Middle Georgia and the Approach of Modernity

By the late 19th century Middle Georgia was really a hybrid and writing about it requires a dual approach. On the first hand, little is known and original research is vital. On the second, descriptions of the lives and struggles of everyday people, with some nods to those involved in what is often called "high culture," give a fascinating picture of that era while raising road signs pointing to modern times. A grizzly mass murder sets the scene in the late 19th century introducing themes of race, class, and poverty. As the 20th century unfolds, African American struggles to help one another gain practical (mostly agricultural) and academic knowledge against the barriers of Jim Crow emerge. Women, also struggling to overcome traditional barriers, found a hero in a pioneering female pilot who lived and flew in Middle Georgia. The role of government in these struggles as well as in the effort to protect communities during the influenza pandemic of 1918 and the Great Depression foreshadows its expansion into the 21st century. Private endeavor was more important for farmers as they struggled for crop diversification in the face of declining cotton prices and the destruction of the crop by the boll weevil. Middle Georgia saw the development of a national pimento pepper industry as part of that diversification. So these are stories about Middle Georgians and their struggles to care for themselves and how in doing so, they took ground-breaking steps toward creating modern life in their region.