1907 Cedartown High School Football Team - Cedartown, GA

This photo shows the Cedartown High School Football Team (1907). My grandfather, Harold Charles Hutchens was a running back on that team. He is on the top row, second from left. According to the family stories, he actually lived in Tallapossa but attended Cedartown High School because Tallapossa did not have a football team. He rode a bus from Tallapoosa to Cedartown every day so that he could play football. He later attended the University of Georgia where he played baseball. He graduated from UGA with a law degree and served in the Army during the First World War. 

As I look at this photo I wonder what became of the other men who are in this photo.

Women Who Made a Difference: Gina Martin and Debbie Johnson

 

Can one person really make a difference?

 

Absolutely.

 

Gina Martin: They told me to change my clothes, I CHANGED the law instead.

 

Thanks to Debbie Johnson, the late council member from Port Wentworth, GA, the law in Georgia was changed in 2017 to make upskirting a crime. 

 

Here is Governor Deal signing the law in 2017.

 

Books set in Georgia

When most people think of books set in Georgia they think of Gone with the Wind.  Not discounting Margaret Mitchell but there are so many other great books set in Georgia. 

Here is a short list of my recommendations:

1) Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns
2) Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt
3) The Color Purple by Alice Walker
4) To Dance with the White Dog by Terry Kay (my favorite)
5) Ecology of a Cracker Childhood by Janisse Ray

What book would you recommend?

Hamilton Jordan - A Boy from Georgia

I have just finished reading A Boy From Georgia by Hamilton Jordan.  As most of you know Hamilton Jordan was Chief of Staff to President Jimmy Carter.  In this powerful book Jordan talks about his realizations about the world in which he lived.  Raised in Albany, GA Jordan came of age during the 1960s.  He witnessed first hand what is now called "The Albany Movement."  From the Fall of 1961 to the Summer of 1962. Many including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. considered the Albany Movement a failure because their goals were not accomplished at that time.  History has shown this was not the case.  Voter registration of African-Americans in Albany increased. Protests and marches occurred in neighboring Southwest Georgia Towns.  The following spring the City Commission of Albany removed segregation statues from its books.  And young white people like Hamilton Jordan started questioning the beliefs of their parents and grandparents. 

In 1963 Jordan worked as an intern for Senator Richard B. Russell (GA). Here, he was able to witness the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom where Dr. King delivered his historic "I Have a Dream" speech. 

I highly recommend this book!

William Few Jr. (1748-1828)

This red oak stands as a living memorial to William Few, Jr.  It is located in the State Botanical Garden in Athens, GA.

William Few was a statesman and patriot.  He represented Georgia at the constitutional convention that drafted the U.S. Constitution.  His signature, along with Abraham Baldwin’s, is on the document.

Born in Maryland, Few moved to Georgia during the mid-1770’s.  In addition to serving as a delegate to the constitutional convention, William Few also was a judge, state representative, and U.S. Senator. 

In 1799 he moved his family to New York.  There he was active in politics and banking.  148 years after his death his remains were moved from New York to St Paul’s Cemetery in Augusta, Georgia.  

Faces of the First World War

Fort Gordon, Georgia

There's a great site in the UK concerning the First World War. It's the First World War Centenary. According to it's website the   "IWM (Imperial War Museums) is leading the First World War Centenary Partnership, a network of local, regional, national and international cultural and educational organisations."  There doesn't seem to be much interest in the United States about remembering the 100th anniversary of this war.  It seems to me that we, as Americans, would be interested in the conflict that cost over 116,000 American lives.  It's also the conflict that made a whole generation grow up fast.  

Harold C. Hutchens is seated with the young man on his lap.

My grandfather, Harold C. Hutchens, was one of those young men.  He grew up in Tallopoosa, Georgia, a small town located in north Georgia close to the Alabama border.  He played baseball and studied law at the University of Georgia.  Then in 1917 he served in the 82nd Division out of Fort Gordon, Georgia.  After the war he stayed in France and studied at the University of Toulouse until 1919.

Here's his diploma.  I love how ornate it is.