Terrell County, Georgia

Formed from portions of Randolph and Lee counties on February 16, 1856, by an act of the Georgia General Assembly, Terrell County is named for William Terrell of Sparta, Georgia, who served in the Georgia General Assembly and the United States House of Representatives.^[3]

During the American Civil War, after Atlanta's capture by Union forces, a refugee settlement was established in Terrell County for civilians forced to flee the city. The Fosterville settlement, named after Georgia Quartermaster General Ira Roe Foster,^[4] was according to author Mary Elizabeth Massey in her 2001 history, the "most ambitious refugee project approved by the Georgia General Assembly" [during that period].^[5] On March 11, 1865, the Georgia General Assembly authorized General Foster to "continue to provide for maintenance of said exiles, or such of them as are unable by their labor to support themselves, or their families for the balance of the present year."^[5]

During the civil rights era of the 1960s, the local white minority resisted change, sometimes violently; it subsequently became known as "Terrible Terrell County".^[6] In 1958 the county refused to register a group of African-Americans including several teachers with bachelor's and master's degrees on the grounds that they couldn't read, and a college-educated marine who was refused registration on the grounds he could not write intelligibly.^[7][8] The case eventually reached the U.S. Supreme Court, and the county was ordered to allow them to register, but they did not immediately comply. In 1960, testimony showed that Black voters were given more tests, and more difficult ones, than White voters, and that illiterate Whites were allowed to vote while well-educated Blacks were falsely determined to be illiterate. The county asserted that this was not discriminatory.^[9] In September 1962, an African-American church was burned down after it was used for voter registration meetings.^[10] (Note: Like other Southern states, Georgia had disenfranchised most Blacks at the turn of the century by rules raising barriers to voter registration; they were still excluded from the political system.) That month Prathia Hall delivered a speech at the site of the ruins, using the repeated phrase "I have a dream." Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. attended her speech; afterward, he also began to use that phrase, including in his noted "I Have a Dream" speech in 1963 at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC.^[11]

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 338 square miles (880 km²), of which 335 square miles (870 km²) is land and 2.3 square miles (6.0 km²) (0.7%) is water.^[12]

The western and southern two-thirds of Terrell County is located in the Ichawaynochaway Creek sub-basin of the ACF River Basin (Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin). The county's northeastern third is located in the Kinchafoonee-Muckalee sub-basin of the same larger ACF River Basin.^[13]

As of the 2020s, Terrell County is a marginally Democratic leaning county, voting 52% for Kamala Harris in 2024. As a county with a majority African-American population, voters in Terrell County prefer Democratic candidates counties in presidential elections. Terrell County has consistently been a Democratic county since the 1992 presidential election, though the margins have historically been close. In 1940, Franklin D. Roosevelt received 100% of all votes cast in Terrell County.

For elections to the United States House of Representatives, Terrell County is part of Georgia's 2nd congressional district, currently represented by Sanford Bishop. For elections to the Georgia State Senate, Terrell County is part of District 12.^[35] For elections to the Georgia House of Representatives, Terrell County is part of District 151.^[36]

^[38]

Public education is provided by the Terrell County School District.

• Benjamin J. Davis Jr., Harvard Law School graduate and elected to New York City Council. Defended Angelo Herndon in Georgia against insurrection charges for organizing a union, resulting in a U.S. Supreme Court case that ruled against Georgia's insurrection law as unconstitutional.^[39]
• Walter Washington, activist and politician, elected as the first black mayor of Washington, D.C.^[39] after Congress granted home rule to the city.
• Otis Redding, rhythm and blues singer; one of the first crossover artists appealing to both young blacks and whites in the post-World War II era.^{[citation needed]}
• Cole Swindell, is an American country music singer and songwriter who attended Terrell Academy in Dawson, Georgia.^{[citation needed]}

• Dawson Five
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Terrell County, Georgia
• USS Terrell County (LST-1157)
• List of counties in Georgia