[2] In 1783, Thomas Edward Callaway and his family moved to the state of Georgia from Halifax County, Virginia (by way of North Carolina).

[4] The cemetery had existed prior to John's burial, filled with former neighbors in graves that were unmarked or poorly marked with stones.

[4] When slaves died they were buried in a separate burial ground only for African American (which was abandoned in 1910, and is no longer standing).

[2] Jacob Callaway (1760–1855) built his homestead in 1817, most of his wealth came before the American Civil War, as he helped raised cotton and sold it to England.

[5] The Callaway family made a large profit from the interest and was able to take that money to fund the building of the brick manor house by 1869 under his grandson Aristide's leadership.

Aristides granddaughter, Katie Mae Arnold Hardin (1888–1977) donated her portion of the Callaway property to the city of Washington, Georgia.

[8][9][10] This caused controversy since the Callaway Plantation held enslaved people, though the house itself was built years after the Civil War, and the Election Integrity Act of 2021 is considered by opponents to specifically target the voting rights of African Americans in Georgia.

The juxtaposition of the plantation image above the Governor with the perception of racism in the bill made this headline news on national and international networks.

[11][12][13] On 28 March 2021 the NAACP and ACLU were among groups that filed court challenges against the Election Integrity Act of 2021.