The Church of God in Christ (COGIC) is the largest Black Pentecostal denomination in the country. As of 2005 there were more than 100 COGIC churches around the state, with a total membership of more than 40,000. COGIC’s origins date back to the tense race relations of the 1890s South, an era of widespread lynchings, heated disenfranchisement campaigns, the beginnings of legalized segregation, and the Populist revolt. During this volatile time, a small group of Black Baptist preachers in Mississippi began to preach of tangible contact with the divine (the Holy Spirit) that genuine believers could and should experience.

Constitutional conventions are a distinctly American political innovation, first appearing during the era of the Revolutionary War (1775-83). Georgia was among the first states to use a meeting of delegates to create a constitution. In October 1776, just three months after the American colonies declared independence from Great Britain, Georgia’s first constitutional convention met and produced the state’s inaugural constitution, known as the Constitution of 1777. Several other states also chose the convention method as a means of adopting new constitutions, while some used their provincial congresses to frame a founding document for a new state government.

Novelist Corra White Harris was one of the most celebrated women from Georgia for nearly three decades in the early twentieth century. She is best known for her first novel, A Circuit Rider’s Wife (1910), though she gained a national audience a decade before its publication. From 1899 through the 1920s, she published hundreds of essays and short stories and more than a thousand book reviews in such magazines as the Saturday Evening Post, Harper’s, Good Housekeeping, Ladies Home Journal, and especially the Independent, a highly reputable New York-based periodical known for its political, social, and literary critiques.

Crawford & Company, the world’s largest independent insurance adjuster, is based in Atlanta and as of 2007 retains a network of more than 700 offices in 63 countries. Affiliated companies include Broadspire, the Garden City Group, Inc. (legal services), and the Risk Sciences Group (risk management information and account service). Major areas of business include workers’ compensation, claims administration, health care management, property and casualty claims management, class-action services, and risk management information.

Decatur Cemetery, established during the nineteenth century, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997 and is preserved by an organization called the Friends of Decatur Cemetery. A 7.5-acre area known as the "Old Cemetery" includes historic African American burial sites. Photograph by Melinda G. Smith, New Georgia Encyclopedia 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.