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Note: Cobly, Abe
from: History of Greene County, Georgia, by Rice, Dr. Thaddeus Brockett and Carolyn White Williams, Macon, GA: The J. W. Burke Company, 1961), pp. 426 - 427:
... In Greene Co., Ga, just as it was in all the South after the war, ignorant ex-slaves filled the legislative halls of Georgia and were the tools with which the "Carpet-bag" Governor Bulloch and his henchmen used to fleece the State.
Acts of Congress passed on March 2 and July 19, 1867 read: "Until the admission of said state of Georgia, by law to representation in Congress and for this purpose the State of Georgia Shall constitute the Third Military District."
The Court House Square was dotted with the tents of the army of occupation and the officers paid heed to such tales of woe as the recently freed slaves saw fit to tell on their former owners, and thus many vanquished foes were unjustly humiliated as a result of the fabricated lies told by some worthless Negro.
In 1868 Georgia was restored to Statehood, but the State House Officers were a motley crew, Abe Colby, Negro, represented Greene County; Bradley, a negro convict, was in the Senate and other similar characters were considering claims of those who wanted to be elected to the United States Senate. The candidates to be considered were: Alex. H. Stephens, Joseph E. Brown, Joshua Hill, Foster Blodgett, A. K. Ackerman, J. L. Seward, H. G. Cole, and Herschell V. Johnson.
Rufus Bulloch was the "Carpet-bag" Governor and Abe Colby, Negro, offered again for re-election in Greene Co. but the white people had had enough and were determined to defeat him at any cost. All elections were held under the supervision of Federal Troops. The Negroes outnumbered the whites three to one and they were strong for Colby. The evening before the election was to be held, One Federal Officer and twelve Privates were sent to see that the Negroes went in Office. The Federal soldiers were given a good supper, by the whites and a full understanding as to the program the next day. Each soldier was to take a good look at the candidate Colby and appear friendly to him, they were also to be gruff to the whites. A few near-fights were staged. On election day this was carried out and in the afternoon, two privates slipped out and went into a store and climbed out on the roof of the building that commanded a clear view of the courthouse, then they hid behind a parapet wall. In the event Colby was elected they were to kill Colby when the signal was given. However, the election managers did some good counting of the votes and Colby was defeated, therefore it was unnecessary for "Yankee" bullets to remove the ignorant and distasteful lawmaker.
After Colby's defeat his drinking and insolence led to his "Waterloo". He insulted a lady on the streets of Greensboro and he was soundly thrashed and put on an out going train and told never to come back. No one ever saw him again. ...
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How Curious a Land: Change and Conflict in Greene County Georgia, 1850-1885,
by Bryant, Jonathan M., (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press; 2nd edition, 2014), pp. 26-27, 104-106, & 108-113,
"Under the leadership of Abram Colby, Greene County blacks established a local chapter of the Equal Rights Association, an organization formed at the 1865 Freeman`s convention. Colby, the black son of a white planter, had been free and working as barber for fifteen years when emancipation came. Colby was widely known for his oratorical skills and was chosen by the black community to represent them at the convention. Led by notable freedmen like Colby, and Macon minister Henry McNeal Turner, the Equal Rights Association battled to secure education, legal protection, and government representation for black citizens across the state. The only way for the freedman to insure these rights was by exercising their most important right: their right to vote.
Greene County`s population, like the rest of the plantation belt, had a black majority. All over the plantation belt black citizens actualized their right of suffrage. By contrast, many white citizens abstained from voting in protest of federal control of Georgia`s Government. In 1867 while only 1,002 of Greene County white citizens registered to vote, 1,528 blacks signed up. With greater than fifty percent more voters than in the white registry, Greene County blacks would dominate up coming elections. Black citizens of Georgia were overwhelmingly Republican it was the party of Lincoln, and represented divine deliverance from slavery and voted for its candidates both black and white. The black citizenry, of Greene and other plantation belt counties, was instrumental in electing thirty-two freedmen, among them Abram Colby and Henry M. Turner, to the Georgia legislature in 1868. Later that year, white legislators, Democrats and Republicans, would vote to remove the black representatives from their posts. Georgia laws of 1866 had defined state citizens of being white; people with one eighth or more Negro blood could not be citizens. The black politicians were voted out based on the premise that their lack of citizenship, made them ineligible to participate in government. In their short careers, the black legislators, addressed and instituted change in issues of education, poverty and labor for the black community. When Abram Colby was nominated again, the Klan attempted to bribe him not to run. When Colby refused, Klan members took him from his home, beat him, and left him for dead. Colby recovered but never returned to the legislature. In following years, black leaders in the county were terrified into inaction by the Klan. White officials manipulated the polls in order keep the black registry from voting. Though their political power was eventually usurped, initially, black voters in Greene County demonstrated their voting power with full force. Black citizens nevertheless would find other ways to use the size of their population to retain independence"
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"Abram Colby,"
from: Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Abram_Colby&oldid=963241464 (accessed July 15, 2020):
Abram Colby was an African-American freedman who served in the Georgia House of Representatives during the Reconstruction era.
