- Annexation & politics
- Segregation
- 1868 (memorial 1978)
- City of Atlanta
- Location approximate
The 'Original 33' expelled from the legislature (1868)
In April 1868 Georgia elected 33 Black legislators, 30 representatives and 3 senators. That September the white majority voted to expel nearly all of them because of their race, an early step toward the disfranchisement that underpinned Jim Crow.
The record
Accounts of how many were expelled differ: the New Georgia Encyclopedia says all but two, Madison Davis and Edwin Belcher, whose Black ancestry could not be proven under state law, while most records cited by GPB put the number at 27 to 29. In White v. Clements (1869) the Georgia Supreme Court held that Black men could hold office, and in early 1870 federal military authority under Gen. Alfred Terry forced the legislature to reseat the expelled members. Georgia later disfranchised most Black voters through the poll tax authorized in 1877, the white primary and a 1908 amendment adding literacy and property tests (Atlanta History Center). John Riddle's sculpture 'Expelled Because of Color', presented by the Black members of the General Assembly, was dedicated on the Capitol grounds in 1978; its inscription honors all 33. The expulsion took place before the present Capitol was built.
Today: The statue stands on the Capitol grounds.