Georgia - The Peach State 2

Georgia – The Peach State

Georgia - The Peach State 3
Trail of Tears

Upon joining the Confederacy early on, Georgia became the site of significant and brutal battles and conflict.  Major battles included Chickamauga, Kennesaw Mountain, and Atlanta.  But the most famous action of the civil war to take place in Georgia was General William Tecumseh Sherman’s March to the Sea which took place in December 1864.

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March to the Sea

This action utterly destroyed most everything in its path in a large arc from Atlanta to Savannah.  Today there is no structure in Atlanta built prior to 1865.

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Downtown Atlanta

Despite the loss of the Civil War and the freeing of the African American slave population, Georgia was diligent in denying any form of enfranchisement or other equal consideration to both blacks and poor whites.  It is often forgotten that much of the Jim Crow Era legislation was equally punitive to poor and uneducated white people as it was to people of color.  In 1900 African Americans made up almost 48% of the state’s population but this would drop to 28% during and after the Great Migration of African Americans to northern cities in search of jobs and greater freedoms.  The exclusion of people of color and poor people of all races wouldn’t begin to be addressed until the Civil Rights era of the 1960s.

Georgia’s dark past in terms of race relations extends to the incidence of lynching as well.  Georgia accounted for 531 recorded extra-judicial killings, the second highest total of any state, exceeded only by Mississippi.

In the 20th and 21st centuries Georgia has progressed as an economic power due to its transportation infrastructure and business-favorable employment and taxation policies.

Economy:

While the State of Georgia has a strong economy and an excellent credit rating, its population remains comparatively poor.  The per capita personal income in 2011, $35,979, placed it in 39th place in the nation.

Georgia’s anti-organized labor and employer-friendly labor rules and taxation structure, coupled with excellent infrastructure centered on the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (the world’s busiest in terms of both passenger volumes and aircraft movements),

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Hartsfield Jackson International Airport

large corporations have located in the state.  There are 17 Fortune 500 companies and 26 Fortune 1000 companies with headquarters in Georgia, including Home Depot, UPS, Coca-Cola, TSYS, Delta Air Lines, Aflac, Southern Company, Anthem Inc., Honeywell, and SunTrust Banks.

Perhaps surprisingly, if Georgia were a stand-alone country, it would be the 28th largest economy in the world.

Despite being popularly known as the peach state due to historical production, the most common peach trees in Georgia are streets and symbols of an agricultural past long since gone.

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Peaches

While peaches are still produced in the state, production in California and South Carolina far outstrip Georgia’s contributions.  California accounts for 96% of all processed fruit and South Carolina produces more than twice the fresh fruit grown in Georgia.  Today, Georgia would be better known as the Pecan State as it is the largest producer of the nuts in the world.

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