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This Native Son grew
to become truly a man of the world. Many of us may remember the
early years when he founded the Athens Voice, later joined the State
Legislature and wrote his first book, "A Story Untold- Black Men and
Women in Athens History". At Paine College he started a student paper,
was class president and graduated cum laude with B.A. in
philosophy and religion in
1975. He graduated from the
University of
South Carolina Law School.
Freedom: An
African-American History of Georgia, 1733-1865
This book unearths a remarkable part of black history in America
that will surprise and enlighten many readers. Michael Thurmond spent
nine years documenting the largely unknown acts of bravery,
determination, and rebellion that enslaved black Georgians committed
in the name of freedom and justice. While many assume that
African-American slaves were passive victims of their fate, Freedom
presents the compelling truth with a wealth of original research.
Thurmond traces the history of race relations in Georgia back to
its founding moment: when General James Oglethorpe settled Georgia as
an anti-slavery colony in the 1730s. But Oglethorpe's wishes would
soon be overturned, and the legalization of slavery in 1750 paved the
way for a century of struggle. The book recounts stories of courageous
men and women who tested the limits of their bondage through organized
rebellions, escape attempts, and wartime alliances with powers foreign
and domestic. Others shrewdly worked within the system of laws to find
a modicum of liberty as free blacks, and by 1840 Georgia boasted the
third largest free black population in the South. The pivotal Civil
War, as Thurmond eloquently argues, brought both new opportunities and
new complications for black Georgians, and only further clouded the
peculiar, intertwined relationship between white and black.
Georgia has been a touchstone of controversy and a beacon of hope
in the African-American struggle for equality not only during the
modern Civil Rights era, but from its very founding in 1733. Utilizing
an impressive number of historical resources, Freedom convincingly
demonstrates the aggressive role black Georgians took in challenging
their disenfranchised condition and their lasting influence on the
development of their state.
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