Editing Blakely, Georgia

{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2023}}
{{Infobox settlement
<!-- Basic info  ---------------->
|official_name            = Blakely, Georgia
|other_name               = 
|native_name              = <!-- for cities whose native name is not in English -->
|nickname                 = Peanut Capital of the World
|settlement_type          = [[City]]
|motto                    = <!-- images and maps  ----------->
|image_skyline            = Early County Courthouse in Blakely Georgia.jpg
|imagesize                = 
|image_caption            = Early County Courthouse in Blakely
|image_flag               = 
|flag_size                = 
|image_seal               = 
|seal_size                = 
|image_shield             = 
|shield_size              = 
|image_blank_emblem       = 
|blank_emblem_type        = 
|blank_emblem_size        = 
|image_map                = Early_County_Georgia_Incorporated_and_Unincorporated_areas_Blakely_Highlighted.svg
|mapsize                  = 250px
|map_caption              = Location in [[Early County, Georgia|Early County]] and the state of [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]]
|image_map1               = 
|mapsize1                 = 
|map_caption1             = 
|image_dot_map            = 
|dot_mapsize              = 
|dot_map_caption          = 
|dot_x                    = 
|dot_y                    = 
|pushpin_map              = <!-- the name of a location map as per http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Location_map -->
|pushpin_label_position   = <!-- the position of the pushpin label: left, right, top, bottom, none -->
|pushpin_map_caption      = 
|pushpin_mapsize          = <!-- Location ------------------>
|subdivision_type         = [[List of sovereign states|Country]]
|subdivision_name         = United States
|subdivision_type1        = [[U.S. state|State]]
|subdivision_name1        = [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]]
|subdivision_type2        = [[List of counties in Georgia (U.S. state)|County]]
|subdivision_name2        = [[Early County, Georgia|Early]]
|subdivision_type3        = 
|subdivision_name3        = 
|subdivision_type4        = 
|subdivision_name4        = <!-- Politics ----------------->
|government_footnotes     = 
|government_type          = 
|leader_title             = [[Mayor]]
|leader_name              = Travis Wimbush
|leader_title1            = 
|leader_name1             = 
|leader_title2            = 
|leader_name2             = 
|leader_title3            = 
|leader_name3             = 
|leader_title4            = 
|leader_name4             = 
|established_title        = <!-- Settled -->
|established_date         = 
|established_title2       = <!-- Incorporated (town) -->
|established_date2        = 
|established_title3       = <!-- Incorporated (city) -->
|established_date3        = <!-- Area    --------------------->
|area_magnitude           = 
|unit_pref                = Imperial
|area_footnotes           = <ref name="CenPopGazetteer2020">{{cite web|title=2020 U.S. Gazetteer Files|url=https://www2.census.gov/geo/docs/maps-data/data/gazetteer/2020_Gazetteer/2020_gaz_place_13.txt|publisher=United States Census Bureau|accessdate=December 18, 2021}}</ref>
|area_total_km2           = 45.75
|area_land_km2            = 45.46
|area_water_km2           = 0.29
|area_total_sq_mi         = 17.66
|area_land_sq_mi          = 17.55
|area_water_sq_mi         = 0.11
|area_water_percent       = 
|area_urban_km2           = 
|area_urban_sq_mi         = 
|area_metro_km2           = 
|area_metro_sq_mi         = 
|area_blank1_title        = 
|area_blank1_km2          = 
|area_blank1_sq_mi        = <!-- Population   ----------------------->
|population_as_of         = [[2020 United States census|2020]]
|population_footnotes     = 
|population_note          = 
|population_total         = 5371
|population_density_km2   = 118.15
|population_density_sq_mi = 306.02
|population_metro         = 
|population_density_metro_km2     = 
|population_density_metro_sq_mi   = 
|population_urban                 = 
|population_density_urban_km2     = 
|population_density_urban_sq_mi   = 
|population_blank1_title          = 
|population_blank1                = 
|population_density_blank1_km2    = 
|population_density_blank1_sq_mi  = <!-- General information  --------------->
|timezone                 = [[North American Eastern Time Zone|Eastern (EST)]]
|utc_offset               = -5
|timezone_DST             = EDT
|utc_offset_DST           = -4
|coordinates              = {{coord|31|22|36|N|84|56|2|W|region:US_type:city|display=inline,title}}
|elevation_footnotes      = <!--for references: use <ref> </ref> tags-->
|elevation_m              = 80
|elevation_ft             = 262
<!-- Area/postal codes & others -------->
|postal_code_type         = [[ZIP code]]s
|postal_code              = 39823
|area_code                = [[Area code 229|229]]
|blank_name               = [[Federal Information Processing Standard|FIPS code]]
|blank_info               = 13-08536<ref name="GR2">{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov |publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]] |access-date=2008-01-31 |title=U.S. Census website }}</ref>
|blank1_name              = [[Geographic Names Information System|GNIS]] feature ID
|blank1_info              = 0331185<ref name="GR3">{{cite web|url=http://geonames.usgs.gov|access-date=2008-01-31|title=US Board on Geographic Names|publisher=[[United States Geological Survey]]|date=2007-10-25}}</ref>
|website                  = {{URL|http://cityofblakely.net/}}
|footnotes                = 
|pop_est_as_of = 
|pop_est_footnotes = 
|population_est = 
}}

