| Official Name: | Blakely, Georgia |
| Nickname: | Peanut Capital of the World |
| Settlement Type: | City |
| Mapsize: | 250px |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | United States |
| Subdivision Type1: | State |
| Subdivision Name1: | Georgia |
| Subdivision Type2: | County |
| Subdivision Name2: | Early |
| Leader Title: | Mayor |
| Leader Name: | Travis Wimbush |
| Unit Pref: | Imperial |
| Area Footnotes: | [1] |
| Area Total Km2: | 45.75 |
| Area Land Km2: | 45.46 |
| Area Water Km2: | 0.29 |
| Area Total Sq Mi: | 17.66 |
| Area Land Sq Mi: | 17.55 |
| Area Water Sq Mi: | 0.11 |
| Population As Of: | 2020 |
| Population Total: | 5371 |
| Population Density Km2: | 118.15 |
| Population Density Sq Mi: | 306.02 |
| Timezone: | Eastern (EST) |
| Utc Offset: | -5 |
| Timezone Dst: | EDT |
| Utc Offset Dst: | -4 |
| Coordinates: | 31.3767°N -84.9339°W |
| Elevation M: | 80 |
| Elevation Ft: | 262 |
| Postal Code Type: | ZIP codes |
| Postal Code: | 39823 |
| Area Code: | 229 |
| Blank Name: | FIPS code |
| Blank Info: | 13-08536[2] |
| Blank1 Name: | GNIS feature ID |
| Blank1 Info: | 0331185[3] |
Blakely is a city and the county seat[4] of Early County, Georgia, United States. As of 2020, its population was 5,371. It is located approximately halfway between Columbus and Tallahassee, Florida on U.S. Route 27.
Blakely was platted in 1825 as the county seat for Early County.[5] It was named for Johnston Blakeley, an officer in the War of 1812.[6] Between 1881 and 1947 at least seven African-Americans were lynched in Blakely,[7] including at least two veterans. One of these, Wilbur Little, was murdered upon returning from service in World War I by whites who detested seeing a black person in uniform.[8] In 1960 an African-American veteran from New Jersey who was traveling through the county was convicted of rape and sentenced to death 3 days after his arrest in a trial that featured no defense counsel and no jury. The story was chronicled in the movie Fair Game.A month after the article appeared in the Chicago Defender the NAACP sent Monroe N. Work to Blakely to investigate the incident. On June 7, 1919, Work sent a telegram to NAACP officer J.R. Shillady stating "Have investigated report. Blakely, Georgia, lynching does not appear to have ." Work concluded his investigation by recommending that allegations of a lynching be dropped.[9] However, further review by the organization found that it had in fact occurred.[10] [11]
Blakely is located at 31.3767°N -84.9339°W (31.376728, -84.933873).[12] The city is located in southwestern Georgia along U.S. Route 27, Georgia State Route 62, and Georgia State Route 39. Blakely is located approximately 75miles south of Columbus, 48miles southwest of Albany, and 76miles northwest of Tallahassee, Florida and 24 miles northeast of Dothan, Alabama.
According to the United States Census Bureau, this town has a total area of 17.6sqmi, of which 17.5sqmi is land and 0.1sqmi (0.74%) is water.
| White (non-Hispanic) | 1,444 | 26.89% | |
| Black or African American (non-Hispanic) | 3,706 | 69.0% | |
| Native American | 12 | 0.22% | |
| Asian | 32 | 0.6% | |
| Other/Mixed | 113 | 2.1% | |
| Hispanic or Latino | 64 | 1.19% |
The Early County School District holds grades pre-school to grade twelve, and consists of one elementary school, a middle school, and a high school.[14] The district has 156 full-time teachers and over 2,764 students.[15]