My husband Roger and I toured Savannah last week and learned something interesting – that James Oglethorpe, founder of Georgia, was opposed to slavery in the colony, and in 1735 it was prohibited by law. By the late 1740s the settlers were complaining that they could not make enough money without the help of enslaved Africans (who the settlers said were “far more able than Europeans to cope with the climatic conditions of the South”), and South Carolina was wanting to expand their plantation economy to Georgia. In 1751 the ban was lifted; white privilege and the desire for wealth won. They often still win. . . What can we do now to change that paradigm? Find more information from the New Georgia Encyclopedia.
– KHS ([email protected])