'''Blakely''' is a city in and the [[county seat]]<ref name="GR6">{{cite web|url=http://www.naco.org/Counties/Pages/FindACounty.aspx |access-date=2011-06-07 |title=Find a County |publisher=National Association of Counties |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110531210815/http://www.naco.org/Counties/Pages/FindACounty.aspx |archive-date=2011-05-31 }}</ref> of [[Early County, Georgia]], United States. As of 2020, its population was 5,371. It is located approximately halfway between [[Columbus, Georgia|Columbus]] and [[Tallahassee, Florida]] on [[U.S. Route 27 in Georgia|U.S. Route 27]].

==History==
Blakely was [[plat]]ted in 1825 as the county seat for Early County.<ref>{{cite book | url=http://www.kenkrakow.com/gpn/b.pdf | title=Georgia Place-Names: Their History and Origins | publisher=Winship Press | author=Krakow, Kenneth K. | year=1975 | location=Macon, GA | pages=20 | isbn=0-915430-00-2}}</ref> It was named for [[Johnston Blakeley]], an officer in the [[War of 1812]].<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=REtEXQNWq6MC&pg=PA221 | title=Historical Gazetteer of the United States | publisher=Routledge | date=May 13, 2013 | access-date=30 November 2013 | author=Hellmann, Paul T. | pages=221| isbn=978-1135948597 }}</ref> Between 1881 and 1947 at least seven African-Americans were lynched in Blakely,<ref name="UGA Lynching Project">{{cite web |title=THE LYNCHING PROJECT: EARLY COUNTY |url=https://digihum.libs.uga.edu/exhibits/show/the-lynching-project--murder-a/georgia-historic-overview/early-county |access-date=17 June 2020}}</ref> including at least two veterans. One of these, [[Lynching of Wilbur Little|Wilbur Little]], was murdered upon returning from service in [[World War I]] by whites who detested seeing a black person in uniform.<ref>{{Citation|last=Wilkerson|first=Isabel|title=The Warmth of Other Suns : The Epic Story of America's Great Migration|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/881023508|pages=145|isbn=978-1-4915-4542-3|oclc=881023508|access-date=2020-07-18}}. Cites "Army Uniform Cost Soldier His Life," ''Chicago Defender'', April 5, 1919, p. 1.</ref> In 1960 an African-American veteran from New Jersey who was traveling through the county was convicted of rape and sentenced to death 3 days after his arrest in a trial that featured no defense counsel and no jury. The story was chronicled in the movie ''Fair Game''.A month after the article appeared in the Chicago Defender the NAACP sent Monroe N. Work to Blakely to investigate the incident. On June 7, 1919, Work sent a telegram to NAACP officer J.R. Shillady stating "Have investigated report. Blakely, Georgia, lynching does not appear to have {{sic|occu|rred}}." Work concluded his investigation by recommending that allegations of a lynching be dropped.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://hudsonreporter.com/2019/02/14/memory-of-georgia-lynching-lives-on-in-bayonne/|title = Memory of Georgia lynching lives on in Bayonne|date = 14 February 2019}}</ref> However, further review by the organization found that it had in fact occurred.<ref name="Du Bois">{{Cite book|last=Du Bois|first=William Edward Burghardt|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V8ARAQAAMAAJ&q=%22Wilbur+Little%22+lynching&pg=PA155|title=The Crisis: A Record of the Darker Races|date=July 1919|publisher=[[National Association for the Advancement of Colored People]]|volume=18|pages=155|language=en|issue=3 (Whole No. 105)}}</ref><ref name=Mikkelsen>{{cite thesis|last=Mikkelsen|first=Vincent|pages=139–140|date=2007|title=Coming from Battle to Face a War: The Lynching of Black Soldiers in the World War I Era|type=PhD|publisher=[[Florida State University College of Arts and Sciences]] |s2cid=161488986|url=https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/dc00/c316c4dfc74a4b2806b59e52d3a1615c132f.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200227181222/https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/dc00/c316c4dfc74a4b2806b59e52d3a1615c132f.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=2020-02-27}}</ref>

