Reflections- Georgia African American Historic Preservation Network, Vol. 10, no. 4 (Oct. 2012)

Volume X, No. 4 October 2012
Jeanne Cyriaque, African American Programs Coordinator
Historic Preservation Division
continued on page 2
Sallie Ellis Davis, a Milledgeville educator, was born in rural
Baldwin County around 1877. Sallie was the daughter of
Josh Ellis, an Irishman, and Elizabeth Brundage, an African
American woman. Her mother died when Sallie was three, and her
father raised Sallie with the help of his mother. Josh Ellis owned
over 1,000 acres of land, a cotton gin and a general store. He
educated Sallie in her early years in rural Baldwin County.
African Americans lived in Milledgeville in close proximity
to whites during enslavement and by the end of the Civil War, both
free blacks and freedmen resided in a community whose landmark
building included Flagg Chapel Baptist Church. The church is named
in honor of Wilkes Flagg,
an enslaved blacksmith
who purchased freedom
for himself, wife and son.
Flagg was literate and
was a minister. By the
end of the Civil War, he
donated land for the
church and established a
school. Flagg’s
accomplishments were
recognized by the
American Missionary
Association (AMA),
and Reverend Hiram
Eddy of the AMA sent
five white teachers to
instruct 350 students
who were attending the
Flagg Chapel School.
With assistance from the
Freedmen’s Bureau, the
Eddy School was built
HITCH YOUR WAGON TO A STAR: GEORGIA COLLEGE AND
COMMUNITY PARTNERS PRESERVE THE HOME OF SALLIE ELLIS DAVIS
The Sallie Ellis Davis residence is a 1910 Central Hallway house located in Milledgeville.
The house is a contributing resource in the Milledgeville Historic District, and was listed in
the National Register of Historic Places on June 28, 1972.
Photo courtesy of Georgia College & State University
for Milledgeville’s African American students. Both the church
and the three-room wood school became anchors for the Eddy
School neighborhood.
When Sallie Ellis became college age, Josh agreed to send
her to Atlanta University. Sallie entered Atlanta University and
immediately knew she wanted to teach. After two years, she returned
to Milledgeville where most of her fellow teachers did not have a
college education. Sallie returned to Atlanta University and
graduated with a normal (teaching) degree in 1899. While she was
an Atlanta University student, W.E.B. DuBois was on the faculty.
He would influence her career as a teacher and remained a mentor
throughout her lifetime.
Sallie Ellis returned to the
Eddy School as a teacher
and later principal, a
post she would hold
during most of her 50+
year career.
By 1900, the threeroom schoolhouse was
replaced by Eddy High
School. Eddy High
School also included
elementary classes. It
was constructed solely
by African American
tradesmen. Sallie Ellis
was the most credentialed
teacher in Milledgeville at
that time, and she was the
first female principal of
the school. When she
returned to Milledgeville,
she met John Davis, who
2
Jeanne Cyriaque, continued from page 1
HITCH YOUR WAGON TO A STAR: GEORGIA COLLEGE AND
COMMUNITY PARTNERS PRESERVE THE HOME OF SALLIE ELLIS DAVIS
owned a shoemaking business. With Josh Ellis’ permission, they
would marry. Sallie continued to work after marriage. She and John
Davis had no children of their own, but adopted two girls. They
settled in a house on Clark Street, about a block from the Eddy School.
In 1925, the Eddy School burned to the ground. The board
of trustees decided to turn the school over to the white board of
education, with a $7,500 cash contribution. Community craftsmen
added an auditorium and home economics building for a public
meeting space. Sallie and John supported the effort by donating
one year of her salary. During this time, Sallie returned to the
classroom as a teacher.
Sallie Ellis Davis was known by all her students as a strict
disciplinarian. She was stern, yet respected by the hundreds of
students she impacted in her career. Davis was a community leader
as well, and believed her work as an educator would lead to economic
advancement for her students. One of her favorite mottos was
“hitch your wagon to a star.” In 1934, John Davis died, but Sallie
continued to raise their daughters and provide her home for female
boarding students from the rural areas. Some of her students,
including her daughter, Louise, would become schoolteachers.
In 1946, the second Eddy School burned. Sallie Ellis Davis
was heartbroken, and she could not see the African American
community rebuilding yet another school, and retired after 51 years
of teaching. Davis died in 1950. Another school was constructed
in 1949 by the Board of Education, but it was no longer at the old
site. The elementary and high schools were in separate buildings,
and the high school became George Washington Carver. The
elementary school was not named until 1967, when it became the
Sallie Ellis Davis Elementary School 17 years after her death. Sallie
Ellis Davis was inducted into Georgia Women of Achievement in
2000 for her lasting legacy in Georgia women’s history.
