James Oglethorpe, Father of Georgia

A Founder's Journey from Slave Trader to Abolitionist

By: Michael L. Thurmond, James F. Brooks - foreword

Narrated by: Michael L. Thurmond

Founded by James Oglethorpe on February 12, 1733, the Georgia colony was envisioned as a unique social welfare experiment. Administered by twenty-one original trustees, the Georgia Plan offered England's "worthy poor" and persecuted Christians an opportunity to achieve financial security in the New World by exporting goods produced on small farms. Most significantly, Oglethorpe and his fellow Trustees were convinced that economic vitality could not be achieved through the exploitation of enslaved Black laborers.

James Oglethorpe, Father of Georgia uncovers how Oglethorpe's philosophical and moral evolution from slave trader to abolitionist was propelled by his intellectual relationships with two formerly enslaved Black men. Oglethorpe's unique "friendships" with Ayuba Suleiman Diallo and Olaudah Equiano, two of eighteenth-century England's most influential Black men, are little-known examples of interracial antislavery activism that breathed life into the formal abolitionist movement.

Utilizing more than two decades of meticulous research, fresh historical analysis, and compelling storytelling, Michael L. Thurmond rewrites the prehistory of abolitionism and adds an important new chapter to Georgia's origin story.

©2024 Michael L. Thurmond (P)2025 Tantor Media

A must read for every Georgia resident

I learned a lot of history that I had no clue about and was appreciative for this enlightenment.

Good information

Alot of politically incorrect information, though historicaly correct.
The slave issue was alot more complex than often given to be. It's normally portrayed as mean white southern men out of meanness had a blacks tied to a tree they would mistreat. The issue was around long time before southern men were a thing. Often the image is portrayed be the very folks that profited by slavery. It's sadly to the chagrin of the South that they wrongly chose that proverbial hill to die on. I am told only about 50% of captured Africans came to North America.