Georgia

By 1890, the first Greek immigrants to Atlanta had settled into an area still widely populated by Confederate veterans. In a city without the large immigrant presence common in the nation's major urban areas, the Greeks were initially received as undesirable visitors by the state's and city's leaders. While the Greek Orthodox Church of Atlanta endured financial hardship, it continued to aid funerals, hospitals and orphanages. These Greeks moved from the city's streets as fruit vendors into more established businesses. Christ Gyfteas's fruit stand at the corner of Broad and Marietta became the California Fruit Company. By 1911, 40 percent of Greeks were proprietors or partners in a variety of businesses like cafés, restaurants, soda fountains and groceries. Author Stephen Georgeson explores the Greek immigrants' experiences in their first three decades in Atlanta.

The Golden Isles are home to a long and proud African American and Gullah Geechee heritage.

Ibo Landing was the site of a mass suicide in protest of slavery, the slave ship Wanderer landed on Jekyll Island and, thanks to preservation efforts, the Historic Harrington School still stands on St. Simons Island. From the Selden Normal and Industrial Institute to the tabby cabins of Hamilton Plantation, authors Amy Roberts and Patrick Holladay explore the rich history of the region's islands and their people, including such local notables as Deaconess Alexander, Jim Brown, Neptune Small, Hazel Floyd and the Georgia Sea Island Singers.

Savannah's storied history begins with Native Americans.

The Guales lived along the Georgia coast for hundreds of years and were the first to encounter Spanish missionaries from St. Augustine in the 1500s. Tomochichi of the Yamacraw tribe is lauded as the co-founder of Georgia for his efforts in helping James Oglethorpe establish the Savannah colony in the eighteenth century. In 1830, President Andrew Jackson forced southeastern Native American tribes to resettle in the West, including descendants of the Savannah Creek, who had fought by Jackson's side at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. Michael Freeman explores the legacy of coastal Georgia's Native Americans and the role they played in founding Savannah.