

Robbie Ethridge, a University of Georgia graduate student, Dr. Ray Rensi of North Georgia College, Bill Kinsland, owner of the Hometown Bookstore in Dahlonega, and University of Georgia professor Dr. Charles Hudson discuss how new people poured into central and north Georgia wanting to own land. The forces eventually driving Indian removal were largely economic.

This segment shows ways in which today’s Cherokees are transmitting the remnants of their culture to the younger generation in an attempt to preserve what is left. Cherokee cultural traditions in food preparation, language, and songs and dances are shown.

Should the Cherokee maintain their own culture resisting that of the white man, or should they give up their ways and adopt those of white settlers? They tried to adapt to white society with the ultimate result being their virtual disappearance from Georgia. Cherokee John Standingdeer recounts the legend.

This episode describes the challenges of segregation in 1950s Atlanta and explains why the city avoided much of the violence seen elsewhere during the Civil Rights Movement. Black and white leaders worked together, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., to end boycotts, integrate schools, and move Atlanta toward peaceful change.

Before the Braves professional baseball team moved from Milwaukee to Atlanta in 1966, the minor league Atlanta Crackers were the talk of the South. Crackers radio announcer Hank Morgan explains the allure of the baseball park during the time period. Former players explain what playing for the team meant for them and for the city.

Sue Ellen Mears, with the DeKalb Historical Society, comments on Atlanta's change from rural to urban through the lens of Bill Suits, owner of A to Z Salvage in Decatur, who wished to bring Rufus, his 7 month-old, 50 pound potbellied pig to work.

Cherokee John Standingdeer describes how his family was named and why knowing it mattered to him. He explains how Native Americans were self sufficient and lived off the land prior to the arrival of Europeans and how a growing dependency on the white man’s steel tools and weapons led to Indians adopting the white man’s ways, eroding their culture further.

Professor John Lupold of Columbus College describes the forces leading to the urbanization of Georgia, while retired textile mill workers Lee Manly, Jeannette Scales, and Charlie Stafford explain what it was like to work in Georgia's mills. In the early 1900s, there were no Georgia laws prohibiting child labor, a situation that coincided with the rise of the textile industry.

Martha Berry founded Possum Trot, a log cabin school for rural children, at Oak Hill, on her Rome, Georgia family’s plantation. In addition to receiving academic and religious instruction, her students were trained in manual skills -- students literally helped build the Berry School. This segment includes scenes from a 1950s newsreel recounting the life of Martha Berry. Local historians and former students comment.

Fran Powell Harold, director of the Girl Scout National Center, discusses the energy and creativity that Juliette Gordon Low brought to the formation of the Girl Scouts, which she founded in her Savannah home. In a Girl Scout promotional film she created, young girls are seen as physically fit, able to swim, communicating in Morse code, and learning to be self-reliant. The story of the creation of the Girl Scouts is framed with a visit to a contemporary Augusta troop.

Michael Williams, a colonial surgeon reenactor at Wormsloe Plantation, displays various surgical instruments and “demonstrates” on students how treatments of amputation, bleeding, and even cutting holes in the skull (trepanning) were used to treat injuries.

After the crime rate for those under the age of 17 doubled in a five year period, Camp Stop, a military-style boot camp, was opened. This program aims to deal with juvenile offenders and steer them away from a life of crime. While life is harsh at Camp Stop, it cannot compare with life in Georgia prisons in the 1930s. 

As housing costs rose beyond many people’s incomes, Millard Fuller took action by helping poor families build homes in Africa in 1973. After returning, he founded Habitat for Humanity, which grew into one of the nation’s largest homebuilders and has had a life-changing impact on families.

Dario Rossi is a prominent sculptor who left his home in Carrara, Italy, to work in Elberton. Rossi designs and carves primarily on grave markers, embellishing them with images of Jesus, the Star of David, or angels. Rossi has been devoted to his art and worries that classical sculpture is dying out.

Korey Gotoo, an artist born in Mexico, and Lisabet Sanchez, who lives in Cumming with her mother Amalia, discuss the special altars they prepare for The Day of the Dead, a cultural expression of Mexican heritage. Many people join in the Day of the Dead celebration at Atlanta’s Mexican Cultural Center on November 1–2.

Today’s teenagers are much more likely to have jobs than teens in the 1950s, when most focused mainly on school and activities. While over 5 million teens now work for pay, educators worry that long work hours can hurt school performance.

