Famous People

Andrew Jackson

(1829-1833) and (1833-1837), Indian removal act, nullification crisis, Old Hickory," first southern/ western president," President for the common man,"

Dred Scott

A Missouri slave and his wife who sued for their freedom. He argued that his former owner, an army surgeon, had taken him into and kept him for years in Illinois (a free state) and taken him to Fort Snelling in the Minnesota Territory, from which slavery was banned by the Missouri Compromise. He won then lost his case on appeal in the Supreme Court. He was declared not a citizen of the United States or Missouri, that residence in free territory did not make him free, and that Congress had no power to bar slavery from any territory.

Hernando De Soto

A Spanish explorer and conquistador of North and South America. He is the first explorer to document his discovery of the Mississippi River on his search for a route to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean for trade to the East.

Robert E. Lee

A graduate of West Point and commanding General of the Confederate Army during the American Civil War.

Andrew Young

After his role as friend and aide to Martin Luther King, Jr., he became a member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1973-77), the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (1977-79), and the Mayor of Atlanta (1982-1990).

Herman Talmadge

After the Three Governors Controversy ended, this man was declared the rightful governor of Georgia in a special election in 1948.

He led American forces against the British in the War of 1812, was the seventh President of the United States, and evicted the Cherokee from the Southeast during the "Trail of Tears" era.

Andrew Jackson

Alonzo Herndon

Born a slave just prior to the Civil War, he later became one of the most successful African American businessmen of the early 1900s, founding the Atlanta Life Insurance Company.

Nancy Hart

During the Revolutionary War this Georgia woman actively spied against the British, capturing 6 Tory soldier herself as they forced her to feed them.

John Wesley

He and his younger brother were both Anglican ministers in the 1700s and are credited with founding the Methodist denomination in the 1730s.

Button Gwinnett

He is one of three Georgians to sign the Declaration of Independence, wrote the original draft of Georgia\'s first constitution, and was elevated to the top position of President (Governor) of Georgia.

Lyman Hall

He is one three Georgians to sign the Declaration of Independence, the 12th Governor of Georgia, and has a county in Georgia and two elementary schools named after him.

William B. Hartsfield

He is the longest-serving mayor in Atlanta history, serving from 1937-1941, and again from 1942-1962, and is credited with developing Atlanta\'s airport.

Andrew Jackson

He led American forces against the British in the War of 1812, was the seventh President of the United States, and evicted the Cherokee from the Southeast during the "Trail of Tears" era.

Ivan Allen

He served as mayor of Atlanta from 1962-1970 and is credited with keeping the city\'s peace during the Civil Rights movement, removing segregated areas from City Hall, and luring the Braves to Atlanta from Milwaukee.

Woodrow Wilson

He was 28th President of the United States; led the United States in World War I and secured the formation of the League of Nations.

Ellis Arnall

He was Democratic Governor of Georgia (1943-1947) who eliminated the poll tax, lowered the voting age, and later campaigned for governor against segregationist candidate Lester Maddox.

John Reynolds

He was Georgia's first royal governor, serving from 1754-1757, but his style of command angered many colonists and led to his recall in 1757.

Henry Ellis

He was Georgia's second governor, serving from 1757-1760, and he is often referred to as \"Georgia\'s second founder\" because of his effective leadership.

Alexander Stephens

He was a 7-term U.S Congressman (1841-1859), Vice-President of the Confederacy (1861-1865), and Governor of the state of Georgia (1882-1883).

Watson

He was a Georgia politician at the turn of the century who became a leader in the national Populist Movement, running for President in 1904 and 1908.

Alexander McGillivray

He was a leader of the Creek Indians during and after the American Revolution, and became a spokesman for tribes along the Florida-Georgia border.

W.E.B DuBois

He was a major African American civil rights leader in the late 19th century through the first half of the 20th century. He was an author, historian, and a co-founder of the NAACP in 1909.

Austin Dabney

He was an African American slave who fought against the British in the American Revolution and was later emancipated and given land for his bravery during the war.

Eli Whitney

He was an American inventor of the late 18th and early 19th centuries with two major contributions to the world: his Cotton Gin revolutionized agriculture and his popularization of "interchangeable parts" revolutionized industry

James Oglethorpe

He was an English general and founder of the state of Georgia.

John Smith

He was an English soldier and sailor, who is now remembered helping to establish Jamestown, the first permanent English colony in North America.

Abraham Lincoln

He was an Illinois Congressman and the 16th President of the United States during the Civil War.

Christopher Columbus

He was an Italian explorer whose travels to the Americas in 1492 were funded by Spain and started the awareness of the new world.

Tomochichi

He was chief of the Yamacraw Indians in the early-1700s and served as the important mediator between the English settlers of Georgia and the Native American population there.

Sonny Perdue

He was elected Governor of Georgia in 2002 and 2006, becoming the first Republican Governor since the Reconstruction Era.