==Geography==
Blakely is located at {{coord|31|22|36|N|84|56|2|W|type:city}} (31.376728, -84.933873).<ref name="GR1">{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/geographies/reference-files/time-series/geo/gazetteer-files.html|publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|access-date=2011-04-23|date=2011-02-12|title=US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990}}</ref> The city is located in southwestern Georgia along [[U.S. Route 27 in Georgia|U.S. Route 27]], [[Georgia State Route 62]], and [[Georgia State Route 39]]. Blakely is located approximately {{convert|75|mi|km|abbr=on}} south of [[Columbus, Georgia|Columbus]], {{convert|48|mi|km|abbr=on}} southwest of [[Albany, Georgia|Albany]], and {{convert|76|mi|km|abbr=on}} northwest of [[Tallahassee, Florida]] and 24 miles northeast of [[Dothan, Alabama]].

According to the [[United States Census Bureau]], this town has a total area of {{convert|17.6|sqmi|km2}}, of which {{convert|17.5|sqmi|km2}} is land and {{convert|0.1|sqmi|km2}} (0.74%) is water.

==Demographics==
{{US Census population
|1880= 279
|1890= 441
|1900= 804
|1910= 1838
|1920= 1985
|1930= 2106
|1940= 2774
|1950= 3234
|1960= 3580
|1970= 5267
|1980= 5880
|1990= 5595
|2000= 5696
|2010= 5068
|2020= 5371
|footnote=U.S. Decennial Census<ref name="DecennialCensus">{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census/decade.html|title=Decennial Census of Population and Housing by Decade|publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|access-date=}}</ref><br> 1850-1870<ref name=1870CensusGA>{{Cite web|first= |last= |authorlink=   |title= 1870 Census of Population - Georgia - Population of Civil Divisions less than Counties |publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|date= 1870|url=https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/1870/population/1870a-13.pdf |accessdate=|archive-url=| archive-date=|page=}}</ref> 1870-1880<ref name=1880CensusGA>{{Cite web|first= |last= |authorlink=   |title= 1880 Census of Population - Georgia - Population of Civil Divisions less than Counties |publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|date= 1880|url=https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/1880/vol-01-population/1880_v1-09.pdf |accessdate=|archive-url=| archive-date=|page=}}</ref><br> 1890-1910<ref name=1910CensusGA>{{Cite web|first= |last= |authorlink=   |title= 1910 Census of Population - Georgia  |publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|date= 1910|url=https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/1910/abstract/supplement-ga.pdf |accessdate=|archive-url=| archive-date=|page=}}</ref> 1920-1930<ref name=1930CensusGA>{{Cite web|first= |last= |authorlink=   |title= 1930 Census of Population - Georgia  |publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|date= 1930|url=https://www2.census.gov/prod2/decennial/documents/03815512v1ch04.pdf |accessdate=|archive-url=| archive-date=|pages=251–256}}</ref><br> 1940<ref name=1940CensusGA>{{Cite web|first= |last= |authorlink=   |title= 1940 Census of Population - Georgia  |publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|date= 1940|url=https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/1940/population-volume-1/33973538v1ch04.pdf |accessdate=|archive-url=| archive-date=}}</ref> 1950<ref name=1950CensusGA>{{Cite web|first= |last= |authorlink=   |title= 1950 Census of Population - Georgia |publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|date= 1950|url=https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/1950/population-volume-2/37779083v2p11ch2.pdf |accessdate=|archive-url=| archive-date=}}</ref> 1960<ref name=1960CensusGA>{{Cite web|first= |last= |authorlink=   |title= 1960 Census of Population - Population of County Subdivisions - Georgia  |publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|date= 1960|url=https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/1960/population-volume-1/vol-01-12-c.pdf|accessdate=|archive-url=| archive-date=}}</ref><br> 1970<ref name=1970CensusGA>{{Cite web|first= |last= |authorlink=   |title= 1970 Census of Population - Population of County Subdivisions - Georgia  |publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|date= 1970|url=https://www2.census.gov/prod2/decennial/documents/1970a_ga-01.pdf|accessdate=|archive-url=| archive-date=}}</ref> 1980<ref name=1980CensusGA>{{Cite web|first= |last= |authorlink=   |title= 1980 Census of Population - Number of Inhabitants - Georgia  |publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|date= 1980|url=https://www2.census.gov/prod2/decennial/documents/1980a_gaABC-01.pdf|accessdate=|archive-url=| archive-date=}}</ref> 1990<ref name=1990CensusGA>{{Cite web|first= |last= |authorlink=   |title= 1990 Census of Population - Summary Social, Economic, and Housing Characteristics - Georgia |publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|date= 1990|url=https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/1990/cph-5/cph-5-12.pdf|accessdate=|archive-url=| archive-date=}}</ref><br> 2000<ref name=2000CensusGA>{{Cite web|first= |last= |authorlink=   |title= 2000 Census of Population - General Population Characteristics - Georgia  |publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|date= 2000|url=https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/2003/dec/phc-3-12.pdf |accessdate=|archive-url=| archive-date=}}</ref> 2010<ref name=2010CensusGA>{{Cite web|first= |last= |authorlink=   |title= 2010 Census of Population - General Population Characteristics - Georgia  |publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|date= 2010|url=https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/2010/cph-2/cph-2-12.pdf|accessdate=|archive-url=| archive-date=}}</ref> 
}}