The first English colonists faced a wilderness plagued by insects, heat, and disease. Of the original 144 colonists, nearly one in three died. Wormsloe Plantation near Savannah presents a recreation of the colonists’ way of life with demonstrations of the skills needed to face the challenges of settling the new colony.

Today, 75% of the world’s carpets and rugs are produced in Dalton, Georgia. Historians explain the humble origins of the tufted bedspread in 1893 and the rise of Bedspread Alley on Highway 41. 

According to Georgia historian Melanie Pavich-Lindsay, the Butler family came to Georgia from South Carolina and eventually amassed plantations and hundreds of slaves on St. Simons Island. Fanny Kemble was very troubled by slavery and wrote of her Georgia experiences in her diary, Journal of a Residence on a Georgia Plantation in 1838-1839. It became quite famous in Great Britain and northern states for its antislavery message.

Georgia Sen. David Scott, author of the Quiet Reflection Act, explains why he introduced such legislation aimed at Georgia public schools. 

Located about 20 miles south of Atlanta, Jonesboro was situated on the Macon & Western railroad, the last link of the supply route into Atlanta. Reenactor Peter Bonner describes the Battle of Jonesboro and had the outcome been different, the course of history may have been changed. 

Archaeologist John Worth of the Fernbank Museum of Natural History takes us on a dig at Raccoon Ridge near Madison, in Morgan County. He explains how the shapes, designs, and the composition of artifacts can be interpreted to tell the story of native cultures.

Historians discuss the Fulton Bag and Cotton Mill Strike of 1914, in which 500 of 1300 workers challenged the management of the company for their grueling practices. 

Ellen and William Craft's daring escape from slavery involved Ellen Craft posing as a white slaveholder with her light skin and William posing as her body servant. After escaping to freedom, they traveled widely in the United States as abolitionists.

Anchormen and reporters imagine a television newscast from Savannah in 1734: The Colonial Evening News.

Rabbi R. A. Belzer tells the story of the arrival of Georgia’s first Jewish settlers. The city of Savannah can boast that it is the home of Congregation Mickve Israel, Georgia’s oldest Jewish congregation and the third oldest in the country.

Hernando de Soto and his men, already rich from fighting with the Incas in South America, arrived in La Florida searching for gold. Jerald Milanich, an archaeologist at the University of Florida, explains the conquistadors’ success.

Alonzo Herndon, born into enslavement in Social Circle in 1858, ultimately became Atlanta's first Black millionaire. An entrepreneur at heart, he learned barbering and eventually opened his own shop called the Crystal Palace and later founded the Atlanta Life Insurance Company. 

In the early 1800s, there were no reliable means of transportation. Waterways were the easiest routes and most of Georgia’s larger cities grew up along rivers. Experts explain how it took the steam-powered locomotive to bring about a transportation revolution in Georgia.

Just ten years after the Articles of Confederation was drawn up in 1777, representatives met in Philadelphia to write a new Constitution. Georgia sent four men, most notably University of Georgia founder Abraham Baldwin, who played a critical role in what came to be known as the “Great Compromise.”

Kirk Johnston, a Charles Town Landing State Park reenactor, discusses a replica 17th century sailing vessel and describes how saltwater, wind, and sun took a toll on wooden ships. In the late 1800s, the naval stores industry, byproducts of pine trees, grew to become a major Georgia export. 

Allen Padgett from the Department of Natural Resources leads a group of students into a cave in Cloudland Canyon in the Appalachian Plateau of northwest Georgia. Along the way he describes how caves and valleys in north Georgia were formed by the forces of nature lifting up massive rocks to create mountains with pockets underneath.

During the 1950s, Georgia was in many ways a study of contrasts. Much of the state retained its rural character, with people leading lives that had strong links to earlier decades. At the same time, Atlanta was beginning its great growth, with the first segments of the interstate system being constructed, television sets being installed in many homes, and the first major shopping center being built.

Georgia Under the Ground explains how Georgia's geography was shaped and molded by the forces of nature. Sweeping scenes show off the geographic variety of the state east to west and north to south and the presence of fossils aids in understanding the formation of the state.

Atlanta has come a long way since it was a quiet little town called Terminus. Today, it has become the entertainment capital of the South. From music to museums, there are literally thousands of things for locals and visitors to do. 

