Author: Jamil Zainaldin

A change is coming to our column. At the end of January I will retire from Georgia Humanities after 20 years of service as president, and thus “Jamil’s Georgia” will come to a close. My ...

A shocking act of violence stirred, or "woke," a sense of justice in her. Katharine Du Pre Lumpkin, a daughter of the post-Civil War South and member of a prominent Georgia family, chose to challenge her ...

Many would contend that to “learn history” in school is a waste of time. That kind of knowledge, as the saying goes, won’t get you a job. It may be true, but the greatest threat ...

We live on building blocks created by earlier generations, whatever we may think about our own present-day accomplishments. Unless we know how we got here, we can’t truly appreciate all that we have. Memory imposes ...

This week, CHRISTOPHER LAWTON, of the Georgia Virtual History Project, recalls the life and impact of an unusual storyteller and storykeeper, who was a living link with Sapelo Island's past. Cornelia Walker Bailey of Sapelo Island ...

This week, DAVID MARTIN, former director of the Georgia Council on Economic Education, shares the story of Michael Mescon and his efforts to expand private enterprise education worldwide. Mescon created the first Chair of Private ...

This week, LAURA MCCARTY, of Georgia Humanities, tells the story of Olympic sprinter and Vietnam veteran Mel Pender. To a list of effective leaders in Georgia, I would add Melvin Pender of Kennesaw, whose name ...

When we think of Cobb County today, a variety of impressions come to mind. Historically, its development is inseparable from the state’s as a whole. Yet we may not, however, associate Cobb County with a ...

Leadership, this greatly admired trait, once commonly applied exclusively to male war heroes or politicians or industrial leaders, is now generally recognized as a gift or skill that also includes women, men, and young people ...

This week, JASON BUTLER, a teacher at DeKalb Early College Academy, and his student SYDNIE COBB discuss their experience studying D-Day and visiting Normandy, France, as part of the Normandy: Sacrifice for Freedom® Albert H. ...

This week, author LESLIE STAINTON discusses the opportunities for growth and reflection that come from confronting physical reminders of slavery.  By Leslie Stainton Last year, on my way to a conference, I stopped by Georgia’s Hofwyl-Broadfield Plantation, ...

This week ALLISON HUTTON, of Georgia Humanities, discusses Douglas Blackmon's new documentary, The Harvest, the subject of an upcoming conversation at the Atlanta University Center. By Allison Hutton On Thursday, September 28, 2017, at 5:30 p.m., Pulitzer Prize-winning ...

This week, PAULA LAWTON BEVINGTON, of Atlanta Legal Aid, discusses Atlanta Legal Aid's Picturing Justice 2017 exhibition and the power of photography to evoke empathy.  By Paula Lawton Bevington “A picture is worth a thousand words.”  By the reckoning ...

By Jamil Zainaldin Who were the men, women, and children whose labor in the cotton mills powered the creation of modern Georgia? For the most part mill workers were poor, uneducated, and white. (Few blacks worked in the ...

This week guest contributor DIANE CAPRIOLA, co-owner of Little Shop of Stories, discusses children's literature at the AJC Decatur Book Festival. By Diane Capriola I always like to say that children's books will save the world. Children’s books ...

This week, we're sharing an important column from 2014 about the Slave Dwelling Project, which shares the stories of extant slave cabins and the experiences of those who occupied them. By Jamil Zainaldin The 21st-century idea of ...

This week, ALLISON HUTTON, of Georgia Humanities, uses the story of the peach to examine a period in Georgia when what the state would become was far from certain. By Allison Hutton Blueberry Street. The Pecan Road ...

This week, ALLISON HUTTON, of Georgia Humanities, reflects on going back to school — and the period when that meant returning to a school for members of one race only.  By Allison Hutton If you are a ...