The Sallie Ellis Davis residence was in continuous use
until 1989, when the Board of Regents purchased it. Georgia College
& State University (GCSU) leased the house to the Sallie Ellis Davis
Foundation in 1990, a nonprofit organization of former students
and community members, who wanted the residence to become an
African American cultural center. In 2003, the Historic Preservation
Division (HPD) awarded the City of Milledgeville and the foundation
a Historic Preservation Fund grant totaling $5,220 to develop a
rehabilitation plan for the residence. The Jaeger Company prepared
the plan that outlined the condition of the structure and steps
required to preserve it.
In late 2008, GCSU announced a partnership with the Sallie
Ellis Davis Foundation that moved the project forward and helped
to build a relationship with the community. The Georgia Trust for
Historic Preservation included the house on its Places in Peril list
in 2009, and this garnered additional support from the preservation
community. As part of the Georgia Trust’s Partners in the Field
program, $10,000 was allocated for the building’s stabilization. Lord,
Aeck & Sargent Architects (LAS) provided in-kind assistance with
the drawings and design for the rear addition. Garbutt/Christman
was the on-site contractor, and numerous foundations and local
businesses supported the project, providing $50,000 in material
and services. Garbutt/Christman and GCSU organized a volunteer
cleanup day, salvaging 4,500 bricks for reuse. Brick masons used
these materials to reconstruct fireplaces, foundation piers, chimneys
and fireplaces. House interiors were refinished, a new roof installed
and electrical/mechanical systems were updated. Sidewalks and
landscaping were provided by supporters.
Susan Turner, LAS principal, joins three generations of Sallie Ellis
Davis descendants at the dedication. Photo by Jeanne Cyriaque
The rehabilitated Sallie Ellis Davis House was completed
and dedicated in April 2012, and now is the home of a new African
American Cultural Center. Partners and descendants of Sallie Ellis
Davis attended the dedication. Carolyn Thomas, chair of the Sallie
Ellis Davis Foundation, and Stas Preczewski, Interim President of
GCSU are excited about the partnership, and Eva Elaine Allen
Pritchard, grandniece of Sallie Ellis Davis, and Pastor Omer Reid of
Flagg Chapel Baptist Church, were among the day’s speakers, and
Mayor Richard Bentley presented a proclamation. Sallie Ellis Davis
may have witnessed the destruction of two school buildings, but
her home will remain in service to the college and the Milledgeville
community for years to come.
The rear addition provides a catering and staff area for events, as well as a
porch and bathrooms. Photo courtesy of Lord, Aeck & Sargent
3
ENSLAVED GIRL MELVINIA SHIELDS
CASTS A SHADOW TO THE WHITE HOUSE
Barry Brown, Heritage Tourism Specialist
Georgia Department of Economic Development
There was a festival atmosphere in Clayton County’s bucolic
village of Rex on June 26 with tents and banners and live gospel
music. Hundreds of people came out basking in the bright though
warm weather to witness the unveiling of monument and the release
of a book, American Tapestry: The Story of the Black, White, and
Multiracial Ancestors of Michelle Obama. Author Rachel Swarns’
book connects Rex and tells the story of family ties to Michelle
Obama and the White House.
Interest began in the fall of 2009 when an article was
published in the New York Times revealing genealogical research
that linked a young enslaved girl, Melvinia as the great-great-great
grandmother of Michelle Obama, with the small farm on the outskirts
of a village that would later be known as Rex, Georgia. Since the
1840s Rex was the center of a farming community with a large grist
mill, a cotton gin and a few store fronts. It’s the sort of picturesque
community you’d see in a postcard with a babbling brook and mill
wheel turning slowly in the current.
Melvinia was bequeathed in a will from her South Carolina
owner to a relatively prosperous Clayton County farm family headed
by Henry Shields in 1850 when she was about six years old. The
Shields grew cotton, corn, and other staples and owned two other
slaves. In 1860, at the dawn of the Civil War, Melvinia gave birth to
her first child, Dolphus, the father being the Shields’ oldest son
Charles, a white man (according to DNA research revealed in the
book). Melvinia remained with the Shields family through the Civil
War and after emancipation. According to the 1870 census Melvinia
was employed as a farm laborer, washwoman, maid, and was the
mother of four children, three of whom were listed as mulatto. She
continued to live on the Clayton County farm of Charles Shields
until the end of the 19th century.