The executive branch is the largest of Georgia’s three branches of state government. The Georgia constitution names eight officers that are elected by all Georgia voters to serve in the executive branch. They lead agencies responsible for enforcing state laws and carrying out programs like education, elections, and law enforcement.

This episode explains how The Augusta Chronicle traces its roots back to Georgia’s first newspaper, The Georgia Gazette, and highlights the important role newspapers play in supporting democracy by informing citizens. It also describes how, in colonial Georgia, newspapers were banned, forcing people to rely on word of mouth, letters, and outside news sources.

Bobs Candies, founded in Albany by Bob McCormack in 1919, became the world’s largest manufacturer of striped candy and was the first to wrap candy in cellophane. Innovations like the candy cane–making machine invented by Father Gregory Keller transformed the business, and McCormack’s grandchildren share memories of working in the factory.

When you get into an argument with someone, how do you settle it? Sometimes it takes a teacher or a parent to help settle it, but if that problem involves a law, that’s when the court system of our judicial branch is called into action.

Howard Finster, a visionary painter in Summerville, estimates he has created 36,000 pieces of art. He also created Paradise Garden and restored an old chapel in his backyard. Music groups like REM and the Talking Heads have even asked him to create album covers for them. 

Students explore the Okefenokee Swamp by canoe as Don Berryhill highlights the unique plants and animals of this special ecosystem. This episode also shares stories about life in the swamp during the lumber era, along with local legends told by descendants and park rangers.

Carl Vinson was sworn into Congress in 1914 at the age of 31 and would serve a record 25 consecutive terms in the U.S. House of Representatives - a total of more than 50 years. A fierce advocate for the military, he was proficient in getting bills through Congress. 

Three Georgia women illustrate the many roles women took on during World War II. Their experiences ranged from factory work and nursing to military service overseas, showing how women contributed to the war effort in different ways.

According to Tom Hill, curator of the Thomas County Museum of History, the city of Thomasville in southwest Georgia provided the perfect playground for Northerners who profited from the Civil War and looked for a place to enjoy themselves and invest their monies. 

Diamond Brown, a Cherokee dancer, describes how corn is the foodstuff responsible for prehistoric Native Americans flourishing in Georgia. Through interviews, reenactments, and visits to significant Native American sites in Georgia, the story of the changing culture of Indians from their arrival and existence as wandering hunters to the development of the mound building culture unfolds.

A passionate journalist and charismatic public speaker, Henry Woodfin Grady was known as the “The Spokesman of the New South.” In the late 19th Century, he engaged in a near one-man campaign to bring prosperity to Atlanta and the rest of the South, so damaged and depressed from the recent American Civil War. Grady’s movement fixed fast-growing Atlanta as the hub of the New South, and it spurred the economic growth of the entire region.

Historian Dan Carter explains how the stock market crash caused the Great Depression, leading to job losses, closed factories and banks, and widespread hardship in Georgia. Residents recall daily life during this time, and conditions began to improve with Franklin Roosevelt’s election and the arrival of New Deal programs.

War is expensive. In addition to munitions and equipment, soldiers need to be paid for their services—and it was no different during the Civil War. Storyteller Peter Bonner recounts tales of Civil War paydays—payroll deductions, each Southern state printing its own money that soon lost its value, and replaced clothing at the soldier’s expense.

Special events such as sporting events, conventions, and even the Summer Olympics can bring lots of money into the state and the host community. Spurgeon Richardson, president of the Convention and Visitors Bureau, lists ways people spend money at a special event.

Professors Dr. Carol Scott and Dr. Ray Rensi explain that colonial settlers rarely needed money, using currency mainly for goods from elsewhere, and that during the Dahlonega Gold Rush miners struggled to determine the purity of their gold. To address this, the U.S. Mint opened a Dahlonega branch in 1838 to stamp gold coins, but it closed in 1861 during the Civil War and never reopened, along with the easily found gold.

Touk Phosai Varney was born in Laos where Communist rebels controlled everything from religion to what a person ate and wore. The Phosai family explains what it was like escaping to America and growing up in Georgia. Fred Alexander of the U.S. Immigration Service talks about seeing his own heritage and the legacy of immigration.

