Canton, the seat of Cherokee County, lies at the southern tip of the Blue Ridge Mountains in northwest Georgia. Located on Interstate 575 forty miles north of Atlanta, Canton experienced a population and economic boom as Atlanta’s expanding metropolitan area encroached upon it. The city’s population jumped from 7,709, according to the 2000 U.S. census, to 32,973 by the 2020 census. Situated on lands that were originally part of the Cherokee Nation, the Canton area was claimed by Georgia after gold was discovered there in 1828.

As part of the top 10 percent of naval aviators, Cecil Alexander volunteered for the marines and became a dive bomber pilot during World War II. The future Atlanta architect flew a total of sixty missions and was twice awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. Courtesy of Cecil Alexander 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.

Charles Jones Jenkins, most noted for his defiance of military authority while governor of Reconstruction Georgia from 1865 to 1868, was also a prominent political figure in the Whig Party during the antebellum period and a justice of the state supreme court during the Civil War (1861-65). Jenkins County, in east central Georgia, is named in his honor. Jenkins was born in Beaufort, South Carolina, on January 6, 1805. The family moved to Georgia in 1816.

Race-based discrimination with respect to voting has pervaded American history, and the U.S. Congress aggressively attacked this wrong by adopting the Voting Rights Act of 1965. At issue in the City of Rome case was the most controversial provision of the Voting Rights Act, which requires federal Justice Department approval of any change in any voting practice put in place by a locale marked by a history of discrimination if that change has either “the purpose [or]… the effect of denying or abridging the right to vote on account of race or color.

Members of the Civitan Club in Newnan conduct a Claxton Fruit Cake sale, circa 1961. The Claxton Bakery, which produces the fruit cakes, was founded in Claxton, the seat of Evans County, in 1910 and continues operation today. 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. Requests for permission to publish or reproduce the resource should be submitted to the Georgia Archives.