{| class="wikitable"
|+Blakely racial composition as of 2020<ref>{{Cite web|title=Explore Census Data|url=https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?g=1600000US1308536&tid=DECENNIALPL2020.P2|access-date=2021-12-17|website=data.census.gov}}</ref>
!Race
!Num.
!Perc.
|-
|[[White (U.S. Census)|White]] (non-Hispanic)
|1,444
|26.89%
|-
|[[African American (U.S. Census)|Black or African American]] (non-Hispanic)
|3,706
|69.0%
|-
|[[Native American (U.S. Census)|Native American]]
|12
|0.22%
|-
|[[Asian (U.S. Census)|Asian]]
|32
|0.6%
|-
|[[Race (United States Census)|Other/Mixed]]
|113
|2.1%
|-
|[[Hispanic (U.S. Census)|Hispanic]] or [[Latino (U.S. Census)|Latino]]
|64
|1.19%
|}
As of the [[2020 United States census]], there were 5,371 people, 1,584 households, and 1,065 families residing in the city.
[[File:Blakely City Hall.jpg|thumb|Blakely City Hall]]

== Education ==

=== Early County School District ===
The [[Early County School District]] holds grades pre-school to grade twelve, and consists of one elementary school, a middle school, and a high school.<ref>[http://www.doe.k12.ga.us/ReportingFW.aspx?PageReq=111&PID=62&PTID=69&CountyId=649&T=0&FY=2009 Georgia Board of Education]{{dead link|date=July 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, Retrieved June 8, 2010.</ref> The district has 156 full-time teachers and over 2,764 students.<ref>[http://www.school-stats.com/GA/EARLY/EARLY_COUNTY.html School Stats], Retrieved June 8, 2010.</ref>
*Early County Elementary School
*Early County Middle School
*[[Early County High School]]

=== Alternative School ===
*Learning and Opportunity Academy

==References==

{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://cityofblakely.net/ City of Blakely]

{{Early County, Georgia}}
{{Georgia county seats}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Cities in Georgia (U.S. state)]]
[[Category:Cities in Early County, Georgia]]
[[Category:County seats in Georgia (U.S. state)]]