Margaret Mitchell, famous for Gone with the Wind, had a rebellious youth and spent three years writing her novel while working as a reporter, which went on to sell millions of copies and win the Pulitzer Prize. Later, she quietly advanced progressive causes in Atlanta, supporting integration, funding emergency clinics, and helping African-American medical students afford their education.

University of Georgia historian Emory Thomas, reenactor J.C. Nobles, and Marty Willett, a historic interpreter at the Jarrell Plantation in Jones County explain Gen. William T. Sherman's March to the Sea, where Union soldiers were under orders to forage liberally and live off the land as they marched from Atlanta to Savannah.

From 1828 to 1860, the Cherokee people were led by the remarkable Native American John Ross. Ross presided over the birth of Cherokee Nation, the removal of his people from their homeland, and the founding of a new nation in a distant place.

In Georgia, there is a special court that specifically handles cases involving children under the age of 17, also known as juveniles. These cases involve children who have allegedly committed delinquent acts or unruly acts, and they are handled in the juvenile justice system. 

On a typical day, thousands flights operate at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, reaching over 150 U.S. destinations and dozens of international cities. Most travelers are just passing through, and as aviation manager Angela Gittens notes, moving people and goods is at the heart of commerce.

John Johnson, Director of Interpretation and Education at the Agrirama in Tifton, explains the economic impact of going from one person able to seed one pound of cotton a day to Eli Whitney's cotton gin seeding 50 pounds of cotton a day. Dr. Jerry DeVine of Albany State College notes that the increase in cotton production saw a parallel increase in slavery. 

In colonial Georgia, rice was the top export. Experts and reenactors explain its production, from growing and processing to the risks posed by the coastal climate.

Known as Coosaponakeesa by the Muscogee (Creek) Indians, Mary Musgrove’s mixed heritage, linguistic skills, and intimate knowledge of native culture made her a unique and influential character in early Georgia history.  

Mary Francis Hill Coley was the midwife to thousands of babies and helped Albany's families, both Black and white, with her progressive views towards childcare at the time. Not only did Coley deliver babies, she supported new families by organizing necessary forms and lending a hand with chores around the house. 

When the British attacked Savannah, Mordecai Sheftall was captured in a skirmish when he refused to abandon his son. Marion Levy Mendel, a Sheftall ancestor, Professor Harvey Jackson, and John Sheftall, Esq., another ancestor, recall the costs and high price of waging war.

Georgia has been a hotbed of musical talent and it brings in $600 million per year. Tommie Storms, director of music entertainment at the Art Institute of Atlanta, talks about the what makes the state so attractive to the music industry.

This reenactment of Nancy Hart's well-known encounter with Tories and their fate shows how legends grow and change over time. Reenactor Sue Cone disputes some of the “facts” about Nancy Hart when questioned about her looks and actions. Cone acknowledges that the story more than likely has been embellished but is based in fact.

According to Tom Robinson, executive vice president of the Elberton Granite Association, the abundance of granite in Elberton may also have something to do with Elberton’s nickname, "Granite Capital of the World." Geologists estimate that the granite deposit is 35 miles long, 6 miles wide, and 2 to 3 miles in depth. 

Ranger Frankie Mewborn guides visitors on a tour of the New Echota Historic Site in Gordon County, which preserves what is left of the Cherokee capital. In 1835 Cherokee leaders signed the Treaty of New Echota requiring the Cherokees to leave the southeast.

David Gurnsey of the Ships of The Sea Maritime Museum in Savannah explains how Georgia’s coast and coastal islands were havens for pirates during the colonial period.

Georgia products travel and are used around the world. Ships bring in containers loaded with goods from blue jeans to televisions. Learn about Georgia’s earliest exports when Savannah was international port city since the days of the Georgia colony. 

Terry Kay, author of The Year the Lights Came On, discusses the Rural Electrification Administration created under FDR's New Deal. 

Primitive cultures living in Georgia thousands of years ago made everything they needed. Today, it is important to the surviving native cultures to continue practicing the skills and sharing the traditions that ensured survival. 

Rebecca Latimer Felton, a Georgia native and women's rights activist, was the first woman to serve as a United States senator. Following the death of Georgia Senator Thomas Watson, Felton was appointed to the open seat during a special election in 1922. Although she was the nation’s official first woman senator, Felton served for only a day.

Georgia’s Chinese-American population took root when laborers came to Augusta in 1873 to dig a canal. Ellen Chiang, an instructor at the Atlanta Chinese School, explains some of the customs of one of the most festive and biggest holidays in Chinese culture - Chinese New Year.

