Here’s what happened.
The headline is intended to lure readers into thinking that this article is about the iconic civil rights leader, Nobel laureate, and Atlanta native. During Black History Month it would be expected.
Horace Godwin King may not be as well known as the other black man who shared his last name. And the scope of his work may not be as global in impact. But it has certainly enriched the history and culture of Georgia, as well as much of the USA’s South. An important episode in that story occurred on February 3, 1846, when King earned his freedom.
Here’s why it mattered then.
Horace King was born a slave in South Carolina. After his owner died he was sold to John Godwin, who moved to Alabama to establish a construction company. Godwin took King on many of the construction projects to supervise the manual labor. But he eventually recognized King’s engineering genius. The two men became partners, and King earned enough money from the work to buy his freedom. However, freedmen were not permitted to live in Alabama beyond a year. So in 1846, Godwin persuaded the state legislature to enact an exemption for King.
Together and separately, Godwin and King built bridges throughout Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia. King built practically every bridge that spanned the Chattahoochee River. Many of those bridges were destroyed during the siege of Columbus, Georgia, the last official battle of the USA’s Civil War. King sent the U.S. government a bill for the damages.
Here’s why it matters now.
King’s engineering skills were enlisted in other ways to support the Confederate war effort. His work crews were involved in the construction of several ironclad warships. When the war ended he rebuilt the bridges as well as mills and public buildings around Columbus.
During Reconstruction, King served in Alabama’s state legislature. Upon retirement he turned the bridge business over to his sons, and moved to LaGrange, Georgia. He helped to found several black schools in the area. His heirs advanced his passion for education as well as his bridge-building legacy. His son John Thomas King served as a trustee of what is now Clark Atlanta University, and a number of his descendents were members of its faculty.
Here’s the latest update . . .
The friendship between King and Godwin endured throughout their lives. After Godwin failed to recover from crippling debt, King quietly served as the family’s benefactor. After Godwin died, King erected a monument on his former owner’s grave.
In 1989, King was posthumously inducted into the inaugural class of the University of Alabama’s Engineering Hall of Fame. Horace A. King, Jr. accepted the honor on behalf of his great-grandfather.
. . . And here’s an interesting fact!
The Red Oak Creek Covered Bridge, built by King in the 1840’s, is still in operation today. But his most notable work is not a bridge. In 1850 he built the elegant spiral staircase in the State Capitol Building at Montgomery, Alabama.
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