Thanksgiving Ceremony for the life of Jacob Robert Henderson, Wednesday, March 19, 1997, 11:00am, First Congregational Church, UCC, 105 Courtland Street, Northeast, Atlanta, Georgia, The Reverend Norman Rates, Officiating

The Baobab Tree In many regions of Africa, a very large tree grows, looming like ancient elephants on the horizon, huge trunks anchored to the ground, wrinkled and crackedfrom years ofendurance, years of challenge and years of life. The Boabab Tree has come to be an important symbol in African life. The Baobab Tree is strength, it is longevity and it is life sustaining. With its deep roots, its strong foundation and its writhing, diversified branches, the Baobab tree represents the center of life in many African villages and communities. Political decisions are made among village chieftains sitting under the Baobab tree. The spiritual meaning oflife is said to emanate from the Baobab. Children play in its branches and around the Baobab s expansive base and sheltering canopy. Its branches bear nutritiousfruit ... fruit from which bread is made, juices are squeezed and nutrients of life flow forward. For Carole, Jake, Shirley and Gay ... our father, Jacob R. Henderson, has been and still is a strong, wise and magnificent foundation and root ofour family tree ... He is our Baobab Tree I
Carole, Jake, Gay and Shirley With All Our Love
Written by Dr. Gaynelle Henderson- Bailey

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John D. Tyson, Sr. lman M. Tyson Clarence Scarborough David H. Howard

Chaka A. Long Khame Bailey John D. Tyson, Jr. Sidney D. Howard

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Diaconate of First Congregational Church Trustees of First Congregational Church
Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. Kappa Boule, Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity
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The family of Jacob Robert Henderson acknowledges with sincere gratefulness, the many expressions of love, support and condolence from numerous friends and neighbors. Special thanks go to Mrs. Alma Jackson for her many hours of kind and loyal care over the past year.

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FUNERAL DIRECTORS & MORTICIANS

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Wednesday, March 19, 1997 -11:00A.M.-
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105 Courtland Street, Northeast Atlanta, Georgia
The Reverend Norman Rates Officiating

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Jacob Robert "Jake" Henderson, president emeritus of the Atlanta Urban League (AUL) and the Honorary Consul of the Republic of Senegal, helped thousands of blacks register to vote in the 1946 Georgia gubernatorial election.
A successful businessman, Mr. Henderson co-owned Henderson Travel Service with his wife of fifty-six years, Freddye Scarborough Henderson of Atlanta. Their clients have included the Reverend Martin Luther King , Jr. and the Reverend Jesse Jackson .
Mr. Henderson, 85, of Atlanta, died Friday from complications of Alzheimer's disease at Southwest Hospital and Medical Center.
In the 1946 Georgia gubernatorial Democratic primary, blacks were able to vote in primaries for the first time since Reconstruction, thanks to a 1944 lawsuit filed by the Reverend Primus E. King of Columbus, Georgia. The Reverend King's lawsuit, against the Muscogee County registrar, charged that Georgia's all-white Democratic primary was unconstitutio nal. Due to the efforts of Mr. Henderson and others, 19,000 blacks were registered to vote in the 1946 primary, which pitted the segregationist Eugene Talmadge against his liberal rival, James Carmichael. On Election Day, lines wrapped around the block in predominantly black polling precincts in Atlanta. At the Ashby Street School, news reports estimated that the line of voters stretched more than a quarter of a mile. "There was risk involved," said John Ingersoll, a deacon at First Congregational of Atlanta, where Mr. Henderson was a trustee. "But Jake did momentous things when they h?d to be done. He was very modest, a quiet hero ... a great man , a pillar of the community."
A member of the Atlanta Urban League since 1941, Mr. Henderson was involved in integrating the workforce at the old Bell Bomber Plant, now Lockheed Martin's Marietta facility.
He was chairman of AUL's board from 1969 to 1974 and had retained the title of President Emeritus ever since. With Atlanta Mayors Maynard Jackson and Andrew Young, Mr. Henderson worked on public housing and economic development programs in the city. He was also an active board member and officer of the Butler Street YMCA for twenty-five years.
Henderson Travel Service , founded in Atlanta in 1955, provided blacks with travel arrangeme nts to Africa and Europe in a time when most American hotels were segregated . When the Reverend King won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, the Hendersons arranged the trip to Norway to accept the prize , and Mrs. Henderson accompanied th e Reverend King and thirty others on the trip. Henderson Travel Service has been listed among the nation's 100 top black businesses by Black Enterprise magazine and was a two-time winner of the African Trophy from the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) for effectiveness in promoting tourism to Africa.
In 1982, Mr. Henderson was named Honorary Consul of the Republic of Senegal, in West Africa, by that country's president, Abdou Diouf.
Born in Abbeville, South Carolina, Mr. Henderson earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from South Carolina State A&M College and a master's degree in economics from Atlanta University.
Surviving in addition to his wife are three daughters, Carole Henderson Tyson, Kingston, Jamaica, Gaynelle Henderson-Bailey, Washington, D.C. , and Shirley H. Coleman of Atlanta; son, Jacob R. Henderson, Jr. of Atlanta; three brothers, Homer Henderson of Sparta, Georgia, Raymond Henderson of Hartsville, South Carolina, and Dr. William G. D. Henderson of Atlanta; seven grandchildren, other relatives and friends.

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Dr. G. Johnson Hubert, Organist Mrs. Zelda Kennedy-Ridley, Soloist
PRELUDE ................. .. ....... "Ave Maris Stella" ............... . ... . ...... Grieg
PROCESSIONAL .... . .. ... .... . ..... "Chorale Prelude" ................... J. S. Bach
HYMN #233 ....... . ..... .. .... . ............ . ......................... "Amazing Grace"
INVOCATION .. .... ............... ........ ...... .. The Reverend Elizabeth Clement
SCRIPTURES The Old Testament, Psalm 23 The New Testament, Revelation 21:1-4
SOLO ......... . . . ....... . .... . ........ . .... . .... .. .. . .. . .. Mrs. Zelda Kennedy-Ridley "He 's Got The Whole World In His Hands"
SPECIAL TRIBUTE .... .. . . .............. His Excellency General M. Mansour Seck The Ambassador of The Republic of Senegal To The United States of America
TRIBUTES ON BEHALF OF FRIENDS The Reverend Andrew Young Former Un ited States A m bassador to The United Nations Dr. Hugh Gloster President Em eritus, Moreh ouse College
A REMEMBRANCE FROM THE FAMILY ....... Mrs. Shirley Henderson- Coleman
SOLO . . . .......................... . ........ . ............ . . Mrs. Zelda Kennedy-Ridley "His Eye Is On The Sparrow"
EULOGY .. ... ...... . ..... . . . ...... ... .... .... . .. .. ... .. The Reverend Norman Rates
MUSICAL MEDLEY
RECESSIONAL ........... .. .............. "Agnus Dei" ....... .. ................. Bizet
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South-View Cemetery 1990 Jonesboro Road, Southeast
Atlanta, Georgia Luncheon follows the Interment at First Congregational Church