Most everything we buy and use today is delivered by truck. Discover how highway systems have impacted small towns in Georgia. 

Dr. Preston Russell, a medical doctor and historian, and colonial reenactor J. Edward Jackson explain fighting in Savannah from September to October 1779, when Georgia Patriots aided by the French tried to retake Savannah from the British.

In the early 1760s, the area north and west of Georgia’s coast previously inhabited by Native Americans was opened up for settlement. It was a wilderness where few whites lived. 

Three women explain that in the 1800s, higher education for women was limited, as girls often left school early for homemaking and many believed too much education harmed their health.

Norman and Nancy Blake and James Bryan play American string music and talk about it as the main form of entertainment at the turn of the century. Charles Wolfe, a music historian, describes how songs were a way of telling stories and spreading the news. From country music records to the evolution of slave songs into blues music, the history of southern music traced.

In the early 1900s, when compulsory school attendance was first required by law, families still needed children to help with the necessary farm work in the spring. Students and farmworkers demonstrate the challenges of farm life during turn of the century Georgia.

During the Civil War, both sides had terrible prison camps, but one particular Georgia camp has become synonymous with inhumane treatment. Fort Sumter, outside the town of Andersonville, housed 30,000 prisoners in a facility designed for 10,000. 

Horace Hampton, a former Depression-era hobo, recounts his experiences of life on the road. W. P. Scott, retired University of Georgia professor, also comments on the challenging history of seeking work in America. 

A racist governor, sensationalized headlines, and Jim Crow laws sparked rage in a mob of White men who randomly beat and killed Black men in Atlanta. Historian Cliff Kuhn and Carole Merritt, director of Herndon Home, examine the causes and consequences of the Atlanta Race Massacre of 1906.

Between 1946 and 1951, a record 22 million children were born in the United States. Emory University history professor Patrick Allitt discusses the many ways that babies stimulate the economy.

Using Stately Oaks mansion in Jonesboro as a setting, a group of men and women recreate a typical after-dinner discussion on whether or not the colony of Georgia should take sides in the impending fight to separate from Great Britain.

Coca-Cola archivist Phil Mooney and Rick Allen, author of Secret Formula, a history of Coke, comment on Coca-Cola's early history and its rise to become a seminal part of American culture. 

Marcellus Barksdale, a Morehouse College historian, describes what happened to the South as a result of the Civil War. In Marietta, returning Confederate soldier James Remley Brumby dreamed of a better future and started making rocking chairs. The chair company grew to become Marietta’s largest employer.

Marie Cochran, an art instructor at Georgia Southern University, was one of the first children to integrate the schools in her hometown of Toccoa. Her art installation, "Freedom School," first shown at Atlanta's High Museum, includes two school desks, one bearing the names of students. 

 In 1961, Black activists like Rutha Mae Harris and Charles Sherood organized marches in the streets and were arrested for it. They protested those arrests and when they were not protesting, they were in churches organizing and planning. 

Bruce Hetherington at Oglethorpe University and Dr. Frances Harrold at Georgia State University explain that after Union ships enforced a blockade of Southern ports and harbors during the Civil War, Atlanta grew as a result.

Television changed the way Americans entertained themselves. Baby boom generation members Steve Oliver and Sarah Fountain and University of Georgia’s College of Journalism professor Dr. Allison Alexander describe life before television when they played outside, read books, listened to the radio, or played board games. 

Farmer Felder Daniels, Doug Bachtel, a demographer at the University of Georgia, Lillie Rosser, a former housecleaner and now an assistant pastor at an Atlanta church, and Tena Butler, who attended segregated schools in Savannah, discuss the economic impact of the Civil Rights Movement and the challenges African Americans in Georgia faced. 

Robert Herman, Executive Director of the Morton Theatre, comments on the life and legacy of Monroe Bowers "Pink" Morton, who built the Morton Theater in 1910, served as a postmaster, published two newspapers and owned 30 buildings in the Athens area. 

Frank Moon, a fifth generation gold prospector, local Dahlonega bookstore owner Bill Kinsland, and Dr. Ray Rensi at Dahlonega’s North Georgia College describe how news of the discovery of gold in north Georgia spread as quickly as a lightening strike and prospectors poured in just as fast. 

