Topic: Education and Religion in Georgia

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• Topic Education and Religion in Georgia
• late 1700s early 1800s

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Post-Revolutionary War

• Most of Georgias citizens had not been to school
  at all, although they in general believed in the
  value of education.
• In 1784, the government of Georgia set aside
  20,000 acres for a state college.
• In 1785, the University of Georgia was chartered
  as a land grant university.

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• What was UGA like when it first opened?

• an all-male, all-white student body
• called Franklin College
• Abraham Baldwin created the plan for the
  university
• First public university in the U.S.

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• The Georgia Female College was the first all
  girls school to open in Georgia.
• Tuition was 50 a year.
• Only wealthy merchants and large landowners sent
  their daughters.
• Most Georgians saw no value in teaching females
  academics they were taught sewing, cooking,
  child care, and music.

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Other Colleges

• Medical College of Georgia 1828 in Augusta
• Emory (Methodist) in 1836
• Oglethorpe College (Presbyterians) in 1836
• Mercer (Baptist) in 1837

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• Religion strongly influenced Georgias growth.
• Early 1800s, a Protestant religious movement
  swept the South called the Great Revival.
• The Bible Belt
• Camp meetings and revivals attracted thousands.
• Church membership increased the majority were
  Baptist or Methodists.

• Religion in the South

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• What was a circuit rider?

• Traveling ministers for frontier dwellers

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• Black churches in the North
• Slaves and religion in the South

• African Methodist Episcopal (AME) -opposed to
  slavery
• Attended with their masters
• Religion meant secret and generally forbidden
  meetings in the slave quarters.