WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.200 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Today we are taking 00:00:03.200 --> 00:00:07.559 a really concentrated plunge into a state that 00:00:07.559 --> 00:00:10.820 I think embodies, well, the paradox of the modern 00:00:10.820 --> 00:00:13.539 South. Georgia. Georgia, exactly. You know it 00:00:13.539 --> 00:00:15.539 as the Peach State, of course. But also the Empire 00:00:15.539 --> 00:00:17.660 State of the South. That's the older one. And 00:00:17.660 --> 00:00:19.600 that's really our mission today. We want to distill 00:00:19.600 --> 00:00:23.399 the essence of this incredibly complex place, 00:00:23.519 --> 00:00:27.899 tracing it from this... This very peculiar colonial 00:00:27.899 --> 00:00:30.699 experiment all the way up to its current status. 00:00:30.859 --> 00:00:34.740 A hyper -competitive global hub that is, I mean, 00:00:34.759 --> 00:00:36.700 let's be honest, dictating national politics 00:00:36.700 --> 00:00:39.159 right now. It really is. And you absolutely have 00:00:39.159 --> 00:00:40.820 to start with the scale of the place because 00:00:40.820 --> 00:00:43.579 Georgia's impact, I think, is just routinely 00:00:43.579 --> 00:00:45.719 underestimated. Okay, so give us the numbers. 00:00:46.159 --> 00:00:48.280 Geographically, it's the 24th largest. So, you 00:00:48.280 --> 00:00:51.259 know, respectable. But its real power is in its 00:00:51.259 --> 00:00:53.280 population density. It's the eighth most populous 00:00:53.280 --> 00:00:54.960 state in the country. And what's the latest estimate? 00:00:55.280 --> 00:00:58.740 For 2024, it's clocking in at around 11 .18 million 00:00:58.740 --> 00:01:01.219 people. And the key to understanding that population 00:01:01.219 --> 00:01:04.200 and really all the politics and economics that 00:01:04.200 --> 00:01:07.680 follow is Atlanta. Precisely. The Atlanta metropolitan 00:01:07.680 --> 00:01:10.040 area. I mean, it's a massive, sprawling thing. 00:01:10.299 --> 00:01:13.920 It's huge. It's home to over 6 .3 million people 00:01:13.920 --> 00:01:16.120 as of last year. So just do the math on that. 00:01:16.180 --> 00:01:19.500 That's more than half the state. It's 57 % of 00:01:19.500 --> 00:01:22.689 Georgia's entire population. That concentration 00:01:22.689 --> 00:01:26.469 in one single metro area is, well, it's arguably 00:01:26.469 --> 00:01:28.709 the single most important factor shaping the 00:01:28.709 --> 00:01:30.549 state today. It's like a gravitational pull. 00:01:30.730 --> 00:01:33.310 It is. It just fundamentally alters the statewide 00:01:33.310 --> 00:01:36.349 economy, the social composition, everything. 00:01:36.609 --> 00:01:38.909 Which makes Atlanta far more than just some regional 00:01:38.909 --> 00:01:40.989 city. It's a true global city. Oh, absolutely. 00:01:41.069 --> 00:01:43.730 It's a recognized world center for trade, for 00:01:43.730 --> 00:01:46.689 logistics, finance. I mean, to frame the stakes 00:01:46.689 --> 00:01:48.890 for you, the listener, just consider this. If 00:01:48.890 --> 00:01:51.329 you went back to 2005 and you... you treated 00:01:51.329 --> 00:01:54.209 Georgia like its own country. Its economy would 00:01:54.209 --> 00:01:56.829 have been the 28th largest in the entire world. 00:01:56.989 --> 00:02:00.730 And by 2018, its gross state product was already 00:02:00.730 --> 00:02:03.930 over $600 billion. So yeah, this is not some 00:02:03.930 --> 00:02:06.230 sleepy southern state. This is an immense engine 00:02:06.230 --> 00:02:08.689 of global commerce. And that's what makes its 00:02:08.689 --> 00:02:11.789 history and its recent political chaos so important 00:02:11.789 --> 00:02:14.250 for everyone to understand. All right, let's 00:02:14.250 --> 00:02:15.969 unpack it. We have to start at the beginning 00:02:15.969 --> 00:02:19.229 because the original vision for this colony was... 00:02:19.819 --> 00:02:22.180 Well, it was radically different from his neighbors. 00:02:22.360 --> 00:02:24.419 It was almost like a social engineering project. 00:02:24.560 --> 00:02:26.900 Georgia was the last and the southernmost of 00:02:26.900 --> 00:02:29.400 the original 13 colonies, established pretty 00:02:29.400 --> 00:02:32.599 late, too, 1732. And the first settlement, Savannah, 00:02:32.900 --> 00:02:36.900 was a year later. 1733, yeah. The name, of course, 00:02:36.979 --> 00:02:38.860 was just a straight homage to the king at the 00:02:38.860 --> 00:02:42.659 time, King George II. But the initial plan, this 00:02:42.659 --> 00:02:46.629 Oglethorpe plan, it was almost utopian. especially 00:02:46.629 --> 00:02:49.189 on the issue of labor. It was. General J .F. 00:02:49.389 --> 00:02:51.389 Oglethorpe, who founded the whole thing, he envisioned 00:02:51.389 --> 00:02:54.150 this agrarian society built on small, virtuous 00:02:54.150 --> 00:02:57.650 yeoman farmers. No huge plantations. Exactly. 00:02:57.969 --> 00:03:00.569 The rules were strict on land ownership and, 00:03:00.710 --> 00:03:03.310 critically, the initial plan prohibited slavery. 00:03:03.810 --> 00:03:06.430 Okay, prohibiting slavery in the 1730s in the 00:03:06.430 --> 00:03:09.189 Southern Colony. That sounds basically impossible 00:03:09.189 --> 00:03:11.509 from an economic standpoint at the time. It was 00:03:11.509 --> 00:03:14.250 a direct challenge to the whole system in, say, 00:03:14.370 --> 00:03:17.870 South Carolina next door. The trustees who founded 00:03:17.870 --> 00:03:20.370 the colony, they wanted this unique structure. 00:03:20.610 --> 00:03:22.250 And it wasn't just slavery they banned, right? 00:03:22.370 --> 00:03:24.930 No, they also initially banned rum and lawyers. 00:03:25.210 --> 00:03:27.629 Rum and lawyers. So they were really going for 00:03:27.629 --> 00:03:30.689 a moralistic society. Totally. They thought this 00:03:30.689 --> 00:03:33.430 small -scale farming approach would create a 00:03:33.430 --> 00:03:36.530 kind of buffer zone for debtors and the worthy 00:03:36.530 --> 00:03:39.759 poor between Spanish Florida and the... big, 00:03:39.879 --> 00:03:42.520 rich British colonies. So why did it fall apart 00:03:42.520 --> 00:03:45.180 so fast? It just wasn't economically viable, 00:03:45.340 --> 00:03:47.560 not in the long run, especially when settlers 00:03:47.560 --> 00:03:49.419 started coming in from other colonies who wanted 00:03:49.419 --> 00:03:52.060 to get rich using enslaved labor. The restrictions 00:03:52.060 --> 00:03:54.479 just hampered growth. So the colonists themselves 00:03:54.479 --> 00:03:58.139 pushed back. Immense pressure. So by 1752, the 00:03:58.139 --> 00:04:00.680 trustees were facing debt. Their subsidies from 00:04:00.680 --> 00:04:02.939 the crown were running out and they just relinquished 00:04:02.939 --> 00:04:05.080 control. And Georgia becomes a royal colony. 00:04:05.240 --> 00:04:08.039 Yep. And immediately the restrictions on large 00:04:08.039 --> 00:04:10.629 landholding. and most importantly, a prohibition 00:04:10.629 --> 00:04:13.210 on slavery were just gone. The experiment was 00:04:13.210 --> 00:04:15.530 over. Georgia fell right in line with the rest 00:04:15.530 --> 00:04:18.430 of the South. But despite that rocky start, they 00:04:18.430 --> 00:04:20.269 were all in on the revolution. Oh, completely. 00:04:20.550 --> 00:04:23.129 The delegates unanimously approved the Declaration 00:04:23.129 --> 00:04:25.350 of Independence. And when it came time to form 00:04:25.350 --> 00:04:27.589 the new country, Georgia was one of the first 00:04:27.589 --> 00:04:30.230 on board. Tenth to ratify the Articles of Confederation. 00:04:30.389 --> 00:04:34.230 In 1778, and then famously the fourth state to 00:04:34.230 --> 00:04:37.550 ratify the U .S. Constitution, January 2nd, 1788. 00:04:37.850 --> 00:04:39.509 Now here's where it gets really interesting, 00:04:39.569 --> 00:04:43.279 because... Georgia originally claimed this massive 00:04:43.279 --> 00:04:46.160 piece of land stretching west. All the way to 00:04:46.160 --> 00:04:48.560 the Mississippi. And it was forced to give it 00:04:48.560 --> 00:04:51.120 up in a scandal that just screams early republic 00:04:51.120 --> 00:04:54.860 corruption. Tell us about the Yazoo land sales. 