May 02, 1899

1899 Minister, author, and publisher William J. Scott died in Atlanta, Georgia. Scott was a devout Methodist who ministered to Georgians in many different areas of the state, holding various positions in eleven locations in Georgia throughout his career. He also did newspaper work in LaGrange and Rome. He was working at a church in Atlanta when the Civil War broke out; here he helped organize and operate hospitals for soldiers, eventually becoming director of the Georgia Hospital Association. After the war he began publishing Scott’s Monthly Magazine, a vehicle for writers that had a successful four year run and published a number of the state’s writers, most notably Sidney Lanier. Scott himself published several works including Southside Views (1883), From Lincoln to Cleveland and Other Short Studies in History and General Literature (1886), Biographical Etchings of Ministers and Laymen of the Georgia Conferences (a church history, 1895), and an autobiographical work -- Seventy-one Years in Georgia (1897).

May 02, 1913

1913 In talks with an Atlanta Constitution reporter, both Newt Lee and Leo Frank strongly insisted they were innocent of Mary Phagan’s murder; Frank was confident his name would be cleared in the process of the investigation.

May 02, 1968

1968 Ralph David Abernathy’s "Poor People’s March" to protest poverty and racial discrimination began as a mule train left Atlanta headed for Washington, D.C. In the days and weeks ahead, waves of protestors from across the country would depart for the nation’s capital.

May 02, 1979

1979 Atlanta Braves general manager Bill Lucas died the day after suffering a massive stroke.

May 02, 1981

1981 Danny Hansford was shot and killed in Savannah by Jim Williams; Williams claimed he was acting in self defense, but was charged with murder in the case. This case was dramatized in the book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, later made into a movie.

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May 02, 1982

1982 The Weather Channel, located in Georgia, began broadcasting.

May 02, 1996

1996 The U.S. Postal Service issued a new set of 20 Atlanta 1996 Olympics stamps. Official first day of issue ceremonies were held in Washington, D.C., though the Postal Service also allowed the new stamps to be sold in Atlanta on May 2.