Georgia Southwestern State University - Gale Yearbook (Americus, GA)

Page 14 text:

5, !X'fXf! ' .i sn in at fy' about new-comers moving in. We hardly know whether ours is a city or a town: but we think we are enjoying the advantages of both. Our tree-lined streets are, most of them, paved. We have good shops where the best of food and clothing may be found. . There is little poverty here, and the very rich and those not so for- tunate mingle on equal footing. Our garden clubs work constantly for more beauty, and most of us live in comfort and peace. Besides all 10 that, we are so located geographi- cally that we can drive easily to one of our larger cities if we need something we cannot get at home. Altogether, most people who live in Americus love it. The February 12, 1971 issue of -lie magazine describes a 1963 demonstration in Americus where five civil rights leaders were ar- rested and charged with insurrec- tion. The possible maximum penal- ty was that of death. Also in the QQ article is the description of a 1965 racial incident. The article states that a Negro woman, candidate for Justice of the Peace, was arrested for standing in a white only voting line. The incident set off mass marches and jailings which later ended in the shooting to death of a white youth. The November 12, 1971 issue of the Q Street Journal reports that a black youth charged with simple battery ffighting in schooll was jailed under 83,000 bond. By com- parison, a man, one year previous-

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'X Mft? 75.1 of this great war, Americus and its vicinity had furnished two regi- ments . . As a result of that war, our country came into possession of another city, an eternal monument of a grim sort, the now famous An- dersonville Prison Park and Ceme- tery. At that prison, between Feb- ruary 1864, and October, 1865, over 13,000 Northern soldiers died, to be buried there. During this time, 52,345 prisoners incarcerated there, as many as 33,000 at one time. The food and medicine blockade imposed upon the South, the cutting of railway lines, and the demoralized condition of the farms caused great deprivation even to the Southern soldier and civilians, and they naturally brought intense suffering to prisoners of war. ln 1884 an Americus gas plant was built. ln 1889 an electric light system was added . . . The first electrically driven street cars in the state were intro- duced I1 8891, but since most of the residents kept horse-drawn vehi- cles, the city was forced to discon- tinue the electric cars, and tracks were removed. ln 1891, the Windsor Hotel was completed forthe sum of S150,000. The hotel was the scene of the most elaborate social functions and many distinguished visitors enjoyed its hospitality and lavish entertainment in the 1890's. Americus has been slow to ac- cept the doubtful advantages of change . . . They fdiehardsl liked their easy way of life, their exclu- sive society, and the didn't care 9

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ly, accused of stabbing his wife with an ice pick was placed under a bond of S500 and later fined 350. The 1970 census shows the population of the Americus division at 16,133 fa 17.5'k increase over the 1960 figures! and sets the medium age at 24.6 years. Americus, county seat of Sumter County, has its own modern day home-boy-makes-good story, and in late 1970 honored that person by blocking Jackson Street and at- tending a welcome address by the hundreds. Jimmy Carter, a Sumter County resident and alum- nus of GSC in her junior college days, was elected Governor of the State of Georgia in November of 1970 and presently serves in that capacity. Visibly, GSC is a college of patched and repatched asphalt streets. It is progress rebuilding an antiquated sewer system. It is one way streets and circle around two way streets. It is a concrete and block sign on Glessner which introduces and reminds. It is ca- mellias in winter and azaleas in spring with evergreen shrubbery and pecan trees. lt is worn paths and cigarette butts. GSC is a Stu- dent Center with distinct segments and clashing radios with juke box. Building names of Sanford and Wheatley preserve GSC history and Academic Building denies a past. Also, GSC sparkles in its modern buildings and continues in its crumbling ones. lt bogs in its unfil- 11