00:04:55.120 --> 00:04:58.160 This was a colossal political and legal firestorm. 00:04:58.259 --> 00:05:00.500 I mean, it was a huge deal. So they claimed all 00:05:00.500 --> 00:05:03.860 that land. Right. And in 1795, the state legislature 00:05:03.860 --> 00:05:07.680 was bribed, just flagrantly bribed, to sell off 00:05:07.680 --> 00:05:09.920 huge chunks of this western territory. How much 00:05:09.920 --> 00:05:12.279 land are we talking? About 35 million acres. 00:05:12.560 --> 00:05:16.220 For ridiculously low prices to four land speculation 00:05:16.220 --> 00:05:18.980 companies. That was the Yazoo land sale. I mean, 00:05:18.980 --> 00:05:20.639 that's the dictionary definition of corruption. 00:05:20.680 --> 00:05:23.720 There had to be a huge backlash. Ooh. The outrage 00:05:23.720 --> 00:05:27.360 was so intense that the next legislature in 1796 00:05:27.360 --> 00:05:30.620 repealed the whole thing. They even symbolically 00:05:30.620 --> 00:05:33.560 burned the records with a magnifying glass focused 00:05:33.560 --> 00:05:35.680 on the sun. But the land had already been sold, 00:05:35.779 --> 00:05:38.180 right? Exactly. The companies had already resold 00:05:38.180 --> 00:05:40.199 it to third parties, which created a legal nightmare. 00:05:40.339 --> 00:05:43.899 So to fix it, Georgia just ceded all its western 00:05:43.899 --> 00:05:46.339 lands, what would become Alabama and Mississippi, 00:05:46.639 --> 00:05:49.079 to the federal government. In exchange for what? 00:05:49.370 --> 00:05:54.129 A payment of $1 .25 million. And just like that, 00:05:54.230 --> 00:05:56.810 the map of the Deep South was fundamentally redrawn. 00:05:56.930 --> 00:05:58.930 And losing all that western lands, ironically, 00:05:59.209 --> 00:06:01.600 that drive settlement pressure inward. Which 00:06:01.600 --> 00:06:03.980 leads almost right away to gold being discovered. 00:06:04.139 --> 00:06:06.740 And to one of the darkest chapters in the state's 00:06:06.740 --> 00:06:09.360 history. Indigenous removal. Yeah. The Georgia 00:06:09.360 --> 00:06:11.860 gold rush kicked off in 1829 in the northern 00:06:11.860 --> 00:06:14.420 mountains. And it prompted this colossal rush 00:06:14.420 --> 00:06:16.579 of settlers right onto land that was occupied 00:06:16.579 --> 00:06:18.439 by the sovereign Cherokee Nation. And this was 00:06:18.439 --> 00:06:21.040 real gold. Oh, yeah. The federal government even 00:06:21.040 --> 00:06:23.399 set up a mint in a town called Dalanega that 00:06:23.399 --> 00:06:26.439 ran right up until the Civil War. So that influx 00:06:26.439 --> 00:06:28.899 creates the political will for the Indian Removal 00:06:28.899 --> 00:06:31.389 Act. It directly fueled it. President Andrew 00:06:31.389 --> 00:06:34.209 Jackson's whole push for the act in 1830 was 00:06:34.209 --> 00:06:37.069 driven by this desire for land and gold. But 00:06:37.069 --> 00:06:40.540 the Cherokee Nation, they fought back. In the 00:06:40.540 --> 00:06:42.259 court. And they won, right? The Supreme Court 00:06:42.259 --> 00:06:45.740 sided with them. Definitively. In 1832, the Supreme 00:06:45.740 --> 00:06:48.500 Court, with Chief Justice John Marshall, ruled 00:06:48.500 --> 00:06:50.800 in Worcester v. Georgia that the states couldn't 00:06:50.800 --> 00:06:52.600 enforce their laws within Cherokee territory. 00:06:52.959 --> 00:06:55.740 They upheld tribal sovereignty. But it didn't 00:06:55.740 --> 00:06:57.319 matter. It's one of the most famous examples 00:06:57.319 --> 00:06:59.420 of a president just ignoring the Supreme Court. 00:06:59.879 --> 00:07:02.480 Jackson allegedly said, John Marshall has made 00:07:02.480 --> 00:07:05.060 his decision. Now let him enforce it. And he 00:07:05.060 --> 00:07:07.759 just didn't. He didn't. And the state of Georgia 00:07:07.759 --> 00:07:10.860 helped run a land lottery. to give away Cherokee 00:07:10.860 --> 00:07:13.439 land. Which results in the Trail of Tears. The 00:07:13.439 --> 00:07:17.000 devastating aftermath. In 1838, the federal military 00:07:17.000 --> 00:07:19.819 was sent in to forcibly round up and deport the 00:07:19.819 --> 00:07:22.360 Cherokee tribes west of the Mississippi. A forced 00:07:22.360 --> 00:07:25.480 march. Under horrific conditions. It led to the 00:07:25.480 --> 00:07:28.560 deaths of an estimated 4 ,000 Cherokee people 00:07:28.560 --> 00:07:32.079 from exposure, disease, and starvation. It's 00:07:32.079 --> 00:07:34.439 a foundational tragedy, and it's directly tied 00:07:34.439 --> 00:07:37.220 to those resources in North Georgia. That history 00:07:37.220 --> 00:07:40.139 of conflict, territory, resource extraction, 00:07:40.399 --> 00:07:42.779 it feels like a perfect prelude to the Civil 00:07:42.779 --> 00:07:45.639 War, where Georgia was absolutely central to 00:07:45.639 --> 00:07:48.660 the Confederacy. It chose to secede early. January 00:07:48.660 --> 00:07:52.180 19th, 1861, one of the original seven Confederate 00:07:52.180 --> 00:07:54.980 states. And its value was immense. Because of 00:07:54.980 --> 00:07:57.079 the railroads and agriculture? Railroads, agriculture, 00:07:57.399 --> 00:07:59.740 manufacturing, especially textiles. It was literally 00:07:59.740 --> 00:08:02.860 the supply hub for the entire Confederacy. So 00:08:02.860 --> 00:08:05.079 the military campaign against Georgia wasn't 00:08:05.079 --> 00:08:07.480 just about winning battles. It was about destroying 00:08:07.480 --> 00:08:09.959 the South's ability to even wage war. That's 00:08:09.959 --> 00:08:12.420 it, exactly. I mean, you have huge, bloody battles 00:08:12.420 --> 00:08:14.980 like Chickamauga and Kennesaw Mountain. But the 00:08:14.980 --> 00:08:17.639 real pivot point was the fall of Atlanta in September. 00:08:17.740 --> 00:08:21.180 1864. And that led directly to Sherman. To General 00:08:21.180 --> 00:08:23.480 William Tecumseh Sherman's strategic and psychological 00:08:23.480 --> 00:08:26.639 campaign, the infamous March to the Sea. How 00:08:26.639 --> 00:08:29.240 devastating was that really? It was total war. 00:08:29.360 --> 00:08:31.920 It was aimed at civilian infrastructure. Starting 00:08:31.920 --> 00:08:35.580 in November 1864, his forces just systematically 00:08:35.580 --> 00:08:39.399 destroyed a 60 mile wide path from Atlanta all 00:08:39.399 --> 00:08:41.460 the way to Savannah. So they weren't just fighting. 00:08:41.820 --> 00:08:45.480 No. They tore up 300 miles of railroad track. 00:08:45.700 --> 00:08:47.799 They would heat the rails and twist them around 00:08:47.799 --> 00:08:50.299 trees. They called them Sherman's neckties. They 00:08:50.299 --> 00:08:53.500 destroyed cotton gins, mills, burned crops. The 00:08:53.500 --> 00:08:55.840 psychological damage was just as big as the economic 00:08:55.840 --> 00:08:58.100 damage. And the human cost of the war for the 00:08:58.100 --> 00:09:01.500 state was staggering. Horrific. On the Confederate 00:09:01.500 --> 00:09:05.580 side, 18 ,253 Georgian soldiers were killed. 