Founded  in 1898 in Augusta, Pilgrim Health and Life Insurance Company became the first insurance provider for African Americans in Georgia. A Black-owned and-operated company, Pilgrim was one of the largest employers of African Americans in Augusta and issued tens of thousands of policies in the first decades of the twentieth century. The company had an improbable beginning. Solomon W. Walker, a Black grocery delivery boy in his late teens, had the idea of starting an insurance company after repeatedly crossing paths with white insurance salesmen while making his deliveries.

Covering 311 square miles in northwest Georgia, Polk County is the state’s ninety-sixth county, created in 1851 from Floyd and Paulding counties. It was named for U.S. president James K. Polk. Originally held by Creek Indians, the land was lost to the Cherokee Nation before white settlers arrived there in the nineteenth century. Many of the first white settlers migrated from other parts of Georgia and from other states soon after gold was discovered in northwest Georgia in 1829.

The Ogeechee, together with the Savannah, Altamaha, and Satilla rivers, made up the principal "rice rivers" over the course of the entire history of rice cultivation in Georgia. 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.

The business section of Roberta in Crawford County, around 1900, included the Roberta Drug Company (center). An advertisement for the Middle Georgia Loan and Realty Company hangs over the well in front of the drugstore. 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.

Located north of Eatonton in Putnam County, Rock Eagle is an Indian-made rock structure dating back to the Middle Woodland period (300 B.C. to A.D. 600). Photograph by Brian McInturff 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.