Athens native Michael Thurmond writes book on Georgia's founder and his opposition to slavery

The written word can have a lasting impact.

That’s what happened in 1996 when Athens native Michael Thurmond joined a Georgia delegation to England to participate in the 300^th birthday celebration of James Oglethorpe, the founder of the Georgia colony in 1733.

Oglethorpe is buried beneath a floor in the Parrish Church of All Saints near London. A memorial plaque on a church wall outlines why he was an important figure in British history.

Those attributes include a sentence that became a red light for Thurmond: “He was the friend of the oppressed Negro.”

“I stood there. The other members of the delegation were ushered out of the sanctuary into an adjacent hall for a reception. I just stayed there. I couldn’t move. It was so riveting and surprising. It captured me in that moment in time,” Thurmond recalled.

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Now 27 years later, the task that Thurmond would take to prove or disprove that statement has come to fulfilment.

The University of Georgia Press will release on Wednesday Thurmond’s book, “James Oglethorpe, Father of Georgia: A founder’s Journey from Slave Trader to Abolitionist.”

Thurmond will be at Oglethorpe University in Atlanta that day as the keynote speaker for an event at the college whose namesake is Georgia’s founder.

“If Oglethorpe was a friend of oppressed Black people, then it was revolutionary to me because throughout my education in public schools in Athens and in college, I had never heard of Oglethorpe described that way,” Thurmond said.

Thurmond is a lawyer who has built a political resume that includes the Georgia House of Representatives and for three terms he was elected in a statewide vote as the Georgia Labor Commissioner.

He has been superintendent of schools for DeKalb County and is currently the elected CEO for DeKalb. But he is quick to add that his heart remains in Athens, where he was raised in the modest home of a sharecropper.

In January, Thurmond was selected as the Georgia Public Library Champion of the Year for his support of the library.

And while law is a profession, history is a passion. He has authored two previous books of history.

But the book on Oglethorpe was an undertaking that took him back to England for research and had him pouring over documents at libraries at the University of Georgia and other locations.

“I approached the UGA Press and initially and they rejected my proposal. The person who continued to encourage me even when I gave up on the project was Peggy Galis. She is my enthusiastic supporter,” he said about the Athens woman, who is entrenched in UGA life and shepherds a love of history.

“Peggy wouldn’t allow me to walk away from it,” he said.

Several promotional blurbs for the book were provided including one by Andrew Young, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and civil rights worker.

And then there was John Inscoe, an historian at UGA, whom Thurmond said became an important resource.

“He’s a tough critic. He has a keen eye and he helped improve the manuscript,” Thurmond said.

Oglethorpe, when he founded Georgia in present day Savannah, did not want slavery established in the new colony.

Thurmond said a relationship that Oglethorpe formed with two Black men, who were formerly enslaved, helped change his view of Black people. Oglethorpe became friends with them before he established the new colony.

“In the early 1700s it was generally believed, particularly in Europe, that Black people were subhuman,” Thurmond said.

But when Oglethorpe became friends with these two men, the interaction changed his view of this race of people from Africa, according to Thurmond.

“Oglethorpe realized that Black people are human beings and that set him on his journey,” Thurmond said.

Developing this friendship was important.

“If I think someone is my friend, there is a mutual respect,” Thurmond said.

And Thurmond’s own journey to understand the man who founded Georgia now ends with the written word.

A book signing for Thurmond is planned in Athens from 3-4:30 p.m. Feb. 25 at the Athens-Clarke County Library. The program is hosted by the library and the Athens Historical Society.

Other book signings are already scheduled for dates in Savannah, Griffin, Lithonia and other cities.

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Athens native writes book on man who founded Georgia without slavery