00:09:05.779 --> 00:09:08.299 That's roughly one in five men from Georgia who 00:09:08.299 --> 00:09:10.360 served. They didn't come home. And on the Union 00:09:10.360 --> 00:09:12.139 side, Georgia... was home to one of the most 00:09:12.139 --> 00:09:14.419 notorious sites of the whole war. Andersonville 00:09:14.419 --> 00:09:16.299 Prison. A name that still just carries so much 00:09:16.299 --> 00:09:18.539 weight. It's an enduring scar. It was formerly 00:09:18.539 --> 00:09:21.200 Camp Sumter, and it was infamous for overcrowding, 00:09:21.240 --> 00:09:24.240 no sanitation, starvation rations. Nearly 13 00:09:24.240 --> 00:09:27.000 ,000 Union prisoners of war died there. Mostly 00:09:27.000 --> 00:09:30.299 from disease and starvation. Exactly. Just inhumane 00:09:30.299 --> 00:09:32.779 conditions. And the consequences for the camp's 00:09:32.779 --> 00:09:34.919 commander, Henry Wertz, were swift after the 00:09:34.919 --> 00:09:37.470 war. He was executed right. Tried for war crimes, 00:09:37.730 --> 00:09:40.549 convicted and hanged. He is the highest ranking 00:09:40.549 --> 00:09:42.730 Confederate official to be executed after the 00:09:42.730 --> 00:09:45.070 conflict. So at that level of destruction and 00:09:45.070 --> 00:09:47.289 trauma, getting back into the Union must have 00:09:47.289 --> 00:09:50.169 been a long, messy process. It was incredibly 00:09:50.169 --> 00:09:52.649 protracted. Georgia actually holds the distinction 00:09:52.649 --> 00:09:55.110 of being the very last of the former Confederate 00:09:55.110 --> 00:09:57.590 states to be readmitted. The last one. When did 00:09:57.590 --> 00:10:01.879 that happen? Not until July 15, 1870. And even 00:10:01.879 --> 00:10:04.240 then, federal troops stayed in the state for 00:10:04.240 --> 00:10:06.779 another seven years until Reconstruction officially 00:10:06.779 --> 00:10:10.279 ended in 1877. Which really takes us right into 00:10:10.279 --> 00:10:12.480 part two, because once those federal troops leave, 00:10:12.799 --> 00:10:15.980 the conflict just shifts. It goes from a military 00:10:15.980 --> 00:10:18.679 occupation to a systemic, political and social 00:10:18.679 --> 00:10:21.960 one. Exactly. White Democrats regain power and 00:10:21.960 --> 00:10:24.039 they immediately engineer a new system for total 00:10:24.039 --> 00:10:26.700 political dominance. The goal was crystal clear. 00:10:26.899 --> 00:10:29.379 Maintain white control and suppress the power 00:10:29.379 --> 00:10:31.289 of the newly enfranchised black. population. 00:10:31.330 --> 00:10:33.970 And poor whites who might ally with them. This 00:10:33.970 --> 00:10:35.889 was all done through legislation, what we call 00:10:35.889 --> 00:10:39.169 disfranchisement. They passed a poll tax in 1877. 00:10:39.389 --> 00:10:41.509 Which was designed to stop poor people from voting. 00:10:41.610 --> 00:10:43.889 By requiring a cash payment. Yeah. Yeah. Especially 00:10:43.889 --> 00:10:45.950 black citizens. But the poll tax was just one 00:10:45.950 --> 00:10:50.340 tool. Yeah. The white primary. That seems like 00:10:50.340 --> 00:10:52.279 it was even more effective at just excluding 00:10:52.279 --> 00:10:54.580 black voices entirely. It was a brilliant and 00:10:54.580 --> 00:10:58.159 just a nefarious legal trick. In 1908, they set 00:10:58.159 --> 00:11:00.100 up the white primary. Now, since the Democratic 00:11:00.100 --> 00:11:03.120 Party had a total monopoly on power, winning 00:11:03.120 --> 00:11:05.340 their primary was the only election that mattered. 00:11:05.500 --> 00:11:07.980 So if you're not in the primary, you have no 00:11:07.980 --> 00:11:11.240 say. Exactly. By legally calling the primary 00:11:11.240 --> 00:11:14.240 a private affair of the party, they could legally 00:11:14.240 --> 00:11:17.019 exclude black voters. It made the general election 00:11:17.019 --> 00:11:19.080 completely meaningless for them. And you could 00:11:19.080 --> 00:11:21.279 track the demographic results of these laws pretty 00:11:21.279 --> 00:11:24.159 directly. You absolutely can. In 1900, African 00:11:24.159 --> 00:11:27.419 -Americans were a massive 46 .7 percent of the 00:11:27.419 --> 00:11:30.059 state's population, almost half. Wow. But because 00:11:30.059 --> 00:11:32.399 of these disenfranchisement laws and also because 00:11:32.399 --> 00:11:34.360 of the Great Migration, where black citizens 00:11:34.360 --> 00:11:36.480 left the South for jobs in the North. That number 00:11:36.480 --> 00:11:39.649 just plummeted. dropped significantly. By 1960, 00:11:39.950 --> 00:11:43.370 it was down to 28%. The state successfully engineered 00:11:43.370 --> 00:11:46.009 a politically marginalized minority. And this 00:11:46.009 --> 00:11:49.110 era also has that dark legacy of extralegal violence, 00:11:49.450 --> 00:11:52.690 lynching. The statistics are horrifying. They 00:11:52.690 --> 00:11:55.110 really speak to the climate of terror. Between 00:11:55.110 --> 00:12:00.350 1877 and 1950, Georgia recorded 531 deaths from 00:12:00.350 --> 00:12:02.970 lynching, the second highest total in the entire 00:12:02.970 --> 00:12:05.720 South. And this environment, of course, was bolstered 00:12:05.720 --> 00:12:08.039 by the rise of white supremacist groups. Which 00:12:08.039 --> 00:12:10.980 brings us to Stone Mountain. Right. Stone Mountain 00:12:10.980 --> 00:12:13.480 holds a really significant and dark place in 00:12:13.480 --> 00:12:16.019 this history. The second version of the Ku Klux 00:12:16.019 --> 00:12:18.159 Klan was formally brought back into existence 00:12:18.159 --> 00:12:21.179 there. When was this? Thanksgiving night, 1915. 00:12:21.519 --> 00:12:24.179 And this revival was partly spurred on by this 00:12:24.179 --> 00:12:26.639 incredibly controversial case happening in Atlanta 00:12:26.639 --> 00:12:29.179 at the time. The murder of Mary Fagan and the 00:12:29.179 --> 00:12:31.460 lynching of Leo Frank. Yeah. Tell us about the 00:12:31.460 --> 00:12:34.200 ripple effect of that one event. So in 1913, 00:12:34.460 --> 00:12:36.799 a 13 -year -old factory worker named Mary Fagan 00:12:36.799 --> 00:12:39.139 was murdered. Her Jewish supervisor Leo Frank 00:12:39.139 --> 00:12:41.440 was convicted. But there is mounting evidence 00:12:41.440 --> 00:12:43.700 he was innocent, and the governor even commuted 00:12:43.700 --> 00:12:46.320 his death sentence to life in prison. But a mob 00:12:46.320 --> 00:12:49.100 took him from the prison. An armed mob. calling 00:12:49.100 --> 00:12:51.779 themselves the Knights of Mary Fagan, kidnapped 00:12:51.779 --> 00:12:55.000 Frank from his cell and lynched him in Marietta 00:12:55.000 --> 00:12:58.320 in 1915. And this wasn't just a local tragedy. 00:12:58.399 --> 00:13:01.220 This was a national event. It really was. And 00:13:01.220 --> 00:13:04.700 it had these profound consequences. Frank's lynching 00:13:04.700 --> 00:13:07.399 immediately galvanized the Jewish community across 00:13:07.399 --> 00:13:10.720 the country. It was a direct catalyst for the 00:13:10.720 --> 00:13:13.419 formal creation of the Anti -Defamation League, 00:13:13.500 --> 00:13:16.360 the ADL. So that tragic event in Georgia directly 00:13:16.360 --> 00:13:19.960 led to a major national civil rights organization. 00:13:20.220 --> 00:13:22.480 It did. Specifically to fight anti -Semitism 00:13:22.480 --> 00:13:25.059 and bias. It's just an incredible juxtaposition. 00:13:25.200 --> 00:13:28.019 A state dealing with this intense internal social 00:13:28.019 --> 00:13:31.000 turmoil, but at the same time, it's quietly hosting 00:13:31.000 --> 00:13:33.059 the highest levels of national economic planning. 00:13:33.259 --> 00:13:34.960 You're talking about Jekyll Island. That secret 00:13:34.960 --> 00:13:37.799 meeting in 1910. Yeah, it's astonishing. In November 00:13:37.799 --> 00:13:40.899 1910, this small, super secretive group of the 00:13:40.899 --> 00:13:42.899 nation's most powerful bankers and politicians, 00:13:43.299 --> 00:13:45.840 we're talking people from J .P. Morgan, Rockefeller, 00:13:45.940 --> 00:13:48.620 European Finance, they all met secretly on Jekyll 00:13:48.620 --> 00:13:51.460 Island. To plan what? To draft the plan for a 00:13:51.460 --> 00:13:54.679 new permanent American central banking system. 