Ellis Gibbs Arnall Statue

Ellis Gibbs Arnall Statue, Georgia, Atlanta

Public Art : Ellis Gibbs Arnall statue

Description : A bronze statue of Govenor Ellis Gibbs Arnall. Sculptor Zenos Frudakis has captured Arnall as a relaxed looking man confidently striding forward. He is perched on a granite pedestal with quotes and past achievements engraved into the stone.

Date Unveiled : Dedicated November 24th, 1997.

Location : Grounds of the Georgia State Capitol building, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America.

Inscriptions :

ARNALL
Ellis Gibbs Arnall
Governor of Georgia
1943-1947

EDUCATION
Brought about widespread reform in education by making the Board of Regents and Board of Education constitutional bodies ensuring the separation of politics from education.
"Education is the cure for ignorance, poverty and disease."

GOVERNMENT
Brought about more reforms in state government than any other Governor in Georgia history; including prison reform, reduction in the voting age, revision of the state constitution and creation of the
office of Lieutenant Governor.
"There is nothing wrong with government that democracy won't cure."

LAW
Founded Arnall, Golden and Gregory, where he practiced law for 40 years
with Sol I. Golden and Cleburne E. Gregory, Jr.

EQUALITY
Abolished the poll tax, allowing the poorest citizens to vote without having to pay
for this basic right of a democracy.
"There will come a time when equality is not only publicly accepted, but privately accepted as well."

ECONOMICS
Broke the freight rate discrimination shackles which limited the South to an agricultural economy.
"The monument to my governorship is that we brought about the Union
on the basis of full fellowship and full equality."

So who was Ellis Gibbs Arnall ? : Ellis Gibbs Arnall (1907-1992) was said to be the "father of modern Georgia". When Arnall was elected Governor of Georgia in 1942 (at the ripe old age of 35) he took little time in making sweeping changes to the State. Of note were removing the University system of Georgia out of the direct influence of the Governor, unmasking the Ku Klux Klan, abolishing Georgia's poll tax, creating the Board of Corrections and the Board of Pardons and Paroles, abolishing prison chain gangs and lowering the voting age to 18. In 1947 he left politics and co-founded the law firm Arnall, Golden and Gregory (still one of the largest in Atlanta).And if that wasn't enough he managed to write two best selling books The Shore Dimly Seen and What the People Want.

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