Georgia Famous People

Famous Americans: History and Biographies

Links to histories and biographies of the famous people of Georgia. Many famous people of Georgia have made significant contributions to the history of our nation and the state of Georgia. These famous Americans, famous entertainers, famous players, famous scientist, famous singers, famous statesmen, famous women, heroes, great explorers, and others Georgia famous Americans have all made Georgia their home. This list includes Georgia historical figures, celebrities and those individuals of Georgia who have influenced the lives of others.

Famous People from Georgia

• James Brown (1933 - ) Singer, often called "the Godfather of Soul;" raised in Augusta.
• Jimmy Carter (1924 - ) 39th president of the United States; born in Plains.
• Ty Cobb (1886 - 1961) Baseball player in the Hall of Fame; born in Banks City.
• Joel Chandler Harris was born near Eatonton, Ga. in 1848. He was a humorist, short-story writer, journalist and children's writer who is best known for his Uncle Remus stories. In recognition of his contributions to American Literature, Harris was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
• Martin Luther King Jr. (1929 - 1968) Baptist minister and civil rights leader, was one of the most important forces in America's civil rights struggle during the 1960s. Born in Atlanta in 1929, King used a non-violent approach in his effort to stop segregation and discrimination. He is best known for his "I Have A Dream" speech which he delivered at the Lincoln Memorial in 1963. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. King was assassinated in 1968.
• Gladys Knight (1946 - ) Singer and winner of four Grammy awards; born in Atlanta.
• Juliette Gordon Low (1860 - 1927) was born in 1860 in Savannah, Georgia. She established the Girl Scouts of America in 1912 with a group of 18 girls in Savannah. By the time of her death in 1927, there were more than 167,000 Girl Scouts in the United States. On the eightieth anniversary of the organization, the Girl Scouts had served an estimated fifty million members worldwide.
• Margaret Mitchell (1900 - 1949) was born in Atlanta in 1900. She is best known for her novel Gone with the Wind (1936). It became an instant best seller and Mitchell was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for it in 1937. The novel was made into a motion picture in 1939 and has become a film classic.
• Flannery O'Conner was born in Savannah, Ga. in 1925. She is considered one of the greatest short-story writers of the 20th century. Her works won three O. Henry Awards for short fiction, the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award.
• Little Richard (1932 - ) Singer, considered to be "the architect of rock and roll", born in Macon.
• Jackie Robinson (1919 - 1972) The first African American baseball player in the major leagues; born in Cairo.
• Sequoya (1770 - 1843) Invented the first alphabet of the Native American language; lived in New Echota.
• Jefferson C. ("Soapy") Smith born on November 2, 1860 in
  Coweta County, Georgia. Famous (or infamous) outlaw and con-man who left Colorado on unfriendly terms with the law and showed up in Skagway, Alaska at the height of the Klondike Gold Rush in 1897. He was quick to organize his own gang of brutes to fleece the miners for as much as he could in this lawless gold-rush town. Along with many other money-making schemes, Soapy convinced the adventurous miners that he was telegraphing their messages to families back home in California or Seattle from his Dominion Telegraph Service. He then shared "replies" from home requesting money. He was quite willing to "wire" the money home (and into his own pockets) for the miners. Soapy took in quite a bit of cash as no one realized that the "wires" for his "telegraph" went a few feet out into the water and stopped. On July 8, 1898, a "committee" of 101 angry men finally came after Soapy, furious that his gang had taken over $2000 from one miner. The town surveyor, Frank Reid, faced a drunken Soapy in a gun-duel at the docks, and Soapy was killed instantly. Reid died a few days later. No one celebrates Reid much anymore, but there is an annual remembrance of Soapy every year on July 8 in Skagway. To many he is as famous as Butch Cassidy or Billy the Kid.
• Travis Tritt (1963 - ) Famous County/Western singer and songwriter; born in Marietta.
• Ted Turner (1938 - ) Media Mogul. Owner of the Atlanta Braves and the Atlanta Hawks.
• Trisha Yearwood (1964 - ) Country-western singer; born in Monticello.
• Alice Walker (born February 9, 1944) is an American author and activist. African-American novelist and poet, b. Eatonon, Ga. The daughter of sharecroppers, she studied at Spelman College (1961-63) and Sarah Lawrence College (B.A., 1965). She brings her travel experience in Africa and memories of the American civil-rights movement to an examination of the experience of African Americans, mainly in the South, and of Africans. A self-described "womanist," she has maintained a strong focus on feminist issues within African-American culture. Walker won wide recognition with her novel The Color Purple (1982; Pulitzer Prize; film, 1985), a dark but sometimes joyous saga of a poor black Southern woman's painful journey toward self-realization

More Famous Georgians:

Find more more Georgia famous people below. You may not even realize many of these famous people were born in Georgia or notable associated with Georgia, including actors, actresses, explorers, historical figures, inventors, musicians, novelists, professional athletes, important politicians, singers, sport stars and more.

• Conrad Aiken poet, Savannah
• James Bowie soldier, Burke County
• Jim Brown actor, athlete, St. Simons Island
• Erskine Caldwell writer, Moreland
• James E. Carter US president, Plains
• Ray Charles singer, Albany
• Lucius D. Clay banker, general, Marietta
• Charles Coburn movie and TV actor, Macon
• Ossie Davis actor, writer, Cogdell
• James Dickey poet, Atlanta
• Mattiwilda Dobbs soprano, Atlanta
• Melvyn Douglas actor, Macon
• Pete Drake musician/record producer, Augusta
• Rebecca Latimer Felton first appointed woman US senator, Decatur
• Lawrence Fishburne III actor, Augusta
• Henry W. Grady journalist, Athens
• Amy Grant singer, Augusta
• Oliver Hardy comedian, Harlem
• Roland Hayes singer, Curyville
• Fletcher Henderson musician/songwriter, Cuthbert
• Hulk Hogan professional wrestler, Augusta
• John Henry Doc Holliday western hero, Griffin
• Larry Holmes boxer, Cuthert
• Miriam Hopkins actress, Bainbridge
• Harry James trumpeter, Albany
• Jasper Johns painter, sculptor, Augusta
• Bobby Jones golfer, Atlanta
• Stacy Keach actor, Savannah
• DeForest Kelley actor, Atlanta
• Joseph R. Lamar jurist, Elbert
• Brenda Lee singer, Lithonia
• Carson McCullers author, Columbus
• Blind Willie McTell blues pioneer, Thomson
• Johnny Mercer songwriter, Savannah
• John Robert Johnny Mize baseball player, Demorest
• Jessye Norman singer, Augusta
• Otis Redding singer, Dawson
• Jerry Reed singer/songwriter/actor, Atlanta
• Burt Reynolds actor, Waycross
• Tommy Roe singer/songwriter, Alpharetta
• Billy Joe Royal singer, Valdosta
• Dean Rusk secretary of state, Cherokee Cty
• Nipsey Russell comedian, Atlanta
• Ray Stevens singer/songwriter, Clarksdale
• Janelle Taylor romance novelist, Athens
• Clarence Thomas supreme court associate justice, Savannah
• Joanne Woodward actress, Thomasville