Editing Americus, Georgia (section)

==History==
===Early years===
For its first two decades, Americus was a small courthouse town. The Starksville Road, now Lee Street, was an important highway before the city was founded, and is now the location of many of the older buildings and homes listed in the [[Americus Historic District]].<ref name="nrhpdoc2" /> The arrival of the railroad in 1854 and, three decades later, local attorney Samuel H. Hawkins' construction of the only privately financed railroad in state history made Americus the eighth largest city in Georgia into the 20th century. It was known as the "Metropolis of Southwest Georgia", a reflection of its status as a cotton distribution center.

In 1890, Georgia's first chartered [[electric street car]] system went into operation in Americus. One of its restored cars is on permanent display at the Lake Blackshear Regional Library, a gift from the Robert T. Crabb family who acquired the street car in the 1940s.

The town was already graced with an abundance of [[Antebellum architecture|antebellum]] and [[Victorian architecture]] when local capitalists opened the [[Windsor Hotel (Americus)|Windsor Hotel]] in 1892. A five-story Queen Anne edifice, it was designed by a Swedish architect, [[Gottfried L. Norrman]], in [[Atlanta, Georgia|Atlanta]]. Vice-president Thomas R. Marshall gave a speech from the balcony in 1917, and soon to be New York Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt spoke in the dining room in 1928.

On January 1, 1976, the city center was listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] as the Americus Historic District. The district boundaries were extended in 1979.<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|2009a}}</ref>

===Into the 20th century===
For the local minority community, Rev. Dr. Major W. Reddick established the [[Americus Institute]] (1897–1932). [[Booker T. Washington]] was a guest speaker there in May 1908. Rev. Alfred S. Staley was responsible for locating the state Masonic Orphanage in Americus, which served its function from 1898 to 1940. Both men engineered the unification of the General Missionary Baptist Convention of Georgia in 1915, the former as president and the latter as recording secretary. The public school named in honor of A.S. Staley was designated a National School of Excellence in 1990.

Two other colleges were also established in Americus, the Third District Agricultural and Mechanical School in 1906 (now [[Georgia Southwestern State University]]), and the South Georgia Trade and Vocational School in 1948 (now [[South Georgia Technical College]]). South Georgia Technical College is located on the original site of Souther Field.<ref>[http://www.souther-field.com/ Souther Field]</ref>

In [[World War I]], an [[United States Army Air Service|Army Air Service]] training facility, Souther Field (now [[Jimmy Carter Regional Airport]]), was commissioned northeast of the city limits. [[Charles A. Lindbergh]], the "Lone Eagle", bought his first airplane and made his first solo flight there during a two-week stay in May 1923. Recommissioned for [[World War II]], Souther Field was used for [[Royal Air Force|RAF]] pilot training (1941–1942)<ref>Gilbert S. Guinn, ''The Arnold Scheme: British Pilots, The American South and the Allies Daring Plan'', History Press, 2007</ref> as well as US pilot training before ending the war as a German [[prisoner-of-war]] camp. The town was incorporated in 1832, and the name Americus was picked out of a hat.<ref>{{cite book|title=Weird, Wacky, and Wild Georgia Trivia|last=Watson|first=Stephanie|author2=Lisa Wojna|year=2008|publisher=Blue Bike Books|isbn=978-1-897278-44-4|page=59}}</ref>

[[Shoeless Joe Jackson]] served as the field manager for the local baseball team after his banishment from professional baseball. A plaque at Thomas Bell Stadium commemorates his contribution to the local baseball program.

===Race relations and the civil rights movement===
In 1913, a young black man named Will Redding was lynched by a white mob. Redding refused the Chief of Police's order to stop loitering, was arrested, a struggle ensued, and ultimately Redding grabbed the Chief's gun and shot him. He was then chased down, shot, and put in jail. An angry mob went into the jail and tore down the door to Redding's cell, dragged him out onto Forsyth street, and beat him to death with crow bars and hammers.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Anderson|first1=Alan|title=Remembering Americus Georgia: Essays on Southern Life|date=July 30, 2006|publisher=History Press (SC)|isbn=9781596291317|pages=73–74https://books.google.com/books?id=svf_7DV9i6UC&pg=PA129&lpg=PA129&dq=remembering+americus+georgia+essays&source=bl&ots=8fJVoP2Xbf&sig=Z4YA9QeYHCJoQkww6tZLuGRoLv4&hl=en&sa=X&ei=J64cVLmbAoGZyAS8lIHYDg&ved=0CCwQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=remembering%20americus%20georgia%20essays&f=false }}</ref>

[[Koinonia Farm]], an interracial Christian community, was organized near Americus in 1942 by [[Clarence Jordan]]. Its interracial nature occasioned much opposition from local residents. A terrorist campaign of violence, intimidation, vandalism, and harassment by the [[Ku Klux Klan]] and others went on for the next 25 years, as well a boycott of Koinonia's products, such that by the late 1960s the once-thriving community was practically  depopulated and essentially defunct. In the late 1960s [[Millard Fuller|Millard]] and Linda Fuller, with Clarence Jordan, revived Koinonia Farm and it thrived again. Miller and Fuller founded [[Habitat for Humanity International]] at Koinonia in 1976 before moving it into Americus the following year. In 2005, they founded [[The Fuller Center for Housing]], also in Americus. Koinonia Farm remains in operation and is currently located southwest of Americus on Highway 49.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/arts-culture/koinonia-farm/ |title=Koinonia Farm |encyclopedia=New Georgia Encyclopedia |accessdate=September 18, 2023}}</ref>

The [[Civil rights movement|civil rights era]] in Americus was a time of great turmoil. An uptown store which had refused to honor the Koinonia boycott was bombed in 1957.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://sojo.net/articles/sponsored/facing-down-kkk-story-koinonia-farm-and-christian-hospitality#%20 |title=Facing Down the KKK: The Story of Koinonia Farm and Christian Hospitality |author=Amanda Moore |date=April 25, 2017 |work=Sojourners  |accessdate=September 18, 2023}}</ref> The [[Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee]] (SNCCC) organized the peaceful protests and a voter registration drive, the [[Americus Movement]]. Rev. Dr. [[Martin Luther King Jr.]] spent a weekend in the courthouse jail in 1961, after an arrest in Albany.