Melvinia next appears in the census living in Kingston,
Bartow County Georgia under her married name Mattie McGruder.
Employed as a midwife, she shared a home with her adult children
and four grandchildren. According to the late Miss Ruth Applin of
Kingston who not only knew Melvinia, but married her grandson
Emory, “”Mattie McGruder (was) a loving, spiritual woman seen
often with her bible and singing hymns.” Melvinia died at the age
of 94 and is buried in the churchyard at Queen Chapel Methodist
Church in Kingston.
The monument unveiling ceremony in Rex was followed
by an author’s presentation and book signing at the National
Archives in Morrow, a fitting location due to the genealogical and
family records playing such a vital role in bringing the story to
light. Over 500 people were in attendance including the Georgia
Department of Economic Development Tourism Division and
Clayton County officials who have been working on the Melvinia
Shields project for several years. At the end of the program the
black and white members of the Shields family who came from
around the southeast gathered for group photographs and
conciliatory remarks to cap off a truly uplifting occasion.
Clayton County and state officials join author Rachel Swarns
(fifth from left) at unveiling of Melvinia Shields’ monument in Rex.
Photo courtesy of Georgia Department of Economic Development
Melvinia Shields was a maternal
ancestor of First Lady Michelle Obama.
Photo by Barry Brown
4
SAVING THE WALLACE GROVE SCHOOL:
A VESTIGE OF RURAL EDUCATION IN MORGAN COUNTY
Jeanne Cyriaque, African American Programs Coordinator
Historic Preservation Division
Christine McCauley, executive director of the Madison-Morgan
Conservancy, would often call African American programs to
discuss historic schools and how they evolved in Georgia’s African
American communities. Sometimes we would discuss the role of
philanthropy in building African American schools at the turn of
the 20th century, and McCauley was amazed to find out that Morgan
County had no Rosenwald Schools. I would encourage her to
examine how African American education was approached in her
county, and pointed out that sometimes Georgia counties had their
own solutions to African American education during segregation.
McCauley kept researching, meeting regularly with community
elders, and discovered that Morgan County had constructed 100
schools for African Americans from 1871-1910. Most of these
schools that were located on donated farmland or near churches
did not survive, but McCauley found one that remains, and became
a partner in preserving the Wallace Grove School.
The Wallace Grove School is believed to be the last
remaining one room schoolhouse built for African Americans in
Morgan County. It was constructed in 1901 and is located on the
grounds of Wallace Grove Baptist Church. Both the school and
original church building were constructed on an acre of land
donated by W.P. Wallace, a local white farmer. The original church
building burned in 1950, but the school remained active until the
late 1950s, when all African American schools were consolidated.
Reverend Tommy Chatman, the church pastor, often
stared at the dilapidated structure as he sought a solution to the
congregation’s need for a fellowship hall, since the church had a
kitchen, but limited space. The congregation could sponsor
functions outside, but what about using the old schoolhouse
during stormy weather? Chatman and some of the church deacons
had carpentry skills, so they approached McCauley and the
Madison-Morgan Conservancy to assist in the restoration.
Pastor Chatman and the restoration crew got plenty of
help from the community. It was their desire to restore the school
according to the Secretary of the Interior standards, so each board
of the school was carefully marked while the members cleared debris
and other non-reusable items. While the church deacons were busy
with site preparation, Sunflower Farm loaned a bulldozer and provided
labor on workdays. McCauley focused on fundraising. She
contacted Champion Lumber who donated wood, while Social Circle
Hardware provided beaded board. Local churches and individuals
gave cash, while Great Estate Landscaping and Ruark Farms donated
sod and pine straw for the landscaping around the school.
Restoration of
the Wallace Grove
School was completed
in eight months due to
this effort between the
Wallace Grove Baptist
Church and Morgan
County citizens. The
restoration celebration
also was a homecoming,
as former teachers and
students arrived to
share their memories
and photos.
Now McCauley hopes
that current Morgan County
students can visit the Wallace
Grove School on field trips and
learn how students were
educated before there were
bathrooms and lunchrooms.
The Georgia Trust for Historic
Preservation recognized the
Wallace Grove School at their
2012 annual meeting, when the
Wallace Grove School project
received an “Excellence in
Restoration Award.”
