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Springfield Baptist Church, 1867-1879 site of the Augusta Institute. In 1879 the Institute moved to Atlanta, and in 1913 became known as
Morehouse College.
The history of African Americans in the Augusta, Georgia area spans three centuries. While slavery was originally banned in the British colony of Georgia by James Oglethorpe[1], it soon became an integral part of Georgia's history[2].
After the American Civil War of the mid-19th century, Augusta and Georgia were both under martial law during the period known as Reconstruction. During this time, African American civil rights were expanded[3]. Following the end of Reconstruction, the European American majority population of Georgia and other Southern U.S. states enacted Jim Crow laws to limit the rights of African Americans. These restrictions would not be lifted until the Civil Rights movement of the mid-20th Century.
Today, African Americans constitute 53.6 percent[4] (2006 estimate) of the population of Augusta-Richmond County. While slavery and Jim Crow are but memories of the past, race relations continue to be contentious in city politics.
[edit] Notable people in local African American history
[edit] See also
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Image at right: The Haunted Pillar, Broad Street, Augusta, Georgia |
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