In 1963 occurred the [[Leesburg Stockade]] incident. A group of African-American girls aged 12 to 15 were arrested in Americus after trying to buy movie tickets at a theatre's whites-only window, as a form of civil protest. At least fourteen girls were taken to a filthy "hellhole",<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.gpb.org/news/2016/08/15/the-girls-of-the-leesburg-stockade |title=The Girls Of The Leesburg Stockade |author=Bradley George, Grant Blankenship |date=August 15, 2016 |publisher=GBP (Georgia Public Broadcasting) |accessdate=September 18, 2023}}</ref> an isolated prison in [[Leesburg, Georgia]] where they were held incommunicado for at least 45 days, in appalling conditions, without right of correspondence or legal representation, and with their families not knowing where they had been or disappeared to. Some weeks later, the girls were surreptitiously photographed by [[Danny Lyon]] who had learned the girls' location. The publishing of Lyon's photograph in the black press eventually brought the situation to national attention, and the girls were released some weeks later without ever having been charged with any crime.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ajc.com/news/state--regional/leesburg-legacy/VJ665jMdNmoTkeaZiKF9kM/ |title=Leesburg's legacy |author=Nedra Rhone, Rosalind Bentley |date=March 21, 2019 |work=Atlanta Journal-Constitution |accessdate=September 18, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/hidden-herstory-leesburg-stockade-girls |title=Hidden Herstory: The Leesburg Stockade Girls |author=Tulani Salahu-Din |date= |publisher=Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture |accessdate=September 18, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/17/us/leesburg-stockade-girls-return-after-60-years/index.html |title=Stolen Girls: The untold story of the Leesburg Stockade Girls |author= Randi Kaye, Anne Clifford |date=September 17, 2023 |work=CNN |accessdate=September 18, 2023}}</ref>

In the same year of 1963, the local Sumter Movement to end [[racial segregation]] was organized and led by Rev. Joseph R. Campbell. Four of its activists were arrested under Georgia's 1871 Anti-Treason Act. A federal court ruled the law unconstitutional, establishing that peaceful protests could not be punishable by execution.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/americus-movement/ |title=Americus Movement |author=Glenn Robins |date=2020 |encyclopedia=New Georgia Encyclopedia |accessdate=September 18, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://georgiahistory.com/ghmi_marker_updated/sumter-county-in-the-civil-rights-movement/ |title=Sumter County in the Civil Rights Movement |publisher=Georgia Historical Society |accessdate=September 18, 2023}}</ref> Color barriers were first removed in 1965 when J.W. Jones and Henry L. Williams joined the Americus police force. Lewis M. Lowe was elected as the first black city councilman ten years later. With their election in 1995, Eloise R. Paschal and Eddie Rhea Walker broke the gender barrier on the city's governing body. In 1968, the last segregated black school in Americus was closed, [[A. S. Staley High School]].<ref name="Frady-1971">{{Cite book |last=Frady |first=Marshall |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qVMEAAAAMBAJ&dq=staley+high+school+americus&pg=PA49 |title=One Another Town |date=February 12, 1971 |publisher=[[Life (magazine)]] |page= |pages=46–49 |language=en}}</ref>

In 1971, the city was featured in a [[Marshall Frady]] article, "One Another Town", in ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine.<ref name="Frady-1971" /> The portrayal of the city's school integration was relatively benign, especially considering the community's history of troubled race relations.

=== 2007 tornado ===
Americus was hit by an EF3 tornado around 9:15 pm on [[Tornado outbreak of February 28 – March 2, 2007|March 1, 2007]]. The tornado was up to {{convert|1|mi|km|abbr=on|adj=mid|-wide}}, and carved a {{convert|38|mi|km|abbr=on}} path of destruction through the city and surrounding residential areas.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.srh.noaa.gov/ffc/html/pns3107.txt |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090211103502/http://www.srh.noaa.gov/ffc/html/pns3107.txt |archive-date=2009-02-11 |title=PRELIMINARY DAMAGE REPORT FOR 1 MARCH 2007 TORNADO OUTBREAK}}</ref>  It destroyed parts of [[Sumter Regional Hospital]], forcing the evacuations of all of the patients there. There were two fatalities at a Hudson Street residence near the hospital; all SRH patients were evacuated safely. The hospital, however, faced major reconstruction issues and was eventually torn down. A new hospital, Phoebe Sumter, opened at a new location on the corner of US 19 and Highway 280 in December 2011.

Georgia [[Governor of Georgia|Governor]] [[Sonny Perdue]] said, "It was worse {{sic|that}} I had feared. The hospital was hit, but the devastation within the area of Sumter County and Americus was more than I imagined. The businesses around the hospital are totally destroyed. Power is still not restored in many places. It's just a blessing frankly that we didn't have more fatalities than we did."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.walb.com/Global/story.asp?S=6168189|title=Sumter hospital shows tornado's worst punch|access-date=2018-12-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180712025333/http://www.walb.com/Global/story.asp?S=6168189|archive-date=2018-07-12|url-status=dead}}</ref> Over 500 homes were affected, with around 100 completely destroyed.  Several businesses throughout the town were seriously damaged or destroyed as well.

President George W. Bush visited the area on March 3, calling what he saw "tough devastation."