The Wallace Grove School is a one room schoolhouse with six
windows that were donated by Franklin Restoration.
Photo by Jeanne Cyriaque
Emma Johnson, the last teacher, and
Anne Wallace-Walker, granddaughter
of W.P. Wallace, attended the
community celebration.
Before the restoration began, the Wallace Grove School had
deteriorated and was in need of a new roof.
Photo courtesy of the Madison-Morgan Conservancy
The Madison-Morgan Cultural Center donated
furniture for the interior. Photo courtesy of the
Madison-Morgan Conservancy
5
REDEDICATION OF THE AVONDALE BURIAL PLACE CEMETERY:
A GLIMPSE OF NINETEENTH CENTURY LIFE IN SOUTHERN BIBB COUNTY
Hugh B. Matternes, Ph.D. Mortuary Archaeologist
New South Associates, Inc.
continued on page 6
On February 21, 2012 church and family members gathered to
remember those who were briefly lost from history. After
dedication prayers were offered by Bethel AME Church pastor,
Rev. W. A. Hopkins, flowers were laid on dozens of new graves
marking the end of an unusual journey. The remains of 101
individuals originally discovered at the Avondale Burial
Place, a largely forgotten cemetery in southern Bibb County,
were laid to rest in a specially prepared section of the Bethel
AME Church Cemetery.
The Avondale Burial Place monument describes the special section in the
Bethel AME Church Cemetery where the remains of 101 individuals were
relocated. Photo courtesy of New South Associates, Inc.
The journey to reach
this point began nearly five
years ago, when historians and
archaeologists from the
Georgia Department of
Transportation (GDOT)
learned that an old cemetery
lay under a forested corner at
an old agricultural field near
the Middle Georgia Regional
Airport. An exhaustive review
of historical records by GDOT
and New South Associates
historians found no record of
the cemetery’s existence.
There were fleeting references
of a dispersed African American
community inhabiting an area
between present day Walden
and Avondale. The community
largely vanished during the early to mid twentieth century, leaving
only a few traces of its existence. The cemetery is perhaps the most
Rev. Herman “Skip” Mason, a family
descendant, consecrates the new
burial ground with soil from the
original site. Photo courtesy of New
South Associates, Inc.
permanent vestige of their presence. Beginning as early as the late
nineteenth century, genealogical records document how former
community members pursued opportunities for a better life
elsewhere. Some moved to nearby Macon, others to towns in
Georgia, while most appear to have joined the Great Migration, a
mass exodus of African Americans from the South, responding to
labor demands in the North and Midwest. Those who remained in
the area took care of the cemetery, perhaps as late as the early
1950s, but as they passed on the cemetery fell into obscurity, known
only to a few older long-term residents. With no visible indications
of the cemetery’s existence in the overgrown wood line, we are
indebted to Mr. John Lucas, who pointed out the location where
it lay.
The original burials were located at this site near the Middle Georgia
Regional Airport in rural Bibb County. Photo by Jeanne Cyriaque
The cemetery’s
discovery in the late stages of
planning for the proposed
improvements to Sardis
Church Road placed GDOT in
the position of having no
realistic option but to consider
relocating it. Inquiries through
online genealogical resources
turned up descendants whose
roots were clearly from the
area. Their work linked preemancipation African Americans,
brought to the area as early as
the 1820s, with descendants
who lived there through the
late nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries. The final
resting place of these folk has
long been lost to family
memory. While initially
apprehensive about the
Mortuary archaeologist Hugh
Matternes measures one of the graves
at the site. Photo by Jeanne Cyriaque
6
Hugh B. Matternes, continued from page 5
REDEDICATION OF THE AVONDALE BURIAL PLACE CEMETERY:
A GLIMPSE OF NINETEENTH CENTURY LIFE IN SOUTHERN BIBB COUNTY
concept of seeing the cemetery moved, they also saw an opportunity
to learn if these were in fact their long lost ancestors and as a chance to
learn about parts of their past that had largely gone unrecorded.
Mortuary archaeologist Valerie Davis re-assembles the glass viewing
plate found on a coffin. These artifacts were catalogued and reinterred
with the original graves. Photo by Jeanne Cyriaque
Genealogical records were not the only fruitful means of
identifying potential descendants. DNA extracted from the bones
and teeth of 23 individuals is being compared to DNA provided by
potential descendants. By examining DNA stored in a cell’s
mitochondria the relatedness of female lines can be determined.