00:13:54.960 --> 00:13:57.840 The plans they drew up in secret on that Georgia 00:13:57.840 --> 00:14:00.600 island led directly to the Federal Reserve Act 00:14:00.600 --> 00:14:04.220 of 1913. Wow. So the Fed was basically born on 00:14:04.220 --> 00:14:07.440 a beach in Georgia. In secret. A fact that is 00:14:07.440 --> 00:14:09.679 often completely overshadowed by the state's 00:14:09.679 --> 00:14:12.100 more visible struggles. And speaking of struggles, 00:14:12.179 --> 00:14:14.159 let's jump forward to the mid -20th century, 00:14:14.399 --> 00:14:17.360 the civil rights era. This is where Georgia's 00:14:17.360 --> 00:14:19.919 role is fundamentally redefined, not just in 00:14:19.919 --> 00:14:21.710 the South, but for the whole country. And that 00:14:21.710 --> 00:14:24.210 transformation was led by Georgia natives, most 00:14:24.210 --> 00:14:26.309 famously, of course, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 00:14:26.470 --> 00:14:30.230 Yep. He came from the educated black middle class 00:14:30.230 --> 00:14:33.149 of the city, and he used Atlanta as the perfect 00:14:33.149 --> 00:14:35.870 base of operations. It was central, it was economically 00:14:35.870 --> 00:14:38.669 powerful, and it had this strong network of churches 00:14:38.669 --> 00:14:40.629 and universities. Which led to the formation 00:14:40.629 --> 00:14:42.509 of one of the most important civil rights groups 00:14:42.509 --> 00:14:44.529 in the South. The Southern Christian Leadership 00:14:44.529 --> 00:14:47.549 Conference, the SCLC. Dr. King co -founded it 00:14:47.549 --> 00:14:50.769 right there in Atlanta in 1957, focusing on nonviolent... 00:14:50.759 --> 00:14:53.480 direct action. And the city has really honored 00:14:53.480 --> 00:14:56.299 him. His tomb is now a National Historical Park. 00:14:56.480 --> 00:14:59.399 Now, the state government was, I imagine, often 00:14:59.399 --> 00:15:02.559 reluctant to change. But some leaders did embrace 00:15:02.559 --> 00:15:05.220 it. Yeah, there were some who saw which way the 00:15:05.220 --> 00:15:08.159 wind was blowing. Atlanta's mayor, Ivan Allen 00:15:08.159 --> 00:15:11.019 Jr., was one of the only white Southern politicians 00:15:11.019 --> 00:15:14.059 to actually testify before Congress in favor 00:15:14.059 --> 00:15:16.639 of the Civil Rights Act. That's a big deal. Huge. 00:15:16.659 --> 00:15:18.960 And Governor Carl Sanders worked with the Kennedy 00:15:18.960 --> 00:15:21.240 administration to make sure the state complied 00:15:21.240 --> 00:15:23.940 with the new federal laws. He helped manage that 00:15:23.940 --> 00:15:26.500 difficult transition away from segregation. And 00:15:26.500 --> 00:15:29.659 that cooperation led to real political breakthroughs 00:15:29.659 --> 00:15:31.500 for African -American leaders. It absolutely 00:15:31.500 --> 00:15:33.379 did. You start to see the integration of the 00:15:33.379 --> 00:15:35.919 state government. Julian Bond was elected to 00:15:35.919 --> 00:15:39.179 the Georgia House in 1965. And then Andrew Young 00:15:39.179 --> 00:15:41.779 was elected to Congress in 72. And he was the 00:15:41.779 --> 00:15:43.860 first African -American congressman from Georgia 00:15:43.860 --> 00:15:47.059 since when? Since Reconstruction ended in 1877. 00:15:47.259 --> 00:15:50.460 A huge gap. Which all Coleman needs in this really 00:15:50.460 --> 00:15:52.500 powerful declaration for Jimmy Carter when he 00:15:52.500 --> 00:15:54.799 becomes governor. Yeah. In 1970, in his inaugural 00:15:54.799 --> 00:15:57.350 address. Governor Jimmy Carter declared that 00:15:57.350 --> 00:16:00.049 the time for racial discrimination is over. A 00:16:00.049 --> 00:16:02.909 southern governor saying that in 1970. It was 00:16:02.909 --> 00:16:05.830 seen as a major moral and political pivot point 00:16:05.830 --> 00:16:09.029 for the whole region. And of course, Carter used 00:16:09.029 --> 00:16:11.490 that image as a progressive southern voice to 00:16:11.490 --> 00:16:13.590 get all the way to the White House. He became 00:16:13.590 --> 00:16:16.230 the 39th president. Before we move on to the 00:16:16.230 --> 00:16:18.049 state's physical environment, we have to talk 00:16:18.049 --> 00:16:20.450 about this chilling Cold War story you found. 00:16:20.919 --> 00:16:24.100 A missing nuclear bomb. Yeah, this is a detail 00:16:24.100 --> 00:16:26.779 that's often forgotten, but it's pretty serious. 00:16:27.240 --> 00:16:31.779 On February 5th, 1958, a B -47 bomber collided 00:16:31.779 --> 00:16:33.879 with a fighter jet during a training mission. 00:16:34.059 --> 00:16:36.220 Okay. To save the plane and make an emergency 00:16:36.220 --> 00:16:39.360 landing, the bomber crew jettisoned a Mark 15 00:16:39.360 --> 00:16:43.759 hydrogen bomb, a 7 ,600 -pound weapon. They just 00:16:43.759 --> 00:16:46.320 dropped it. Where? Off the coast of Tybee Islet, 00:16:46.480 --> 00:16:48.919 near Savannah. A hydrogen bomb is just sitting 00:16:48.919 --> 00:16:51.059 off the coast of Georgia. Well, officials believe 00:16:51.059 --> 00:16:53.659 its plutonium core had been removed, so it couldn't 00:16:53.659 --> 00:16:56.559 create a full nuclear blast. But it still had 00:16:56.559 --> 00:16:58.659 conventional explosives that could scatter uranium 00:16:58.659 --> 00:17:00.919 everywhere. A radiological threat. A serious 00:17:00.919 --> 00:17:02.940 one. They searched for it extensively in the 00:17:02.940 --> 00:17:05.039 60s, but it was never found. The current belief 00:17:05.039 --> 00:17:07.500 is that the Tybee bomb is still buried deep in 00:17:07.500 --> 00:17:09.900 the silt at the bottom of Wausau Sound. That 00:17:09.900 --> 00:17:13.819 is an unnerving piece of Cold War history. Okay, 00:17:13.880 --> 00:17:17.180 let's shift now to what shapes the state physically. 00:17:17.819 --> 00:17:21.680 It's geography, climate. And ecology. Because 00:17:21.680 --> 00:17:24.519 Georgia is not just the flat, humid place many 00:17:24.519 --> 00:17:26.720 people imagine. Not at all. Its complexity is 00:17:26.720 --> 00:17:30.140 rooted in its geology. It has five main physiographic 00:17:30.140 --> 00:17:32.700 regions, each one totally different from the 00:17:32.700 --> 00:17:34.839 next. Okay, break them down for us. So in the 00:17:34.839 --> 00:17:37.440 far northwest corner, you've got a tiny rugged 00:17:37.440 --> 00:17:40.279 piece of the Cumberland Plateau. Next to that 00:17:40.279 --> 00:17:42.319 is the Ridge and Valley Appalachians. Then you 00:17:42.319 --> 00:17:43.980 get into the mountains. The Blue Ridge Mountains, 00:17:44.259 --> 00:17:47.319 yeah. Heavily forested, beautiful, and that's 00:17:47.319 --> 00:17:48.920 where you'll find the state's highest point. 00:17:49.140 --> 00:17:51.339 Then south of that is the Piedmont, which means 00:17:51.339 --> 00:17:53.660 foot of the mountain. That's central Georgia, 00:17:53.720 --> 00:17:55.940 where Atlanta is. And that region transitions 00:17:55.940 --> 00:17:58.569 into the coastal plain. At a geological feature 00:17:58.569 --> 00:18:01.329 called the fall line, where the rivers drop steeply, 00:18:01.390 --> 00:18:03.849 and that marks the start of the fifth and largest 00:18:03.849 --> 00:18:06.369 region, the huge, flat Atlantic coastal plain 00:18:06.369 --> 00:18:08.470 that covers the whole southern half of the state. 00:18:08.690 --> 00:18:10.990 And that creates some pretty extreme elevation 00:18:10.990 --> 00:18:14.670 differences. It does. The highest point is Brasstown 00:18:14.670 --> 00:18:19.369 Bald in the Blue Ridge at 4 ,784 feet. The lowest, 00:18:19.410 --> 00:18:21.650 of course, is the Atlantic Ocean at sea level. 00:18:21.809 --> 00:18:24.410 So the climate is mostly humid subtropical. Predominantly, 00:18:24.450 --> 00:18:27.980 yeah. long hot humid summers but the northern 00:18:27.980 --> 00:18:29.839 mountains get high enough that they can get snow 00:18:29.839 --> 00:18:31.740 and have much cooler temperatures and the state 00:18:31.740 --> 00:18:34.039 is incredibly well watered it gets a lot of rain 00:18:34.380 --> 00:18:38.240 A ton of precipitation. Anywhere from 45 inches 00:18:38.240 --> 00:18:40.880 a year in the middle of the state up to 75 inches 00:18:40.880 --> 00:18:43.279 in the northeast mountains. And all that water 00:18:43.279 --> 00:18:45.920 fuels this immense biodiversity. How diverse 00:18:45.920 --> 00:18:49.099 are we talking? Roughly 250 native tree species. 