Phil Niekro fashioned a long, successful sports career by mastering the most confounding pitch in the history of baseball—the knuckleball. During his twenty-one seasons with the Atlanta Braves, “Knucksie,” as he was known, became one of the most popular players in franchise history. Philip Henry Niekro was born on April 1, 1939, in Blaine, Ohio. His father, a coal miner and pitcher in the Mine Workers League, taught the knuckleball to both of his sons, Phil Jr.

Covering 343 square miles in southeast Georgia, Pierce County is the state’s 120th county, created in 1857 from Appling and Ware counties. It was named for Franklin Pierce, the fourteenth president of the United States and an anti-abolitionist from New Hampshire. The land was originally held by Creek Indians who were expelled from their territory by General David Blackshear under orders from the U.S. government after the start of the War of 1812 (1812-15).

The red-cockaded woodpecker (Picoides borealis) is one of many species endangered by the destruction of the longleaf pine-grassland ecosystem. The only woodpecker species to make cavities in living pine trees, the red-cockaded woodpecker prefers to make its home in longleaf pines. Its cavities are later inhabited by other species in the longleaf forest, including other birds, squirrels, insects, and reptiles. Photograph by Erich G. Vallery, USDA Forest Service. Courtesy of Forestry Images

Rhythm  and blues (R&B), which combines soulful singing and a strong backbeat, was the most popular music created by and for African Americans between the end of World War II (1941-45) and the early 1960s. Such Georgia artists as Ray Charles, Little Richard, and James Brown rank among the most influential and innovative R&B performers. Surging employment during World War II accelerated the migration of the rural poor to cities and helped create a younger, more urban Black audience.

Founded in 1733 by colonists led by James Edward Oglethorpe, Savannah is the oldest city in Georgia and one of the outstanding examples of eighteenth-century town planning in North America. Colonial and Revolutionary Eras Savannah was, by design, the first step in the creation of Georgia, which received its charter from King George II in April 1732, as the thirteenth and last of England’s American colonies. In November 1732 Oglethorpe, with 114 colonists, sailed from England on the Anne.