Smyrna, Georgia: An Episodic History 6-week Lecture Series Announced

Smyrna, Georgia: An Episodic History

6-week lecture series

April 4 - May 9, 2022

Instructor: Dr. William P. Marchione, Ph.D.

Each lecture will address two broad themes, with a half hour devoted to each. The series will begin on Monday, April 4, 2022 and conclude six weeks later on May 9, 2022. The class will meet in the first floor meeting room of the Smyrna Public Library from 6:30-7:30 p.m.

Pre-registration is required. Space is limited. RSVP: sreference@smyrnaga.gov.

Topical Outline:

1. Native Society: Assimilation & Expulsion, 1825-1837; Transportation Challenges and Economic Opportunities, 1837-1851. (Monday, April 4, 2022)

2. The Antebellum Economy, 1851-60; The Impact and Legacy of the Civil War, 1861-1880. (Monday, April 11, 2022)

3. Agricultural Diversification, 1880-1905; The Suburbanizing Impulse, 1905-1930. (Monday, April 18, 2022)

4. The Nadir of Race Relations, 1918-38; The Impact of the Depression Era and the New Deal, 1930 to 1942. (Monday, April 25, 2022)

5. The Economic Stimulus of the World War II and Cold War Economies, 1943-70; An Era of Fevered Development, 1970-1985. (Monday, May 2, 2022)

6. The Transformative Years, Smyrna since 1985; Looking Backward and Forward (Monday, May 9, 2022)

Reading material:

Marchione, A Brief History of Smyrna, Georgia (History Press, 2013). The library owns eight circulating copies of this history. Copies are also be available for purchase at the Library’s circulation desk and from on-line booksellers like Amazon. Also, a kindle version of the book can be ordered online.

Material posted on the instructor’s blog, “Local Historian North & South,” which can be accessed via wpmarchione.com.

Recommendations will be made from time to time of books and other material housed in the Smyrna Public Library’s Local History Collection.