00:18:49.279 --> 00:18:53.319 A remarkable number. Red cedar, pines, oaks, 00:18:53.420 --> 00:18:56.460 cypress, even the subtropical sable palmetto 00:18:56.460 --> 00:18:59.180 down on the coast. And the state protects 58 00:18:59.180 --> 00:19:02.160 specific plant species like yellow jasmine and 00:19:02.160 --> 00:19:05.069 mountain laurel. out in terms of animals. The 00:19:05.069 --> 00:19:07.250 white -tailed deer population is thriving. You 00:19:07.250 --> 00:19:09.390 can find them in almost every county. Georgia's 00:19:09.390 --> 00:19:12.170 also home to about 160 bird species, with the 00:19:12.170 --> 00:19:14.569 brown thrasher being the state bird. And reptiles. 00:19:14.869 --> 00:19:18.829 79 species. You've got venomous snakes like the 00:19:18.829 --> 00:19:20.769 eastern diamondback, and of course, American 00:19:20.769 --> 00:19:24.470 alligators down in the coastal plain. Plus, 63 00:19:24.470 --> 00:19:27.210 species of amphibians. But you highlighted a 00:19:27.210 --> 00:19:30.269 major modern ecological problem, an invasive 00:19:30.269 --> 00:19:34.289 lizard. The Argentine tegu. Yeah, this is a classic 00:19:34.289 --> 00:19:37.009 modern ecological battle. The Argentine black 00:19:37.009 --> 00:19:39.490 and white tegu is this massive lizard. It can 00:19:39.490 --> 00:19:42.150 get up to four feet long. It's smart. It's adaptable. 00:19:42.309 --> 00:19:44.289 And is introduced to the pet trade. Exactly. 00:19:44.349 --> 00:19:46.349 And now they have breeding populations in the 00:19:46.349 --> 00:19:49.390 wild and they are devastating predators. They 00:19:49.390 --> 00:19:51.549 eat the eggs of ground nesting birds, gopher 00:19:51.549 --> 00:19:54.390 tortoises, even alligators. They are a direct 00:19:54.390 --> 00:19:56.650 threat to Georgia's native protected species. 00:19:57.049 --> 00:19:59.440 Know what's being done. State and federal agencies 00:19:59.440 --> 00:20:01.640 are in a constant battle, trying to track and 00:20:01.640 --> 00:20:03.640 trap them just to manage their spread. It's a 00:20:03.640 --> 00:20:05.440 tough fight. And for the anglers out there, the 00:20:05.440 --> 00:20:07.400 fishing is pretty good, too. Excellent. Across 00:20:07.400 --> 00:20:09.640 the board. In freshwater, you're looking for 00:20:09.640 --> 00:20:12.039 trout in the cold mountain streams, plus bass 00:20:12.039 --> 00:20:14.519 and catfish. And on the coast, you've got red 00:20:14.519 --> 00:20:18.500 drum, tarpon, flounder, a huge variety. OK, that 00:20:18.500 --> 00:20:20.539 brings us to part three, the part that really 00:20:20.539 --> 00:20:23.279 earns Georgia that Empire State of the South 00:20:23.279 --> 00:20:26.119 nickname. This is the economic powerhouse. The 00:20:26.119 --> 00:20:28.299 financial strength is foundational to this whole 00:20:28.299 --> 00:20:30.640 story. Georgia consistently holds the highest 00:20:30.640 --> 00:20:33.759 possible credit rating, AAA from Standard & Poor's. 00:20:33.920 --> 00:20:37.380 But here is the most striking modern stat. For 00:20:37.380 --> 00:20:42.339 12 consecutive years as of 2025. Area Development 00:20:42.339 --> 00:20:45.259 Magazine has named Georgia the number one top 00:20:45.259 --> 00:20:47.839 state for doing business. 12 years in a row. 00:20:47.920 --> 00:20:50.420 That's not a fluke. Not at all. That kind of 00:20:50.420 --> 00:20:53.220 success requires a very specific strategy, tax 00:20:53.220 --> 00:20:55.819 incentives, predictable regulation, and attracting 00:20:55.819 --> 00:20:58.980 huge corporations. And it's become a major headquarters 00:20:58.980 --> 00:21:01.779 hub. A huge one. We're talking massive global 00:21:01.779 --> 00:21:04.759 players. Home Depot, Coca -Cola, Delta Airlines, 00:21:05.119 --> 00:21:07.839 Aflac, UPS. And that UPS moved to Sandy Springs 00:21:07.839 --> 00:21:10.940 back in 91. That was a big statement. It was 00:21:10.940 --> 00:21:13.960 a profound statement about logistics. UPS one 00:21:13.960 --> 00:21:16.400 of the world's biggest companies chose a Georgia 00:21:16.400 --> 00:21:19.269 suburb for one reason. unparalleled infrastructure 00:21:19.269 --> 00:21:21.670 access. That is the core of their number one 00:21:21.670 --> 00:21:23.910 ranking, logistics and connectivity. So what 00:21:23.910 --> 00:21:25.950 makes the infrastructure so good? The state is 00:21:25.950 --> 00:21:27.910 ranked second in the whole country for infrastructure 00:21:27.910 --> 00:21:30.549 and global access. It has the most extensive 00:21:30.549 --> 00:21:33.450 rail system in the southeast, but the real clincher 00:21:33.450 --> 00:21:36.690 is the roads. Interstates. Yeah. Georgia's major 00:21:36.690 --> 00:21:38.970 interstates connect to an incredible 80 percent 00:21:38.970 --> 00:21:40.890 of the U .S. population within a two day truck 00:21:40.890 --> 00:21:43.710 drive. If you need to ship something, Georgia 00:21:43.710 --> 00:21:46.289 is often the fastest way to do it. That all suggests 00:21:46.289 --> 00:21:49.269 low operating costs. But you found this weird 00:21:49.269 --> 00:21:51.250 paradox when you look at the average citizen. 00:21:51.450 --> 00:21:54.089 A huge tension. It's ranked as highly affordable, 00:21:54.250 --> 00:21:57.319 but... People have a lot of personal debt. It's 00:21:57.319 --> 00:22:00.420 a genuine puzzle that points to some serious 00:22:00.420 --> 00:22:03.799 income disparity. A 2024 study listed Georgia 00:22:03.799 --> 00:22:06.299 in the top 20 for affordability. So, you know, 00:22:06.299 --> 00:22:08.420 utilities, groceries, they're relatively cheap. 00:22:08.500 --> 00:22:11.619 But 2025 data showed Georgia leading the entire 00:22:11.619 --> 00:22:14.500 country in searches for personal loans, nearly 00:22:14.500 --> 00:22:16.819 twice the volume of most other states. So it's 00:22:16.819 --> 00:22:18.619 cheap to live there, but people are desperate 00:22:18.619 --> 00:22:21.789 for loans. The leading idea is that it's about 00:22:21.789 --> 00:22:24.509 the rapid population growth and income inequality 00:22:24.509 --> 00:22:27.730 around Atlanta. The city itself is very expensive, 00:22:27.950 --> 00:22:30.650 which skews the numbers. And a lot of lower income 00:22:30.650 --> 00:22:33.049 Georgians outside that core metro just haven't 00:22:33.049 --> 00:22:35.009 seen their wages keep up with the state's corporate 00:22:35.009 --> 00:22:37.589 boom. So they're relying on loans to fill the 00:22:37.589 --> 00:22:40.089 gaps? High interest personal loans, yeah. The 00:22:40.089 --> 00:22:42.430 wealth is concentrated, but the cost of living 00:22:42.430 --> 00:22:45.690 pressure is spread out. And yet, despite that 00:22:45.690 --> 00:22:48.529 strain, the housing construction market is on 00:22:48.529 --> 00:22:51.799 fire. Absolutely booming. Georgia was one of 00:22:51.799 --> 00:22:53.660 the top seven states that accounted for over 00:22:53.660 --> 00:22:56.119 half of all new home construction permits in 00:22:56.119 --> 00:22:59.740 2024. But crucially, it's managing to stay affordable 00:22:59.740 --> 00:23:02.099 while building at that scale. So they're actually 00:23:02.099 --> 00:23:03.759 building enough inventory to meet the demand. 00:23:03.980 --> 00:23:06.460 Which is preventing that kind of runaway housing 00:23:06.460 --> 00:23:08.799 costs you see in other high growth places like 00:23:08.799 --> 00:23:12.160 Austin or Miami. Now, the absolute kings of Georgia's 00:23:12.160 --> 00:23:14.900 connectivity are the airport and the seaports. 00:23:15.180 --> 00:23:18.720 Let's start with Hartsfield Jackson. ATL is, 00:23:19.000 --> 00:23:22.319 in a word, unparalleled. It is consistently ranked 00:23:22.319 --> 00:23:24.640 the world's busiest and most efficient airport. 00:23:24.940 --> 00:23:27.359 We're talking over 100 million passengers a year. 00:23:27.480 --> 00:23:30.759 Over 100 million. And its operations employ more 00:23:30.759 --> 00:23:34.099 than 60 ,000 people. The modern airport we see 00:23:34.099 --> 00:23:36.460 today was basically set up by a huge expansion 00:23:36.460 --> 00:23:39.940 project they finished in 1980, which just positioned 00:23:39.940 --> 00:23:42.210 it perfectly for the... Decades of growth that 00:23:42.210 --> 00:23:44.269 followed. And the maritime power at the Port 00:23:44.269 --> 00:23:47.410 of Savannah is just as big. A colossal operation. 