[7] In 1830, U.S. Congress passed the Indian Removal Act, and the United States made treaties to extinguish Creek and other Native American land claims in the Southeast.

European-American settlement began with Nelson Tift of Groton, Connecticut, who took land along the Flint River in October 1836 after Indian removal.

In the early years following the war, Styles, like Tift, took great exception to the Radical Reconstruction program then in force, and advocated for a more moderate response based on his interpretation of Georgia's rights under the Constitution.

[10] Styles backed "constitutional reconstruction" advanced by Benjamin H. Hill and sought support for the idea from the national Democratic party.

[13][14] He resolved to bring a paper aligned with the Democratic party viewpoint to the Atlanta market, one supporting his constitutional reconstruction ideals.

[11][12][13][14] Styles moved from Albany to Atlanta, and on May 9 he announced that he had obtained the necessary financial backing to purchase the Daily Opinion.

Unable to pay for his portion of the purchase, when the sale of his Albany News fell through, Styles was forced to surrender his interest in the paper to his joint venture partners.

[17] Originally a segregated facility under Jim Crow laws, it was not open to African Americans until after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

In 1937, Chehaw Park was constructed as a part of a New Deal program under the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Great Depression.

They led protests and non-violent demonstrations to end segregation of public facilities, gain the right to vote, and advance social justice.

Assisted by activists from SCLC, CORE, SNCC, and the NAACP, African Americans and supporters took a stand to fight segregation through nonviolence.

[21] The decline in military bases and railroad restructuring nationwide both led to job losses in the Albany area.

Much of the remaining white population moved to suburbs and newer housing out of the city, which became majority African American in the 1970s.

On January 2 and 22, 2017, violent tornadoes passed through the area, claiming several lives and destroying mobile home parks in the process.

[24] It lies in a belt of historically rich farmland in the East Gulf coastal plain, on the banks of the Flint River.

According to "Cities Ranked and Rated" (Bert Sperling and Peter Sander), Albany reports thunder on 86 days per year.

[45] Today, although the city is surrounded by pecan groves, pine trees, farms and plantations, almost none of the population is employed in agriculture.

Manufacturing, transportation, and retail trade are also important foundations of Albany's economy, and the city acts as a hub for commerce in southwest Georgia.

On December 17, 2008, Cooper Tire and Rubber, one of Albany's largest employers, announced plans to close the local manufacturing facility.

[47] Albany has a skilled workforce, makes continual upgrades to its infrastructure, and has improvements in public safety, such as its ISO fire rating of 2.

[48] It has numerous economic development initiatives, such as an Opportunity Zone, which offers a $3,500 tax credit per job created.

[citation needed] Elected officials include a mayor and six city commissioners, each of whom serves a four-year term.

African Americans in the South had been intent since emancipation in gaining education and, by the turn of the 20th century, most were literate, as documented by W. E. B.

For more than 20 years, Troy University, a public non-profit institution of Alabama, has taught classes both in-class and online in Albany.

Troy's Albany site has classes in criminal justice, psychology and various general studies, along with offering other undergraduate and master's degree programs online.

Several passenger trains from St. Louis, Chicago and Cincinnati in the Midwest, heading to Florida, made stops in Albany Union Station.

Albany is located on Georgia State Route 300 (Georgia-Florida Parkway), which provides easy access to Cordele, and Interstate 75 to the northeast and south to Camilla, and Thomasville.

The Liberty Expressway spans 10 miles (16 km) serves as a bypass on Albany's north and east sides.

[96] Deconstruction began in 2015 and the replacement segmental concrete box girder bridge was dedicated to veterans and opened on November 11, 2015.

[101] Albany is the home of a not-for-profit regional health system with a 26-county cachement area with Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital[102] at its hub.