Eugene Talmadge

He was elected as Georgia's governor four times in the 1930s and 1940s, advocated the "County Unit System" of primary voting, and was an outspoken critic of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Hamilton Holmes

He was one of the first African American students admitted to the University of Georgia in 1961 and was the first African American student to be admitted to the Emory University School of Medicine in 1963.

Henry McNeal Turner

He was perhaps Georgia's most influential African American in the latter half of the 1800s, both for his work in helping found the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church and his role as a politician in Georgia's legislature during the Reconstruction era.

Herbert Hoover

He was the 31st President of the U.S. He was progressive, humanitarian and Republican. He lost favor with the American public due to the Great Depression and his ill-fated technical solutions.

Russell

He was the Governor of Georgia (1931-33), a United States Senator (1933-1971), and a champion for rights of the rural farmer.

Maynard Jackson

He was the first African American mayor of Atlanta, Georgia. His many accomplishments include modernizing Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport, starting MARTA, and bringing the 1996 Summer Olympic Games to Atlanta.

Lester Maddox

He was the governor of Georgia from 1967 to 1971 and became known for his segregationist policies, although he appointed more African Americans to state government positions than any other governor before him.

Hirohito

He was the leader of Japan before, during, and after World War II.

Franklin Roosevelt

He was the longest-serving president of the United States and the only president elected more than twice.

James Wright

He was the third and last royal governor of Georgia, serving from 1760 to 1782 and unlike many of the other colonial governors, he proved to be a popular and able leader.

Thomas Jefferson

He was the third president of the United States, a founding father, and the author of the Declaration of Independence.

Joseph Stalin

He was the totalitarian dictator of the Soviet Union from 1928 through 1953.

Charlayne Hunter

In 1961 she became one of the first African American students admitted to the University of Georgia and later became a prominent journalist for both National Public Radio (NPR) and CNN.

Leo Frank

In a fit of anti-Semitic violence, this man was lynched by a mob in Marietta, Georgia, in 1915 after he was accused of assaulting and killing 13-year-old Mary Phagan.

Elijah Clarke

In becoming one of Georgia's biggest Revolutionary War heros, he led a successful siege on the city of Augusta in 1781 and freed it from British control.

Martin Luther King

Jr.,He was an American political activist who was the most famous leader of the American civil rights movement.

Henry Grady

Often called the "Spokesman of the New South," he used his position as editor of the Atlanta Constitution newspaper to advocate northern investment in the south and continued industrialization throughout the region.

Franz Ferdinand

The assassination of this heir to the Austrian throne by a Serbian led to a diplomatic crisis resulting in World War I

Jimmy Carter

This 39th president of the United States served from 1977 to 1981, was the first President to be elected from the Deep South since 1848, served as both a Georgia Senator and Governor of Georgia, and received the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize.

Ted Turner

This Atlanta icon spurred the city\'s growth by bringing the Atlanta Braves, the Atlanta Hawks, and CNN News to the city.

Carl Vinson

This Baldwin, Georgia, native served 25 consecutive terms as a member of the U.S. House and, for his advocacy of improved naval power, is often called the "father of the two-ocean navy."

Sequoyah

This Cherokee is best known for creating an alphabet for the Cherokee language.

Cartier

This French explorer claimed much of what is now Canada for his native country.

Griffin Bell

This Georgian played a major role in striking down the county unit system; in 1962 he headed the judicial panel that declared the voting system invalid and replaced it with the doctrine of "one man, one vote."

John Hope

This Georgian was a leader in the early civil rights movement; he became the first African-American president of Morehouse College in 1906 and was a prominent leader in the NAACP.

William Few

This Maryland-born gentleman moved to Georgia in the mid-1770s, quickly becoming a powerful politician and representing Georgia at the Constitutional Convention in 1787.

Ponce De Leon

This Spanish explorer was the first Governor of Puerto Rico and famously searched for the Fountain of Youth.

Sherman

This Union General is perhaps most famous for his "march to the sea" through Georgia and South Carolina in 1864.

Ulysses S. Grant

This Union General made a name for himself at the siege at Vicksburg, though he later defeated Robert E. Lee\'s Army of Northern Virginia to end the Civil War.

Abraham Baldwin

This first president of the University of Georgia has another college and Georgia county named after him, and served in both houses of the U.S. Congress from 1789 to 1807.

Stephen Douglas

This person was called the "Little Giant" because of his height and his heavy influence in politics. He was the Democratic contender against Abraham Lincoln in 1860.

Jefferson Davis

This politician from Mississippi was once Secretary of War for President Franklin Pierce, thought he is more known for being the first and only President of the Confederate States of America.

Lugenia Burns Hope

This social activist and reformer worked to improve Atlanta\'s African-American communities through education, improved health care, and other social projects.

Dred Scott Decision

This was a 1857 Supreme Court decision that a slave, because he was not a citizen, could not sue for his freedom.

Booker T. Washington

This was a U.S. educator and reformer. He became perhaps the most prominent African American leader of his time.

George III

This was the ruler of Great Britain during the Seven Years War, American Revolution, and War of 1812.

Mary Musgrove

Translator for Oglethorpe