Arriving from the highlands of Scotland, one group of settlers came to help defend Georgia from Spanish invaders and to make a new home for themselves. A reenactor portrays Scottish colonists that shared many characteristics with the Native Americans.

Georgia farmers and agricultural experts describe how farming life has changed with the introduction of new technologies, including GPS. They explain that modern technology has made farming more efficient and that its future potential may surprise most people.

To deter Union shelling of the city of Charleston in 1863, South Carolina brought Union prisoners into the city as targets. In response, Union leaders sent 600 Confederate prisoners to Morris Island within site of the city where Union artillery was located. 

Highlighting the various roles in Georgia’s General Assembly, this episode details what steps are taken to create a new law. 

Colonial historian professor Harvey Jackson and Wormsloe Plantation ranger Joe Thompson compare America’s break up with Great Britain to a parent-child relationship that eventually changes dramatically when the child grows up.

Native Americans used stories, many still told today, to explain the unknowable and to help them understand the world. Because they believed that everything in nature had life, even rocks, clouds, and thunder, many Indian stories or myths personify objects in their explanations of events.

Tony Grooms, an Atlanta author and poet, explains how powerful television moments from his childhood, like police using fire hoses on protesters or seeing James Brown on the Ed Sullivan Show, inspired his stories. These experiences show that while much on TV is forgettable, some moments leave a lasting impression.

Creek Indian Jay McGirt discusses William McIntosh, son of a Creek woman and a Scotsman, who fought with the Americans during the War of 1812 and was given the rank of general. On February 12, 1825, Chief McIntosh signed a treaty at Indian Springs selling the remaining Creek land in Georgia. A reenactor describes his execution by his own people based on an eyewitness account.

Storyteller Akbar Imhotep entertains visitors to Joel Chandler Harris’s Atlanta home, Wren’s Nest, explaining how African slaves brought with them a strong oral tradition of storytelling, especially trickster tales, and told them in the evenings when the work was done. These folktales were recorded by Joel Chandler Harris and known as the Uncle Remus stories when published.

Historians describe the chaos and uncertainty resulting from the devastation wrought upon the South during the Civil War. Cities were destroyed, houses were burned, farmland was ruined, and one out of every five men who went to war never returned. For formerly enslaved people, the situation was especially dire.

Amy Lebey, the Salzburger historian, tells why Lutherans moved from Salzburg, Austria to the Georgia colony in the 1700s. Georgia was very different from Salzburg, and it took a lot of adjusting to make their home in New Ebenezer, Georgia. The church they built still stands today. 

Historians discuss the events of the sensationalized Leo Frank case and the broader implications of the many social conflicts that prevailed during those times.

This episode explores the role of railroads in the Civil War, showing why it was called the “railroad war” and highlighting how African American men repaired damaged tracks using coordinated songs and movements. It also explains how rail travel and transportation have changed over time.

Mavis Doering, Ramona Bear Taylor, and Creek Indian Jay McGirt recall Cherokee Indians being rounded up by U.S. soldiers under the command of Gen. Winfield Scott and herded into stockades for the four month long walk to Oklahoma known as the Trail of Tears.

Cherokee stone carver Freeman Owle, Cherokee potter Amanda Swimmer, and Driver Pheasant, a storyteller, explain how prehistoric cultures taught their art and stories to the next generation, passing down cultural traditions so they will survive in the absence of written language.

An early champion of poor farmers in the shambles after the Civil War, Thomas Watson was the voice of the Populist Party. In his later years, however, he was known as a divisive and racist politician.

High school dropouts in the 1950s were able to support themselves and their families, but that is not true today. Technological changes have made jobs more complex and low skill jobs have almost disappeared.

Kathleen Donohue, a University of North Carolina-Charlotte historian, states that in the 1950s and 1960s a woman’s primary role was that of wife and mother. Times have changed as discussed by four Georgia women who have been friends since high school. 

Marcus Bartlett, a retired executive vice president for Cox Communications; Elmo Ellis, retired vice president of WSB; and Allan Macleod of the College of Journalism at the University of Georgia discuss Atlanta’s WSB (for “Welcome South, Brother”) radio station, the first to broadcast in the South.

Sequoyah, a Cherokee Indian with ties to Georgia and Oklahoma, created a system of writing for an unwritten language in 1819. Eventually Sequoyah devised what’s known as a syllabary. Within months of its introduction, much of the Cherokee Nation became literate.

