20th Century

The Titanic was supposed to be unsinkable and the Winecoff Hotel in Atlanta was supposed to be 100 percent fireproof, so there was no need for fire alarms, sprinklers, and fire escapes. At least that’s how it was advertised when the hotel at 176 Peachtree street opened in 1913. But on this day in 1946, […]

He would tell Yankee immigrants who found fault with the South: “Delta is ready when you are.” Lewis Grizzard was born in Fort Benning and grew up in Moreland.  He studied journalism at the University of Georgia. After quickly realizing he didn’t belong in Chicago, Grizzard returned to Atlanta to write a humorous regional column […]

World War II had a global impact and it transformed Georgia as well. Some 320,000 Georgians served in the U.S. Armed Forces during the war, and thousands of others, including historic numbers of women, served in wartime industries. The war brought an infusion of federal dollars into Georgia. Every major Georgia city housed a military […]

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention -– the CDC — is located in Atlanta thanks to a pest. During World War II, the Office of Malaria Control in War Areas operated in Atlanta to control malaria in the southeastern states where the mosquito thrived. Most military personnel were trained in the area. American soldiers […]

Everyone remembered where they were when they heard the news: the president is dead. On this day in 1945, President Franklin Roosevelt died at the Little White House in warm springs. Roosevelt had come to Warm Springs 41 times since 1924. FDR was sitting for a portrait when he complained of a headache. He fainted […]

Wyomia Tyus was born to run. The Griffin native became the first athlete to win gold medals in the 100-yard dash in consecutive Olympics. As a 15–year–old African–American competing in the state track championships, she caught the eye of coach Ed Temple of the legendary Tennessee State University Tigerbelles women’s track team. Two years later, […]

She will forever be taking that midnight train to Georgia. Gladys Knight, the “Empress of Soul,” was born in Atlanta in 1944. At age 7, she gained national fame by taking top honors on Ted Mack’s “Original Amateur Hour,” forerunner to “American Idol.” At a 1952 party, Gladys began an impromptu performance with family members. […]

Her signature song was “I’m Sorry” but there was nothing sorry about the career of Brenda Lee…one of the first singers to be launched to stardom by the new medium of TV. She was born Brenda Mae Tarpley in Atlanta and grew up in Conyers and Lithonia. She won a talent show at age five […]

Terrorism is not a new phenomenon, as we see in the story of former Georgia Governor Thomas Hardwick. Born in Thomasville in 1872, Hardwick served in the state legislature in the 1890s as a staunch advocate of disenfranchising black voters. Yet later, he lost an election by opposing the Ku Klux Klan. Hardwick also served […]

It suffered the highest casualty rate of any American forces in World War II. The Eighth Air Force was organized in Savannah in January 1942 as part of the U.S. Army Air Forces. Its mission was straightforward, but easier said than flown: bombing heavily defended strategic and military targets in Germany and Nazi-occupied Europe. The […]