00:23:47.890 --> 00:23:50.690 It's the third busiest seaport in the United 00:23:50.690 --> 00:23:53.589 States and the fourth largest and fastest growing 00:23:53.589 --> 00:23:57.109 container port in North America. In 2023, it 00:23:57.109 --> 00:24:00.309 handled, what, 4 .9 million TEUs? Yeah, and for 00:24:00.309 --> 00:24:03.970 anyone not in logistics, a TEU is a 20 -foot 00:24:03.970 --> 00:24:06.130 equivalent unit. It's the standard size of a 00:24:06.130 --> 00:24:08.849 shipping container. So nearly 5 million of those 00:24:08.849 --> 00:24:11.200 massive boxes in one year. To handle that kind 00:24:11.200 --> 00:24:12.940 of volume, the Port of Savannah's Garden City 00:24:12.940 --> 00:24:15.359 Terminal is the largest single container terminal 00:24:15.359 --> 00:24:18.160 in all of North America. It's a monumental asset. 00:24:18.380 --> 00:24:20.559 So what industries are fueling all this? What's 00:24:20.559 --> 00:24:22.299 moving on all these planes, trains and ships? 00:24:22.400 --> 00:24:24.460 Let's start with manufacturing. Historically, 00:24:24.460 --> 00:24:27.799 it was textiles. The whole I -75 corridor near 00:24:27.799 --> 00:24:30.940 Dalton and Calhoun is still a major center for 00:24:30.940 --> 00:24:33.700 carpet and flooring. But today, transportation 00:24:33.700 --> 00:24:36.539 manufacturing is the big growth engine. Like 00:24:36.539 --> 00:24:39.400 Kia. Exactly. The South Korean automaker Kia 00:24:39.400 --> 00:24:42.220 set up its first U .S. plant in West Point, Georgia, 00:24:42.400 --> 00:24:45.940 back in 2009. They're looking forward. The state 00:24:45.940 --> 00:24:48.359 is making a big push into electric vehicles. 00:24:48.539 --> 00:24:51.640 A very aggressive push. Rivian, the EV company, 00:24:51.859 --> 00:24:54.259 is building a massive new facility near Social 00:24:54.259 --> 00:24:56.579 Circle scheduled to start production in 2024. 00:24:57.200 --> 00:24:59.539 It shows the state is really trying to cement 00:24:59.539 --> 00:25:02.680 its place in high -tech transportation. But Georgia's 00:25:02.680 --> 00:25:05.400 traditional image is tied to the land. Agriculture 00:25:05.400 --> 00:25:07.359 has to still be a massive industry. Oh, it's 00:25:07.359 --> 00:25:09.380 incredibly vital. I mean, this is where you get 00:25:09.380 --> 00:25:12.299 some of the state's most iconic exports. Georgia 00:25:12.299 --> 00:25:15.079 is the number one producer of pecans in the world. 00:25:15.259 --> 00:25:17.460 The world. The world. The Albany region in the 00:25:17.460 --> 00:25:20.140 southwest is the global center for pecan production. 00:25:20.460 --> 00:25:21.920 And we have to give a shout out to the woman 00:25:21.920 --> 00:25:25.119 who was key to its peanut industry. Absolutely. 00:25:25.299 --> 00:25:28.339 Naomi Chapman Woodruff. Her research in peanut 00:25:28.339 --> 00:25:30.599 breeding developed strains that produced yields 00:25:30.599 --> 00:25:33.880 five times the typical amount. She was instrumental 00:25:33.880 --> 00:25:37.180 in making Georgia a top peanut producer. And 00:25:37.180 --> 00:25:39.380 then there's the poultry. The kingdom that feeds 00:25:39.380 --> 00:25:42.180 the nation. Georgia produces more chickens than 00:25:42.180 --> 00:25:44.900 any other state. The city of Gainesville proudly 00:25:44.900 --> 00:25:47.740 and, you know, rightfully calls itself the poultry 00:25:47.740 --> 00:25:50.200 capital of the world. And, of course, peaches 00:25:50.200 --> 00:25:53.140 and Vidalia onions. Can't forget those. The peaches 00:25:53.140 --> 00:25:55.539 give the state its nickname, and the Vidalia 00:25:55.539 --> 00:25:58.720 onion is the official state vegetable. It's so 00:25:58.720 --> 00:26:00.819 important. It's regulated by law. Okay, let's 00:26:00.819 --> 00:26:03.980 talk about the flashier modern industry. Film 00:26:03.980 --> 00:26:08.039 and TV. The Hollywood of the South. It is a remarkable 00:26:08.039 --> 00:26:10.700 economic story, driven almost entirely by some 00:26:10.700 --> 00:26:13.500 very competitive tax incentives. And it has worked. 00:26:13.660 --> 00:26:16.359 Atlanta is now firmly established as the Hollywood 00:26:16.359 --> 00:26:19.079 of the South. The growth was explosive. In 2016, 00:26:19.440 --> 00:26:21.759 Georgia actually surpassed California in the 00:26:21.759 --> 00:26:23.720 number of feature films produced on location. 00:26:24.039 --> 00:26:26.759 And the economic impact is huge. By fiscal year 00:26:26.759 --> 00:26:30.900 2017, it was already at $9 .5 billion. And it's 00:26:30.900 --> 00:26:33.160 not just movies. It's these huge TV series that 00:26:33.160 --> 00:26:35.380 set up shop there for years. Give us some of 00:26:35.380 --> 00:26:36.759 the big names that have filmed there. Oh, the 00:26:36.759 --> 00:26:40.220 list is huge. Massive streaming hits like Stranger 00:26:40.220 --> 00:26:43.039 Things, iconic cable shows like The Walking Dead 00:26:43.039 --> 00:26:45.619 and then the blockbuster movies, Black Panther, 00:26:45.819 --> 00:26:48.759 Captain America, Civil War. It's turned Atlanta 00:26:48.759 --> 00:26:51.859 into a year -round global media production hub. 00:26:52.220 --> 00:26:54.960 And finally, in this economic section, how does 00:26:54.960 --> 00:26:57.519 Georgia power all this? Very high electricity 00:26:57.519 --> 00:27:00.140 demand. Natural gas and coal are still the primary 00:27:00.140 --> 00:27:03.900 fuels for most of it. But nuclear power is hugely 00:27:03.900 --> 00:27:06.180 significant. How much? Almost a quarter of the 00:27:06.180 --> 00:27:08.079 state's total electricity comes from nuclear, 00:27:08.279 --> 00:27:10.779 from plants like Plant Hatch and Plant Votal. 00:27:11.039 --> 00:27:13.240 And Volkl is building new reactors, right? Yes, 00:27:13.279 --> 00:27:15.539 the first new nuclear units built in the U .S. 00:27:15.539 --> 00:27:18.119 in decades, which shows a real commitment to 00:27:18.119 --> 00:27:20.279 non -carbon power. At the same time, they're 00:27:20.279 --> 00:27:23.279 heavily investing in solar. As far back as 2013, 00:27:23.619 --> 00:27:25.619 they were ranked 15th in the nation for solar 00:27:25.619 --> 00:27:28.319 capacity after a massive investment spike. They're 00:27:28.319 --> 00:27:30.519 diversifying. All right, let's pivot to part 00:27:30.519 --> 00:27:34.259 four. The culture, the education, and the hyper 00:27:34.259 --> 00:27:36.559 -volatile politics that define the state today. 00:27:37.119 --> 00:27:39.960 First, what are the major cultural contributions? 00:27:40.619 --> 00:27:43.480 Georgia has a really deep and vibrant cultural 00:27:43.480 --> 00:27:46.200 life. In fine arts, you've got the High Museum 00:27:46.200 --> 00:27:49.130 of Art in Atlanta. And the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra 00:27:49.130 --> 00:27:51.470 is the largest arts organization in the whole 00:27:51.470 --> 00:27:53.750 Southeast. And it's interesting. Atlanta has 00:27:53.750 --> 00:27:56.869 been the setting for two Best Picture Oscar winners. 00:27:57.440 --> 00:28:00.380 That's a powerful link between its history and 00:28:00.380 --> 00:28:03.400 its film image. You've got the classic Gone with 00:28:03.400 --> 00:28:06.119 the Wind winning in 1939 and then Driving Miss 00:28:06.119 --> 00:28:09.279 Daisy in 1989. And of course, major literary 00:28:09.279 --> 00:28:11.859 works like The Color Purple by Alice Walker. 00:28:12.039 --> 00:28:14.240 But the state's musical influence is arguably 00:28:14.240 --> 00:28:16.480 even bigger on a global scale. Oh, for sure. 00:28:16.559 --> 00:28:18.940 Music is just integral to the Georgian identity. 00:28:19.180 --> 00:28:21.660 You have Ray Charles, a native son, whose version 00:28:21.660 --> 00:28:23.759 of Georgia on my mind is the official state song. 00:28:23.940 --> 00:28:25.559 And Gladys Knight. Midnight Train to Georgia. 