Founded by New Jersey native Fred Loring Seely, the first issue was April 25, 1906, with editor John Temple Graves.

Journalist James B. Nevin became editor (continuing until his death in 1931) and started the Empty Stocking Fund in 1927.

In 1906, The Atlanta Georgian and the Atlanta News, at the behest of gubernatorial candidates Hoke Smith and Clark Howell, began publishing a series of unsubstantiated sensationalized stories[4] claiming that white women were being attacked and raped by black men.

This was part of the candidates' attempts to disenfranchise blacks by inciting white fear.

It culminated in the Atlanta race riot on September 22, 1906, when the newspapers reported four alleged attacks on white women by black men.