Dr. Crawford W. Long used ether to conduct the first painless operation on March 30, 1842. Susan Deaver, director of the Crawford W. Long Museum, Bill Custer, of Georgia State University, and Dan Rahn, an M.D. at Georgia Medical College, describe anesthesia and the scientific and technological advances in medicine.

Firefighters Capt. Billy Shoemaker, Steven Woodworth, and Roderick Smith go behind the scenes of firefighting in Atlanta to show what it takes to do an often overlooked but necessary job.

In 2016, the federal government collected more than $3 trillion in taxes. In Georgia the same year it was nearly $21 billion. That money funds a variety of projects and programs used by Georgia citizens.

Georgia inventor and engineer Malcolm Johnson works at Kimberly-Clark and holds nine patents for inventions. He knows inventors have a lot of confidence and curiosity. 

Educated at the Savannah Pape School and Agnes Scott College, Anna Colquitt Hunter was first a journalist and then a field director for the Red Cross in North Africa during World War II. In the years after the war, she turned her attention to writing, painting, and acting. As her vision faded, she helped establish the Historic Savannah Foundation to preserve over 11,000 of the city's historic buildings and structures.

Celestine Sibley won several awards and served many humanitarian causes during her career as a journalist, columnist, and author, becoming an iconic adopted daughter of Georgia.

A pioneering vernacular architect whose family moved to Decatur during the Great Depression, Leila Ross Wilburn's style defines many of the in-town neighborhoods in Atlanta. 

Born into slavery, Harriet Powers learned to sew from other enslaved women on a plantation in Madison County. Her story quilts show strong evidence of her West African roots combined with a European style of sewing and are considered historical records as well as folk art.

Family and friends, including President Jimmy Carter and Marcia Dew Bansley, Executive Director of Trees Atlanta, reflect on Jane Hurt Yarn's life work on protecting Georgia's environment. She was instrumental in passing conservation legislature, including the Coastal Marshlands Protection Act which preserves and protects Georgia's coastal environment.

Married to a Confederate general, Helen Dortch Longstreet was a fighter in her own right. Helen became known as the "Fighting Lady," a champion of many causes, including environmental protection, civil rights and memorializing her late husband.

Raised in rural, southern Georgia, Lillian Gordy Carter was trained as a nurse and spent her life opposing the strict codes of segregation. After the death of her husband, she left a life of being a homemaker and joined the Peace Corps to support public health in rural India. Her character drove many of the values behind her son Jimmy Carter's political campaigns and policies.

Moving to Dahlonega after being married, Madeleine Kiker Anthony started the Dahlonega Chamber of Commerce and promoted the town's history of gold mining to the Georgia Board of Tourism. 

Mary Ann Rutherford Lipscomb’s life was based on the philosophy that education was the key to a successful and productive future, especially for women. Her entire life is a reflection of bringing that philosophy to life—for herself, other women, and for all the children growing up in Georgia.

May duBignon Stiles Howard left sleepy Brunswick to attend nursing school in New York City. Returning to Georgia she became a nurse in Savannah, married a local doctor and rose to be president of the Georgia Medical Society. In education, Howard led the Savannah Parent-Teacher Association to focus more on children's health and well being--including children with special needs.

Without a college degree or even a high school education, Madrid Loyd Williams became head of the Georgia Bar Association office during World War II. Often the only woman around lawyers and judges, she continued to break the mold by being elected the first female deacon of her Presbyterian church.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Caroline Pafford Miller used the Georgia wilderness as the landscape of her novel Lamb in His Bosom. Born into a large family at the turn of the century, the time she spent in Waycross and Baxley during the Great Depression became the backdrop for her work chronicling Georgia's rural and small town residents.

Raised to be a lady of leisure and high society, Juliette Gordon Low's life changed entirely when she was seeking a new direction for herself after her marriage dissolved. In London, she met the founder of England's Girl Guides. The patrols she started for the girls of Savannah became the Girl Scouts eventually enlisting the First Ladies of the United States as honorary presidents of the organization.

After falling on hard times during the depression of 1893, Nina Paper Anderson took to teaching at Savannah's Massey School. Her progressive educational views led her to open her own school where kindergarten was a focus, pupils were divided into groups, boys and girls were held to the same standards, and women consistently graduated to attend seven sisters colleges of the northeast.