State officials gathered this week to commemorate Georgia’s first Black legislators in the General Assembly. The effort comes one year after lawmakers passed House Bill 303.
On Feb. 25, the Georgia State Capitol rotunda was decorated with infographics and portraits of “The Original 33,” a group of formerly enslaved and freedmen who were elected to the State General Assembly in 1868.
“These men, in their respective counties, people have written them out of the history books,” said Democratic state Rep. Carl Gilliard and sponsor of HB 303.
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