There is currently a monument paying tribute to Georgia’s Reconstruction-era Black lawmakers sitting on the state Capitol lawn. But there’s a push to do more to recognize these trailblazers. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder
More than 150 years after they were expelled from the Legislature, Georgia’s first Black lawmakers, known as the Original 33, are set to receive a permanent memorial in their name.
State Rep. Carl Gilliard, a Savannah Democrat, hosted the inaugural “original 33” memorial day ceremony at the state Capitol this year highlighting the passage of House Bill 303 last year.
The law authorizes a monument to be placed inside the state Capitol honoring the 33 Black legislators who were elected in 1868 during Reconstruction but later expelled by lawmakers who argued they were ineligible to hold office.
For Gillard, the legislation is both political and personal.
“When I first came to the Georgia House of Representatives, every year during Black History Month, they used to say, ‘We want to send shouts-out to the Original 33.’ That was it,” Gilliard said. “I didn’t hear anything else.”
Curious, he searched for more information, leading him to find a six-foot bronze sculpture on the state Capitol lawn commissioned by the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus and dedicated in 1976. Its abstract design is a homage to Black history, and while it does not depict the Original 33, it includes three plaques acknowledging the names of the expelled legislators and is titled Expelled Because of Color. Yet, to many like Gilliard, it is not a true commemoration of the Original 33.
“I looked at the monument, and I didn’t see 33,” he said.
This discovery brought him to dig deeper into history, leading him to his own family tree. Gilliard said he later learned he is a fifth-generation cousin of William Golden, one of the expelled lawmakers.
For six years, he pushed legislation to formally recognize the Original 33. Finally, in 2025, the bill passed unanimously in both chambers and with a Republican sponsoring it in the Senate.
“In a DEI climate,” Gilliard said, “for both houses to pass this legislation unanimously, and then in the Senate to have a Republican carry that and pass it, that says something.”
History erased
The Original 33 were among the first Black men elected to any Southern state legislature after Congress required Confederate states to ratify new constitutions recognizing Black suffrage.
Within months of holding the position in 1868, opposing legislators voted to expel them, claiming that while Black men could vote, they could not serve in office
“Young people should learn about the story of 33 great Americans,” Gilliard said.
He calls them “unsung heroes” whose stories were written out of textbooks and, in many cases, photographs lost or destroyed.
John Alston III, an African American history researcher at the Auburn Avenue Research Library in Atlanta, said Georgia’s first Black lawmakers represent a pivotal moment during Reconstruction when Georgia was striving to redefine itself after the Civil War.
“These were people who were enslaved in a lot of cases, and now are lawmakers,” Alston said. “So it’s kind of a testimony to what is possible in America, but also how quickly that can be taken away through violence, terrorism and through just not caring about our fellow citizens.”
Alston called the planned monument a “watershed moment” for Georgia’s evolving New South.
“I think a lot of us take for granted that Black people were part of the conversation and were elected to do so. They had to get Black and white people to vote for them to put them in there,” he said. “It’s kind of shocking to know that these fathers of the new Georgia, a lot of them, we don’t know their birthdays, or death dates.”
Baldwin County native Beverly Lundy Hill said she had walked past the existing monument on the Capitol grounds for years before realizing what it represented.
“I had never heard of that,” Hill said of the original 33. “That’s what started me with this quest.”
Hill, a retired criminal investigator with the Georgia Secretary of State’s office, began researching the men and reconstructing their family trees. With few original images available, and most being drawings, she used descendants’ photographs and artificial intelligence to create likenesses based on bloodlines.
“The history was lost. It was forgotten,” Hill said. “These men paved the way. They were the first Black men elected when Black men were first allowed to vote in 1868.”
Descendants discover their legacy
Not all descendants of Georgia’s original Black lawmakers were aware of their lineage until recently due to the erasure of their legacy.
Pamela Colby, a descendant of state Rep. Abram Colby, one of the original Black lawmakers, said she only learned of her ancestor’s role through independent researchers and historians.
“I would love to say I knew about my ancestor when I was young,” Colby said. “I just found out about my ancestor recently.”
She said the discovery has been “surreal” and “overwhelming.”
“It’s been a long time coming,” she said. “Not just my ancestor, but the entire Original 33. It is beyond historical.”
Colby said learning about her great-great-grandfather has brought her family closer together, prompting relatives to search through boxes of letters and old photographs.
“We are the legacy,” she said. “And our future generations are the legacy. Write down your story.”
She hopes the in-the-works memorial will inspire others to explore history.
Monument in the making
The projected costs for the monument is about $100,000, which is set to be paid for through private donations. However, until the Capitol Arts Standards Commission approves of the plans, nothing is set in stone.
A design has been completed thanks to a partnership with the Savannah College of Art and Design through its SCAD SERVE initiative. The concept revolves around a bronze Reconstruction-era chair, a symbol, Gilliard said, of sacrifice and representation.
“They stood up so we could sit down,” Gilliard said.
Some details, such as where the monument will be located, are still being worked out. But the monument could still be in place by the end of this year.
“This is a new day,” he said. “We have a chance to set the pace for Georgia.”
For descendants gathered at the Capitol earlier this year, the ceremony itself marked a step toward restoring a story long pushed to the margins.
“The seldom told must be told,” Gilliard said.
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