February 21, 1730

1730 A year after the Gaols [Jails] Committee had been appointed to investigate abuses in England’s prisons, chairman James Oglethorpe launched a second round of investigations. In 1729, he and the committee had concentrated their attention to Fleet Prison, where Oglethorpe’s friend Robert Castell had died from smallpox. This new round of investigations, which lasted through May, would focus on the king’s prisons in Southwark and Marshalsea. Oglethorpe’s work on the Gaols Committee had two important consequences for Georgia. First, it exposed the plight of England’s imprisoned debtors, leading him to consider the broader questions of the causes and solutions of poverty. Second, his humanitarian efforts were widely noted -- both in Parliament and in the press -- which would aid his efforts as a leader in the movement for a new colony in America to send England’s worthy poor.

February 21, 1787

1787 Congress adopted a resolution calling for a convention "for the sole and express purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation, and reporting to Congress, and the several Legislatures, such alterations and provisions therein as shall, when agreed to in Congress, and confirmed by the States, render the Federal Constitution adequate to the exigencies of government and the preservation of the Union."

February 21, 1804

1804 Georgia Surveyor General Daniel Sturges sent the following letter to surveyor Levin Wailes: "You are hereby appointed and authorised to run and mark a dividing line . . . between the counties of Wilkinson & Baldwin, which are formed within that part of the said Cession (referring to Creek land cession of 1803), lying South of the Oconee River, and to lay out the said Counties into Five districts each . . . ."

February 21, 1828

1828 At the Cherokee Nation’s capital in New Echota, Ga., Elias Boudinot published the first issue of the Cherokee Phoenix, a bi-lingual newspaper printed in English and Cherokee.

February 21, 1856

1856 Legislation was approved changing the name of Kinchafoonee County to Webster County. Created in 1853, Kinchafoonee County had been named for the major creek that ran through the area. Apparently, outsiders found the Indian name awkward, so local residents asked the General Assembly to change the county’s name to honor U.S. politician and orator Daniel Webster.

February 21, 1866

Georgia cities and towns first incorporated by acts approved by the governor on Feb. 21:

1866 Steadman (Newton County)

February 21, 1873

Georgia cities and towns first incorporated by acts approved by the governor on Feb. 21:

1873 Cole City (Dade County)

February 21, 1876

Georgia cities and towns first incorporated by acts approved by the governor on Feb. 21:

1876 Wadley (Jefferson County)

February 21, 1940

1940 Civil rights advocate and politician John Lewis was born in Troy, Alabama. Lewis was involved in the civil rights movement, participating in the 1961 freedom rides and the march on Washington in 1963. He helped found the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and was its president from 1963-1966. Lewis was among the the group of over 500 marchers who were attacked on a bridge in Selma, Alabama on March 7, 1965, which helped lead to the Voting Rights Act of 1965. After moving to Georgia, Lewis stayed active in the Southern Regional Council’s voter education drives. He also directed the Voter Education Project, which led to the registration of four million African-Americans. President Carter appointed Lewis to head the federal volunteer agency ACTION in 1977. Lewis’ political career began in 1981, when he was elected to the Atlanta City Council. He served there until 1986, resigning to run for Congress. In November 1986, Lewis was elected to represent Georgia’s 5th congressional district -- a position he still holds. Currently, Lewis is a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, the Democratic Steering Committee, the Congressional Urban Caucus, the Congressional Black Caucus, and the Congressional Caucus on Anti-Semitism. He also serves as Chief Deputy Democratic Whip.

February 21, 1956

1956 Because of their role in the Montgomery bus boycott, Martin Luther King and a number of black leaders of the Montgomery Improvement Association were indicted for allegedly violating Alabama law by conspiring to hinder and prevent the operation of a business without "just or legal cause."

February 21, 1958

1958 Gov. Marvin Griffin signed legislation creating the Stone Mountain Memorial Association as a state authority empowered to borrow money and oversee construction and development of Stone Mountain and the adjacent property as a Confederate memorial and public recreational area.

February 21, 1997

1997 A bar frequented by homosexuals was bombed twice, one bomb going off after authorities arrived to investigate the earlier bombing. Though unknown at the time, these bombings, and others, were the work of Eric Rudolph, also guilty of the Centennial Olympic park bombing in 1996.