George Foster Pierce, a Methodist bishop, preacher, and educator, was renowned for his preaching skills and his efforts to maintain early Methodist practices. At the General Conference of 1844 Pierce, an enslaver himself, defended the ownership of enslaved people by Bishop James Osgood Andrew, which was an issue that divided the church. He also helped to organize the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and was elected a bishop in 1854. Pierce was born on February 3, 1811, in Greene County to Ann Foster and Lovick Pierce, a Methodist minister.

A bill of rights enumerates certain individual liberties and protects those liberties from governmental intrusion, unless there is a sufficiently compelling justification for government action. The Georgia Bill of Rights consists of forty paragraphs, which constitute Article I of the Constitution of 1983. Twenty-eight paragraphs enumerate individual rights, nine deal with the origins of government, and three are devoted to “general provisions.” All of the rights protected by the U.S. Constitution are also protected under the Georgia Bill of Rights.

Ivan Allen Jr. served as mayor of Atlanta from 1962 to 1970. He is credited with leading the city through an era of significant physical and economic growth and with maintaining calm during the civil rights movement. In 1965 he persuaded the Braves to move to Atlanta from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The New Georgia Encyclopedia does not hold the copyright for this media resource and can neither grant nor deny permission to republish or reproduce the image online or in print.

The Jackson County Courthouse in Jefferson, designed in the classical modern style, was completed in 2004. It is the county's fifth courthouse. Photograph by Jimmy Emerson, DVM The New Georgia Encyclopedia does not hold the copyright for this media resource and can neither grant nor deny permission to republish or reproduce the image online or in print. All requests for permission to publish or reproduce the resource must be submitted to the rights holder.

James Alan McPherson attends a University of Iowa Writer’s Workshop class in 2005. McPherson, a Savannah native, was the first African American to win the Pulitzer Prize, awarded for his short story collection Elbow Room. Photograph by Kirk Murray The New Georgia Encyclopedia does not hold the copyright for this media resource and can neither grant nor deny permission to republish or reproduce the image online or in print. All requests for permission to publish or reproduce the resource must be submitted to the rights holder.