00:28:26.109 --> 00:28:28.250 In rock, you have the Allman Brothers, the Black 00:28:28.250 --> 00:28:30.369 Crows. And you have to talk about the underground 00:28:30.369 --> 00:28:33.349 scenes that birthed whole new genres. The Athens 00:28:33.349 --> 00:28:35.910 music scene in the 80s and 90s was profoundly 00:28:35.910 --> 00:28:38.609 influential. It sparked a global alternative 00:28:38.609 --> 00:28:41.789 rock movement. Bands like R .E .M., Widespread 00:28:41.789 --> 00:28:44.650 Panic, the B -52s, they all came out of this 00:28:44.650 --> 00:28:47.670 one college town. But Atlanta's specific contribution 00:28:47.670 --> 00:28:50.809 to modern global culture is probably hip hop 00:28:50.809 --> 00:28:54.359 and R &B. Since the 90s, Atlanta has become the 00:28:54.359 --> 00:28:57.140 global epicenter for that sound. It displaced 00:28:57.140 --> 00:29:00.279 New York and L .A. artists like Outkast, Usher, 00:29:00.440 --> 00:29:04.220 Ludacris, TLC. They've defined modern pop music 00:29:04.220 --> 00:29:07.099 for decades. OK, turning to sports, Georgia seems 00:29:07.099 --> 00:29:10.079 to embrace both collegiate passion and professional 00:29:10.079 --> 00:29:12.880 excellence. It does. It has teams in all four 00:29:12.880 --> 00:29:15.819 major leagues, the Braves, Falcons, Hawks and 00:29:15.819 --> 00:29:18.180 Atlanta United in soccer. But college sports 00:29:18.180 --> 00:29:20.440 are a religion there. Clean old fashioned hate. 00:29:20.670 --> 00:29:22.930 The rivalry between the Georgia Bulldogs and 00:29:22.930 --> 00:29:25.049 Georgia Tech, one of the most passionate in all 00:29:25.049 --> 00:29:27.009 of college sports. And Atlanta has proven it 00:29:27.009 --> 00:29:28.970 can host the world's biggest events. Absolutely. 00:29:29.150 --> 00:29:32.410 The 1996 Summer Olympics, which left a huge legacy 00:29:32.410 --> 00:29:34.410 on the city's infrastructure. And looking ahead, 00:29:34.609 --> 00:29:37.089 it's hosting multiple games for the 2026 FIFA 00:29:37.089 --> 00:29:40.089 World Cup. And of course, the Masters Golf Tournament 00:29:40.089 --> 00:29:42.069 in Augusta every year. We also have to mention 00:29:42.069 --> 00:29:44.769 one of the most famous and maybe notorious figures 00:29:44.769 --> 00:29:47.950 in baseball history came from Georgia. Ty Cobb. 00:29:48.440 --> 00:29:51.200 A very complex legacy, but he was from Narrows, 00:29:51.200 --> 00:29:53.799 Georgia, first player ever inducted into the 00:29:53.799 --> 00:29:56.480 Baseball Hall of Fame, and his nickname was the 00:29:56.480 --> 00:29:59.279 Georgia Peach. Let's talk education, which is 00:29:59.279 --> 00:30:01.779 obviously fueling all this workforce growth we 00:30:01.779 --> 00:30:04.640 talk about. The state has a deep educational 00:30:04.640 --> 00:30:08.059 history. The University of Georgia, UGA, founded 00:30:08.059 --> 00:30:11.140 in 1785, is the country's oldest state -chartered 00:30:11.140 --> 00:30:14.220 university. The whole system produces about 90 00:30:14.220 --> 00:30:16.839 ,000 graduates a year. And central to funding 00:30:16.839 --> 00:30:20.000 all that is the Hope Scholarship. The Hope Scholarship 00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:22.940 is a huge deal for socioeconomic mobility. It's 00:30:22.940 --> 00:30:24.819 funded entirely by the state lottery. And it 00:30:24.819 --> 00:30:26.779 gives tuition assistance to any resident with 00:30:26.779 --> 00:30:29.579 a 3 .0 GPA who goes to a public college in the 00:30:29.579 --> 00:30:31.829 state. It's essentially free college tuition 00:30:31.829 --> 00:30:34.710 based on merit, and its biggest impact might 00:30:34.710 --> 00:30:37.589 be combating brain drain. It encourages Georgia's 00:30:37.589 --> 00:30:40.329 best students to stay, study, and enter the local 00:30:40.329 --> 00:30:42.369 workforce. It's a remarkable piece of social 00:30:42.369 --> 00:30:44.210 engineering. And there was also a structural 00:30:44.210 --> 00:30:46.769 change at the local level that shifted educational 00:30:46.769 --> 00:30:49.500 representation. That's right. A lot of local 00:30:49.500 --> 00:30:52.240 school boards shifted from at -large voting where 00:30:52.240 --> 00:30:55.359 everyone votes for every seat to single -member 00:30:55.359 --> 00:30:57.519 districts. Which increased minority representation. 00:30:58.339 --> 00:31:00.079 Significantly. It helped make the school boards 00:31:00.079 --> 00:31:02.660 look more like the students they serve. And finally, 00:31:02.660 --> 00:31:04.859 before we get to politics, we have to talk media. 00:31:05.309 --> 00:31:08.210 Atlanta is a hub. A massive one. It's the ninth 00:31:08.210 --> 00:31:10.670 largest media market in the country. And much 00:31:10.670 --> 00:31:13.470 of that was built by one man, Ted Turner. CNN, 00:31:13.630 --> 00:31:17.349 TBS, TNT. TCM, Headline News. The Weather Channel 00:31:17.349 --> 00:31:20.269 is also based there. And historically, WSB -TV 00:31:20.269 --> 00:31:22.670 was the first television service in the entire 00:31:22.670 --> 00:31:26.089 South, back in 1948. Okay, this brings us to 00:31:26.089 --> 00:31:29.210 the most complex part of our deep dive. The dramatic 00:31:29.210 --> 00:31:32.210 political pendulum swing that has made Georgia 00:31:32.210 --> 00:31:34.990 the defining swing state of our time. It's a 00:31:34.990 --> 00:31:37.609 story of extreme continuity followed by radical 00:31:37.609 --> 00:31:41.150 change. Before 1964, Georgia had the longest 00:31:41.150 --> 00:31:43.690 unbroken record of one party dominance by the 00:31:43.690 --> 00:31:46.509 Democrats of any state. Nearly a century. And 00:31:46.509 --> 00:31:48.210 that was maintained by the disenfranchisement 00:31:48.210 --> 00:31:50.009 tools we talked about earlier. The poll tax, 00:31:50.269 --> 00:31:53.170 the white primary. It wasn't popular consensus. 00:31:53.329 --> 00:31:55.869 It was engineered control. So what broke that 00:31:55.869 --> 00:31:58.579 iron grip? It wasn't just the Civil Rights Act. 00:31:58.779 --> 00:32:01.359 It was a Supreme Court decision about the voting 00:32:01.359 --> 00:32:03.779 districts themselves. That is the single most 00:32:03.779 --> 00:32:07.980 crucial and often overlooked factor, reapportionment. 00:32:08.279 --> 00:32:11.920 In 1964, the Supreme Court issued two landmark 00:32:11.920 --> 00:32:14.920 rulings that establish the one man, one vote 00:32:14.920 --> 00:32:17.579 principle. Forcing districts to be based on equal 00:32:17.579 --> 00:32:20.140 population. Exactly. Not on arbitrary geography 00:32:20.140 --> 00:32:22.480 or county lines. And what was the immediate effect 00:32:22.480 --> 00:32:25.359 of that in Georgia? It completely rewrote the 00:32:25.359 --> 00:32:28.359 state's power structure. For decades, power was 00:32:28.359 --> 00:32:31.319 held by rural counties that were grossly overrepresented. 00:32:32.319 --> 00:32:34.359 Reapportionment immediately shifted all that 00:32:34.359 --> 00:32:37.200 power to dense urban areas, primarily Atlanta 00:32:37.200 --> 00:32:39.720 and its suburbs. It neutralized the rural control. 00:32:39.900 --> 00:32:42.240 It shifted the state's center of gravity right 00:32:42.240 --> 00:32:45.319 to its growing metropolitan core. But the ideology 00:32:45.319 --> 00:32:47.299 of the conservative white voters didn't shift 00:32:47.299 --> 00:32:49.319 with the geography. They just switched parties. 