Civil Rights

And you thought the Civil Rights movement blossomed in the 1960's. Read these letters from the 1860's to see how freed black people were striving to be a part of the political process.

"The Civil Unrest in Camilla, Georgia, 1868 collection, located at the DeSoto Trail Library and comprised of photostatic copies from the Freedman's Bureau records held by the National Archives, consists of letters, affidavits, reports and a newspaper clipping relating to a violent episode in Camilla, Georgia. The incident occurred on September 19, 1868 when freedmen, together with Republicans W.P. Pierce, John Murphy and F.F. Putney attempted to hold a political rally, and were met with opposition from the white townspeople of Camilla. The dates of the documents largely span from September 19 through October of 1868 and include correspondence between Caleb Chase Sibley, assistant commissioner for the Freedmen’s Bureau in the state of Georgia, the Commissioner, Oliver Otis Howard, the Secretary of War John M. Schofield, and George Gordon Meade, military commander of the Third Military District in Georgia, as well as lesser-known Bureau agents’ correspondence, reports and affidavits containing first hand accounts of the incident from freedmen and others. "

GALILEO
...Jump to C
.....Civil Unrest in Camilla

The password for home use of GALILEO is available to the citizens of Georgia from your librarian. Some resources noted in this BLOG are only available to NMTC patrons.