African Americans – Page 2

The University of Georgia Alexander Campbell King Law Library Archive and Special Collections and the Digital Library of Georgia (DLG) have made 50 years of UGA School of Law speaker and lecture materials available freely online. The presenters are well-known national and state political figures, influential legal leaders, and current and former School of Law students and professors.

The collection features photographs of U.S. and Georgia political and legal figures during the latter part of the 20th century. Former President Jimmy Carter; U.S. Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Antonin Scalia, and Clarence Thomas; and U.S. Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and Dean Rusk are among the prominent national figures. Important legal leaders include Lawrence Lessig, Brooksley Born, and Sarah Weddington. Georgia politicians include former Governors Carl Sanders, Roy Barnes, and Zell Miller; U.S. Senators Max Cleland and Sam Nunn; among others.

Christian Lopez, the head of Oral History and Media and the Oral History Program at the Richard B. Russell Library, outlines the significance to those researching Georgia’s legal and political history:

“This free and searchable body of images from Georgia’s oldest law school will aid those studying economics, immigration, education, desegregation, race, gender, and more. The photographs document the School of Law’s historical impact on the state during the period from the 1950s to the early 2000s.”

The King Law Library’s Metadata Services and Special Collections Librarian Rachel Evans welcomes questions about the project and can be reached at rsevans@uga.edu.

About the University of Georgia Alexander Campbell King Law Library Archives & Special Collections

The mission of the Archives and Special Collections at the University of Georgia Alexander Campbell King Law Library is to collect, preserve, and share the history of the University of Georgia School of Law, including all members of its community–students, graduates, faculty, and staff–and their contributions to the state and society. Visit law.uga.edu/library to search the library’s catalog and other resources; explore the School of Law’s institutional repository collections at digitalcommons.law.uga.edu; or browse highlights from the library’s physical and digital collections via the digital exhibit site at digitalcommons.law.uga.edu/exhibit.

Selected images:

Image courtesy of University of Georgia Alexander Campbell King Law Library Archives & Special Collections. Photograph of Robert F. Kennedy’s 1961 Law Day Address at the University of Georgia School of Law showing Kennedy at the podium with University of Georgia School of Law Dean J. Alton Hosch and University of Georgia President O.C. Aderhold in the background. The transcript of the speech is available at: https://digitalcommons.law.uga.edu/lectures_pre_arch_lectures_lawday/48/

Image courtesy of University of Georgia Alexander Campbell King Law Library Archives & Special Collections. Flier for the 92nd John A. Sibley Lecture, held at the University of Georgia School of Law on October 31, 2000. The lecture was delivered by Horace T. Ward, the first African American student to challenge the racially discriminatory practices at the University of Georgia and the first African American to serve as a judge for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.

Image courtesy of University of Georgia Alexander Campbell King Law Library Archives & Special Collections. Photograph of attorney, law professor, Carter administration staffer, and former Texas State Representative Sarah Weddington, best known for representing “Jane Roe” in the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade, speaking to an audience. She delivered the University of Georgia School of Law’s 24th Edith House Lecture, titled “Some Leaders Are Born Women,” on March 23, 2006. Inaugurated in 1983, the Edith House Lecture Series brings outstanding female legal scholars and practitioners to the University of Georgia School of Law.

Image courtesy of University of Georgia Alexander Campbell King Law Library Archives & Special Collections. Photograph (front side) of Max Cleland, then the U.S. Veterans Administration director, seated at a dais onstage at the University of Georgia School of Law, where he delivered the commencement address on June 6, 1978. Transcribed from the back of the photo: “Max Cleland, graduation speaker.”

Black and white photograph of a young African American boy standing next to a cow in a fenced pasture. — Julia King Collection – boy with cow https://dlg.usg.edu/record/midm_jkic_682

In partnership with the Midway Museum, the Digital Library of Georgia has just made the Julia R. King Collection available online.

King (1863–1952) was a descendant of the Roswell King (1765–1844) family of Georgia plantation owners and managers who owned land, property, and enslaved people across Georgia dating back to the 1700s.

The collection includes essential documents related to slavery, including estate appraisals and inventories that include the first names of enslaved African Americans. It will be of particular interest to those doing family research on people enslaved in Liberty County, Georgia.

Stacy Ashmore Cole, the creator of “TheyHadNames.net: African Americans in Early Liberty County Records, secretary of the Midway Museum Board of Governors, and president of the Coastal Georgia Genealogical Society, describes the importance of these records.

“The Midway Museum’s Julia R. King Collection contains essential references to enslaved people unavailable elsewhere.

These documents will interest them and others who have not yet discovered their ancestry.

The study of these enslaver families, including the Kings, is critical to Liberty County African American genealogical and historical research.

They had a long tradition of keeping enslaved people within their families through inheritance, lending, and gifting, including down the white female lines. Because of this, the only way to trace a particular enslaved person is often through probate and enslaving family documents.

The small size of the collection and its relative geographical remoteness have made it difficult for academic researchers to prioritize. The Midway Museum is also in an area vulnerable to hurricanes.

Digitization ensures that we preserve these materials and make them easily accessible for future generations.”

View the entire collection online

###

About the Midway Museum

Since its founding, the Midway Museum has been supported by the descendants of the Midway Church members, who have provided 18th- and 19th-century family heirlooms, documents, books, genealogical lineages, and heirloom furnishings, paintings, and artifacts. Many Midway Church descendants still live in Liberty County and coastal Georgia, serve on the Board of Governors, and visit during the Midway Church’s annual Homecoming. Visit themidwaymuseum.org/

About the Digital Library of Georgia

The Digital Library of Georgia is an award-winning GALILEO initiative housed at the University of Georgia Libraries. With the state’s cultural heritage organizations, the DLG shares Georgia’s history online for free through its websites. The project supports its partner organizations by offering free and low-cost services. The DLG also serves as Georgia’s service hub for the Digital Public Library of America and as the home of the Georgia Newspaper Project, the state’s historic newspaper preservation project.

Visit our website at dlg.usg.edu
Facebook: http://facebook.com/DigitalLibraryofGeorgia/
Twitter: @DigLibGA
Instagram: @diglibga
Subscribe to our listserv

Selected images from the collection: