A number of significant historical events have occurred in Georgia during the month of November.

1700-1749

1732

The Anne set sail from England, carrying James Oglethorpe and Georgia’s first colonists.


1750-1799

1790

charter was granted to Congregation Mickve Israel, the oldest Jewish congregation in the South.

Congregation Mickve Israel
Congregation Mickve Israel

Courtesy of Georgia Archives.


1800-1849

1808

The first steamboat appeared on the Savannah River.


1827

The final cession of Creek Indian land in Georgia was signed.


1838

The Okefenokee Campaign of the Second Seminole War began.


1846

The headgates of the Augusta Canal were opened for the first time.


1847

The Columbus canal was completed.


1850-1899

1858

The  last ship to bring enslaved Africans to Georgia, the Wanderer, arrived at Jekyll Island.

Wanderer
Wanderer

Courtesy of U.S. Naval Historical Center


1863

During the Civil War, the Battle of Ringgold Gap took place.


1864

Union general William T. Sherman set fire to Atlanta on November 15, before embarking on his destructive March to the Sea.


1865

Captain Henry Wirz, the commander of Andersonville Prison, became one of the few Confederates executed for crimes committed during the Civil War.


1880

Joel Chandler Harris published his first book of Uncle Remus tales.


1884

Construction  began on the new capitol building in Atlanta.

Georgia State Capitol
Georgia State Capitol

Courtesy of Georgia Info, Digital Library of Georgia.


1895

The Georgia division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy formed.


1899

The Georgia Woman Suffrage Association held its first suffrage convention in Atlanta.


1900-1949

1914

The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta opened.


1922

Rebecca Latimer Felton  was sworn in as the first woman to serve in the U.S. Senate.

Inauguration of Rebecca Latimer Felton
Inauguration of Rebecca Latimer Felton

Courtesy of Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division


1935

U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt spoke at the opening in Atlanta of Techwood Homes, the nation’s first public housing project.


1936

Thornwell Jacobs, the president of Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, published his concept for a “crypt of civilization” in Scientific American  magazine.


1942

Frank Sinkwicha halfback for the UGA football team, won the Heisman Trophy.


1946

The Walt Disney film Song of the South, based on the Uncle Remus tales, premiered at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta.


1950-1999

1957

Eighty members of the Atlanta Christian Council issued a statement, known as the Ministers’ Manifesto, providing tenets for the city to follow during its struggles with integration.


1960

Albany native Ray Charles’s recording of “Georgia on My Mind” reached number one on the charts for the first time.


1961

The   Albany Movement began after demonstrators were arrested for attempting to integrate the municipal bus station in Albany.

Albany Movement
Albany Movement

Courtesy of Cochran Studios/A. E. Jenkins Photography


1966

The Atlanta Falcons football team won its first game on November 30.


1972

Andrew Young became the first Black U.S. congressman elected from the Deep South since Reconstruction.


1976

Jimmy Carter  became the first Georgian to be elected president of the United States.

Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter

Courtesy of the Carter Center


1977

The Atlanta Braves hired Bobby Cox to manage and rebuild the baseball team.


1983

U.S. president Ronald Reagan designated a federal holiday in honor of Martin Luther King Jr.


1988

Spelman College in Atlanta received a $20 million donation from actor/comedian Bill Cosby.


1989

The  groundbreaking for the Georgia Dome, the home of the Atlanta Falcons, took place.

Georgia Dome
Georgia Dome

Image from Valerie


1992

Georgia voters approved a statewide lottery to help fund public education.


1997

The  film adaptation of John Berendt’s book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil premiered in Savannah.


1998

The Albany Civil Rights Movement Museum (later the Albany Civil Rights Institute) opened to commemorate the civil rights movement in southwest Georgia.

Dalton-based World Carpets merged with Mohawk Industries to become one of the largest tufted-carpet companies in the United States.


2000-Present

2001

The Atlanta Journal and Atlanta Constitution newspapers merged to publish a single newspaper under the masthead of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.


2021

The Atlanta Braves beat the Houston Astros in game six of the World Series to win their second championship title. 


November Birthdays

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A More Perfect Union

The New Georgia Encyclopedia is supported by funding from A More Perfect Union, a special initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

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Inauguration of Rebecca Latimer Felton

Inauguration of Rebecca Latimer Felton

Rebecca Latimer Felton (seated) was the first woman to be sworn into the U.S. Senate on November 21, 1922, as a replacement for Thomas E. Watson, who died while in office. Her term lasted for twenty-four hours before the inauguration of Walter F. George, who won the special election for the seat.

Courtesy of Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division