Dawson is a city in and the county seat of Terrell County, Georgia, United States.

The population was 4,414 at the 2020 census. Incorporated on December 22, 1857, the city is named for Senator William Crosby Dawson. Dawson is part of the Albany, Georgia metropolitan statistical area.

History

Dawson was founded in 1856 as seat of the newly formed Terrell County. It was incorporated as a town in 1857 and as a city in 1872. Terrell was an important site in the 1960s, when the county in which it is located was labeled "Terrible Terrell" by the SNCC. Jackie Robinson helped raise money to rebuild three black churches that were burned in the area.

In 1976, five African-American youths were charged with the murder of a white customer in a roadside convenience store. The crime and pretrial proceedings garnered national attention. The five young men, one of whom was a juvenile, charged in the case were known as "The Dawson Five". The court dropped the charges against the group of five; Roosevelt Watson, Henderson Watson, J.D. Davenport, Johnnie B. Jackson, and George Poor, when it found evidence of police misconduct, including coerced confessions, intimidation and improper identification procedures.

Geography

Dawson is located in Southwest Georgia along U.S. Route 82 and Georgia State Route 520 (Columbus Highway), which leads southeast 8 mi (13 km) to Sasser and northwest 9 mi (14 km) to Parrott. U.S. 82 leads west 21 mi (34 km) to Cuthbert and 47 mi (76 km) to Eufaula, Alabama. Albany is 24 mi (39 km) southeast and Columbus is 63 mi (101 km) northwest.

The city is located at (31.773969, -84.440870). According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all land.

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, Dawson had a population of 4,414. The median age was 38.8 years. 24.8% of residents were under the age of 18 and 17.8% were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 84.3 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 77.4 males age 18 and over.

0.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 100.0% lived in rural areas.

There were 1,749 households in Dawson, including 1,080 families. Of all households, 31.0% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 24.7% were married-couple households, 18.9% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 49.2% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 33.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

!Race

!Num.

!Perc.

|-

|White (non-Hispanic)

|613

|13.89%

|-

|Black or African American (non-Hispanic)

|3,618

|81.97%

|-

|Native American

|6

|0.14%

|-

|Asian

|44

|1.0%

|-

|Pacific Islander

|1

|0.02%

|-

|Other/Mixed

|88

|1.99%

|-

|Hispanic or Latino

|44

|1.0%

|}

Education

Terrell County School District

The Terrell County School District holds pre-school to grade twelve, and consists of two elementary schools, a middle school and a high school. The district has 98 full-time teachers and over 1,764 students.

  • Cooper-Carver Elementary School
  • Terrell County Middle High School

Private education

  • Terrell Academy - Founded as a segregation academy in response to the racial desegregation of public schools.

Higher education

Nearby Albany has two colleges to which students may easily commute: Albany State University, and Albany Technical College. To the west, in Cuthbert, is historic Andrew College. Also nearby is Georgia Southwestern State University in Americus.

Notable people

  • Lucius D. Battle (1918–2008), ambassador to Egypt
  • James Brazier (c. 1926–1958), African American murdered by police in Dawson
  • Lawrence Edward Carter Jr. (1941-), historian, professor, author, and civil rights expert. Dean of the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel at Morehouse.
  • Erle Cocke Jr. (1921–2000) businessman, U.S. National Guard general
  • Wayland Flowers (1939–1988), puppeteer best known for his puppet known as "Madame"
  • Bessie Jones (1902–1984), gospel and folk singer
  • Dawson Five, five black Dawson residents who were wrongly charged with the 1976 murder of a white man; due to forced confession and other police misconduct, the case was dropped in 1977.