SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) Michael Thurmond thought he was reading familiar history at the burial place of Georgia’s colonial founder. Then a single sentence on a marble plaque extolling the accomplishments of James Edward Oglethorpe left him stunned speechless. Within a lengthy tribute to the Englishman who died in 1785, the inscription read: “He was […]
Black author Michael Thurmond says Georgia s white founding father deserves credit for inspiring the abolitionist movement that ultimately ended slavery. His new book - “James Oglethorpe, Father of Georgia” focuses on Oglethorpe s failed attempt to ban slavery after starting Britain s 13th American colony in 1733. By the time of the Civil War Georgia would have more slaves than any U.S. state but Virginia. But Thurmond argues Oglethorpe evolved to revile slavery and recognized the humanity in enslaved Africans. His book says that while Georgia s early prohibition on slavery ended, Oglethorpe returned to England and inspired activists who would become Britain s first abolitionists.