Abram Colby
Nationality: American
Occupation: Former slave and who served in the Georgia House of Representatives
Known for: Helped form a chapter of the American Equal Rights Association:
Background
Colby was the son of an enslaved woman and a white planter. He resided in Greene County, Georgia and was freed fifteen years prior to emancipation. He was an early organizer of freed slaves. Colby and minister Henry McNeal Turner helped form a chapter of the American Equal Rights Association.
Service
Colby was known for eloquent oratory and represented Greene County in 1865 at a freeman's convention. A Radical Republican, Colby was first elected in 1866.[1] Colby could not read, so he kept his son close to him during all official legislative matters, to act as his secretary.[2] In the election of 1868 under the Reconstruction Constitution, roughly 1200 of Greene County's 1500 eligible black voters turned out to help elect two Republicans to the House.[2] They were Colby and a former Confederate Major, moderate republican Robert McWhorter, who went on to serve as Speaker of the House. In that same election, Ulysses S. Grant carried Greene County in the Presidential race.[2] Unable to defeat Colby at the polls, and failing in their attempts to intimidate black voters, Greene County Democrats and local merchants offered Colby $5,000 to switch to the Democratic party, or $2,500 to simply resign his seat in the Legislature. Colby responded that he would not do it for all the wealth in Greene County. Two nights later, he was attacked and beaten.[2]
Brutality Beaten by the KKK
On October 29, 1869, he was taken from his bed and beaten by the Ku Klux Klan in front of his family. During his whipping he was asked, "Do you think you will ever vote another damned Radical ticket." He replied, "If there was an election tomorrow, I would vote the Radical ticket." After his remark, the men continued to beat him. Governor Bullock offered a reward of $5,000 for the arrest of the attackers.[2] Faced with debilitating injury, he was unable to work and did not seek re-election. In 1872, he was called before a joint U.S. House and Senate committee investigating reports of Southern violence.[3] His injuries were so extensive Colby was recorded saying in his testimony during the Joint Select Committee Report: "They broke something inside of me, and the doctor has been attending to me for more than a year. Sometimes I cannot get up and down off my bed, and my left hand is not of much use to me."[4]
References
"Greene County Blacks". Archived from the original on 8 June 2010. Retrieved 2 February 2013.
John C. Inscoe (1 November 2009). Georgia in Black and White: Explorations in Race Relations of a Southern State, 1865-1950. University of Georgia Press. pp. 2432. ISBN 978-0-8203-3505-6.
"American Experience Reconstruction: The Second Civil War White Men Unite". PBS. Retrieved 1 February 2013.
Corbett, Scott (2016). U.S. History. Online: Openstacks. p. 480. ___________________
"Abram Colby: American Slave and Politician," peoplepill.com, https://peoplepill.com/people/abram-colby/, accessed July 18, 2020:
Abram Colby was an American slave and politician who served in the Georgia House of Representatives during the Reconstruction era. A resident of Greene County, Georgia, Colby was the son of an enslaved woman and a white planter. He was free for fifteen years prior to emancipation. He was an early organizer of freed slaves. Colby and minister Henry McNeal Turner helped form a chapter of the American Equal Rights Association. Colby was known for eloquent oratory and represented Greene County in 1865 at a freeman's convention. A Radical Republican, Colby was first elected in 1866. In 1868, he was bribed $7,500 by the Ku Klux Klan not to seek re-election, but refused to do so. In October 29th, 1869, he was taken from his bed and beaten by the Ku Klux Klan in front of his family. During his whipping he was asked, "Do you think you will ever vote another damned Radical ticket." He replied, "If there was an election tomorrow, I would vote the Radical ticket." After his remark, the men continued to beat him. Faced with debilitating injury, he was unable to work and did not seek re-election. The injury was so extensive Colby was recorded saying in his testimony during the Joint Select Committee Report "They broke something inside of me, and the doctor has been attending to me for more than a year. Sometimes I cannot get up and down off my bed, and my left hand is not of much use to me.". In 1872, he was called before a joint U.S. House and Senate committee investigating reports of Southern violence.(contents sourced from Wikipedia article)
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1870 United States Federal Census, Ancestry.com, (Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009), "Census Place: Militia District 142, Greene, Georgia; Roll: M593_153; Page: 346B; Family History Library Film: 545652:"
Name: Abraham Colby, Age in 1870: 48; Birth Year: abt 1822; Birthplace: Georgia; Dwelling Number: 960; Home in 1870: Militia District 142, Greene, Georgia;
Race: Mulatto; Gender: Male;
Post Office: Penfield; Occupation: Day Laborer;
Cannot Read: Y; Cannot Write: Y; Male Citizen over 21: Y:"
Household Members [all have listed Race: Mulatto]:
Name Age Abraham Colby48
Minnie Colby65 (born abt.1805)
Ella Colby22 (born abt. 1848)
Julia Colby 3 (born abt. 1867)
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