00:32:49.559 --> 00:32:52.180 Exactly. That's the Southern strategy. As the 00:32:52.180 --> 00:32:54.200 National Democratic Party embraced civil rights, 00:32:54.339 --> 00:32:56.500 white conservative voters began shifting to the 00:32:56.500 --> 00:32:59.059 Republican Party. You see it early. Georgia voted 00:32:59.059 --> 00:33:02.900 for Republican Barry Goldwater in 1964. And that 00:33:02.900 --> 00:33:06.259 trend just continued. Between 1960 and 2020, 00:33:06.619 --> 00:33:08.920 the state only supported a Democrat for president 00:33:08.920 --> 00:33:12.000 four times. Jimmy Carter twice, Bill Clinton 00:33:12.000 --> 00:33:14.559 once, and Joe Biden once. And that Republican 00:33:14.559 --> 00:33:17.799 ascendancy really took hold in the 90s and 2000s. 00:33:17.819 --> 00:33:19.660 You have Newt Gingrich from Georgia becoming 00:33:19.660 --> 00:33:22.259 Speaker of the House in 94. And then in 2002, 00:33:22.700 --> 00:33:24.900 Sonny Perdue became the first Republican governor 00:33:24.900 --> 00:33:27.859 since Reconstruction. A complete reversal. By 00:33:27.859 --> 00:33:30.660 2004, Republicans controlled all three branches 00:33:30.660 --> 00:33:33.079 of state government. The century of Democratic 00:33:33.079 --> 00:33:35.920 dominance was officially over. And now, thanks 00:33:35.920 --> 00:33:38.119 to all that urbanization and demographic change, 00:33:38.480 --> 00:33:41.220 Georgia's volatility has made it the definitive 00:33:41.220 --> 00:33:44.660 swing state. The 2020 election sealed that status 00:33:44.660 --> 00:33:47.279 forever. Joe Biden carried the state by just 00:33:47.279 --> 00:33:51.400 11 ,779 votes, a razor -thin margin that brought 00:33:51.400 --> 00:33:53.940 the entire national spotlight right to Georgia. 00:33:54.059 --> 00:33:55.680 And the elections that followed were even more 00:33:55.680 --> 00:33:58.440 dramatic. The 2020 Senate runoffs were a national 00:33:58.440 --> 00:34:00.680 obsession. They decided control of the U .S. 00:34:00.680 --> 00:34:03.900 Senate. And Democrats won both. They did. John 00:34:03.900 --> 00:34:06.440 Ossoff became the state's first Jewish senator 00:34:06.440 --> 00:34:09.260 and Raphael Warnock became its first black senator. 00:34:09.340 --> 00:34:12.000 And their wins were widely attributed to the 00:34:12.000 --> 00:34:14.940 diversifying Atlanta suburbs and massive turnout 00:34:14.940 --> 00:34:17.099 among young and African -American voters. The 00:34:17.099 --> 00:34:19.219 pendulum just keeps swinging. We can't talk about 00:34:19.219 --> 00:34:21.300 2020 without talking about the Republican rebound 00:34:21.300 --> 00:34:24.400 since then. The hyper volatility is the new norm. 00:34:24.480 --> 00:34:28.119 In 2022, Republican Governor Brian Kemp won reelection 00:34:28.119 --> 00:34:31.460 by a comfortable 7 .5 percent, a huge margin. 00:34:31.539 --> 00:34:34.760 Strong ticket split. A very strong one. And then. 00:34:35.150 --> 00:34:38.150 Most recently, in the 2024 presidential election, 00:34:38.429 --> 00:34:40.750 the state flipped back to the Republican column. 00:34:40.949 --> 00:34:43.670 Donald Trump won it. By about 115 ,000 votes. 00:34:43.889 --> 00:34:46.309 So the pattern is clear. It's a hyper -competitive 00:34:46.309 --> 00:34:48.530 battleground state where presidential races are 00:34:48.530 --> 00:34:51.190 razor close, maybe favoring Republicans slightly. 00:34:51.369 --> 00:34:53.690 But Senate races can go Democratic because of 00:34:53.690 --> 00:34:56.050 that massive metro turnout. It really is a state 00:34:56.050 --> 00:34:59.010 divided. And one last structural detail. All 00:34:59.010 --> 00:35:01.849 those counties. 159 counties, second only to 00:35:01.849 --> 00:35:04.650 Texas. And uniquely, Georgia is the only state 00:35:04.650 --> 00:35:06.630 that still has sole commissioner counties. What 00:35:06.630 --> 00:35:08.530 does that even mean, a sole commissioner county? 00:35:08.590 --> 00:35:11.730 It means one single elected person holds both 00:35:11.730 --> 00:35:14.329 the legislative and executive power for the entire 00:35:14.329 --> 00:35:17.010 county government. They set the budget, hire 00:35:17.010 --> 00:35:20.480 people, pass laws. all without a county board 00:35:20.480 --> 00:35:23.579 to check their power. Wow. It's rare now, mostly 00:35:23.579 --> 00:35:26.380 in rural areas, but it reflects this deeply decentralized, 00:35:27.219 --> 00:35:30.159 sometimes autocratic local tradition that is 00:35:30.159 --> 00:35:32.579 just a world away from the modern governance 00:35:32.579 --> 00:35:35.750 of the Atlanta metro. What a journey. From the 00:35:35.750 --> 00:35:38.949 anti -slavery ideals of the Oglethorpe Plan to 00:35:38.949 --> 00:35:42.030 the Trail of Tears and Jim Crow, only to emerge 00:35:42.030 --> 00:35:44.530 as a global corporate hub that dictates national 00:35:44.530 --> 00:35:47.210 politics. That contrast is the key tension we 00:35:47.210 --> 00:35:49.789 uncovered. You have the deep agrarian history, 00:35:50.030 --> 00:35:52.510 the peaches, pecans, poultry right alongside 00:35:52.510 --> 00:35:55.030 this ultra -modern identity as a global logistics 00:35:55.030 --> 00:35:57.730 hub with the world's busiest airport and that 00:35:57.730 --> 00:36:00.670 massive port. and its history of conflict directly 00:36:00.670 --> 00:36:02.949 shapes its present. The legacy of the civil rights 00:36:02.949 --> 00:36:05.269 movement directly shaped the diversifying demographics, 00:36:05.429 --> 00:36:07.550 and that diversity is the fuel for its political 00:36:07.550 --> 00:36:09.980 volatility today. So what does this all mean 00:36:09.980 --> 00:36:11.880 for the future? We talked about those crucial 00:36:11.880 --> 00:36:15.179 1960 Supreme Court rulings. One man, one vote. 00:36:15.320 --> 00:36:18.679 That shift, combined with the nonstop population 00:36:18.679 --> 00:36:22.300 growth around Atlanta, it fundamentally and permanently 00:36:22.300 --> 00:36:25.360 neutralized decades of rural political control. 00:36:25.659 --> 00:36:28.039 Meaning the state's future is controlled by its 00:36:28.039 --> 00:36:31.099 diversifying suburbs and that powerful urban 00:36:31.099 --> 00:36:34.380 core. The demographic and economic momentum behind 00:36:34.380 --> 00:36:37.559 Atlanta is so profound that it guarantees Georgia 00:36:37.559 --> 00:36:40.340 will stay a hyper -competitive, global economic 00:36:40.340 --> 00:36:43.739 media and political swing state for the foreseeable 00:36:43.739 --> 00:36:46.739 future. The state is permanently polarized between 00:36:46.739 --> 00:36:49.480 the overwhelming power of the core and the traditional 00:36:49.480 --> 00:36:51.619 identity of the perimeter. And here's where it 00:36:51.619 --> 00:36:53.059 gets really interesting for you, the listener. 00:36:53.239 --> 00:36:56.179 Think about Georgia's historic pattern of being 00:36:56.179 --> 00:36:58.440 the last state to join major American movements. 00:36:58.679 --> 00:37:01.570 The last of the 13 colonies. The last. to be 00:37:01.570 --> 00:37:04.309 readmitted to the union. Right. Its current role 00:37:04.309 --> 00:37:07.230 as a volatile leading swing state is a radical 00:37:07.230 --> 00:37:10.130 reversal of that entire history. It's not lagging 00:37:10.130 --> 00:37:12.170 anymore. It's leading the national conversation. 00:37:12.510 --> 00:37:15.010 It's defining the razor thin margins that decide 00:37:15.010 --> 00:37:18.030 who holds national power. And if you want a symbol 00:37:18.030 --> 00:37:21.230 of that dual identity, the traditional roots 00:37:21.230 --> 00:37:24.170 meeting modern dynamism, I'd say you should research 00:37:24.170 --> 00:37:26.250 the story behind one of the state symbols. Like 00:37:26.250 --> 00:37:28.860 what? You could look into the Cherokee rose, 00:37:29.119 --> 00:37:31.440 which is often said to symbolize the tears shed 00:37:31.440 --> 00:37:34.599 during the Trail of Tears, or brown thrasher, 00:37:34.699 --> 00:37:36.679 the state bird, which is common but incredibly 00:37:36.679 --> 00:37:40.760 resilient. Which symbol do you think best embodies 00:37:40.760 --> 00:37:43.619 this complicated present? The scar of history 00:37:43.619 --> 00:37:46.059 or the persistence of the natural world thriving 00:37:46.059 --> 00:37:48.679 despite all the human conflict? That is a great 00:37:48.679 --> 00:37:50.300 thought to mull over. Thank you for joining us 00:37:50.300 --> 00:37:52.340 on this deep dive into the paradox of the peach 00:37:52.340 --> 00:37:53.280 state. Always a pleasure.