The Georgia Writers Association is a nonprofit support and advocacy group for writers in the state. The mission of the organization is to seek “to improve the quality of life for writers by providing information about the literary industry and skills-building knowledge; fostering ongoing communication among writers of diverse literacy, genres, geographies, ethnicities and backgrounds; increasing public awareness of the lives and works of contemporary Georgia writers; encouraging the imagination and integrity of the written word; and organizing activities that celebrate the achievements of writers across the state of Georgia.

Georgiacetus vogtlensis, a species of advanced proto-whale previously unknown to science, was discovered in east Georgia in 1983. That year the fossils of three individual Georgiacetus whales were unearthed in 40-million-year-old sediments during the construction of Plant Vogtle, a Georgia Power Company nuclear facility in Burke County. Researchers named the fossils Georgiacetus vogtlensis, meaning the “Georgia Whale from Plant Vogtle.” Current research suggests that all modern whales, including the North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis Müller), Georgia’s state marine mammal, are descended through Georgiacetus.

Seashells and broken pottery, like these at Antioch Baptist Cemetery in Fayetteville, Georgia, were often used to decorate the graves of African American and formerly enslaved people. 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.

Habersham County, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains of northeast Georgia, is the state’s forty-sixth county. Created in 1818 from land formerly held by Cherokee Indians, it was named after Joseph Habersham, an army officer during the Revolutionary War (1775-83) and a U.S. postmaster general. Habersham County was enlarged in 1828 and 1829 when more Cherokee lands were claimed. At one time it encompassed 713 square miles, but through the years parts of it were taken to help form Banks, Cherokee, Lumpkin, Rabun, Stephens, and White counties, decreasing Habersham County to 278 square miles.

Baindu Jabati (left) and Mary Moran were the only two women to remember a Mende funeral song performed as part of the village tradition in Senehun Ngola, Sierra Leone. The song was passed down through Moran's family in Georgia from her enslaved ancestors, who were related to Jabati's ancestors in Sierra Leone. Photograph by Sharon Maybarduk 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.