Researchers have found that several distinct groups of DNA
sequences (called haplogroups) from the cemetery exhibit distinct
African ancestry. Preliminary results indicate that at least two
potential descendants share enough DNA with the Avondale sample
to suggest that they are relatives. Continued research on the Ychromosome is slated to examine whether similar results can be
obtained along the male family member lines.
Artifacts and grave
structure suggest a blend of
traditional West African and
American burial traditions. The
cemetery was placed on a small
rise, a common rural feature
allowing the dead to be closer
to heaven and near a wetland,
perhaps to reflect the West
African belief that water
separated the lands of the
living and the dead. Graves
were placed with the head to
the east; this pattern reflects
both a Christian placement (so
that the dead can face Christ
on Judgment Day) as well as
aligning the dead with the
movement of the sun, an
This coffin handle was interred with a
child. It was inscribed “the Lord is
my shepherd.” Photo courtesy of New
South Associates, Inc.
important component of West
African cosmology. The
hardware on some of the
coffins were emblazoned with
crosses, lambs, and cross and
crown (a.k.a. Crown of glory)
motifs, also emphasizing
Christian visions of life after
death. A black glass pendant
with a rose in its center was
an indicator that Victorian era
mourning ware was probably
worn. Personal possessions
such as wedding bands,
purses, combs, a tobacco pipe,
and a porcelain doll were
included with some individuals
to supply them with objects
that they would need in the
world of the dead. Among
children, a pierced silver coin
and bead necklaces probably served as charms. Originally these
would have provided good luck and protection from harm; after
death they shielded the innocent spirit on its trip to the next
world. Coins placed on the eyes helped hold the eyelids shut
and provided fare for the spiritual trip.
A porcelain doll was found in a child’s
coffin. Photo courtesy of New South
Associates, Inc.
This is an impression from one of the adult graves at
Avondale Burial Place Cemetery.
Photo by Jeanne Cyriaque
7
REDEDICATION OF THE AVONDALE BURIAL PLACE CEMETERY:
A GLIMPSE OF NINETEENTH CENTURY LIFE IN SOUTHERN BIBB COUNTY
Are You Related?
Our research has identified the following families living close to the Avondale Burial Place. If
your family is from the Avondale-Walden area in southern Bibb County your DNA could link
you to a long lost ancestor. If you are interested in submitting a sample, please contact Hugh
Matternes at New South Associates, Inc. (770-498-4155 ext 114) or visit us through the website
at www.avondaleburialplace.org/. All sample results will remain confidential and used only for
research purposes.
Surnames
Allen Collins Glover Lundy Reese
Bagley Cummins Green Londy Ryder
Barton Dean Henderson McBray Stubbs
Bivins Deah Hodge McClendon Thomas
Bostick Delia Hunter McClennon Walker
Brown Dickson Johnson McLennon Wilder
Casterlow Dixon Kinlaw Mitchell Young
Castillo Gile Lucas Moore York
Clark
An examination of the skeletal remains revealed a hard
life. Almost 57 percent of the cemetery was composed of children
under the age of 10, indicating that childhood was an especially
perilous period of life. Modern medicine, community health
awareness, and enriched child care practices have substantially
lowered childhood death in modern communities, but even by
nineteenth century standards, these were very high losses. Over
65 percent of these children died before they were weaned (usually
by age 3). Growth arrest lines on the teeth of the survivors, referred
to as enamel hypoplasia, indicate periods where disease,
malnutrition, trauma, and other forms of stress literally disrupted a
child’s growth. Many children were not able to overcome these
perilous events. Among adults, growth disruption during childhood
resulted in adults standing much shorter than their modern
counterparts. Males stood nearly four inches shorter and females
were over 1.5 inches shorter than people today. Dental data,
including results from isotopic, wear, deterioration, and disease
analyses, imply that diet was a major contributor to these issues.
Many families in the community appear to have followed a traditional
rural Southern diet composed largely of corn meal, pork, and
molasses. This high carbohydrate diet, which was occasionally
supplemented by garden-plot vegetables and game, lacked sufficient
protein, vitamins, and other nutritional needs to keep growing
children healthy. During hard times and winters, insufficient
amounts of even these foods may also have been a concern.
Diet was also an issue among adults. A high sugar diet
combined with only a rudimentary understanding of adequate dental
health care resulted in a high incidence of dental infections and
cavities. When one’s teeth hurt, even less food is consumed. Joint
deterioration and arthritis, present even among the middle aged,
indicated that physical demands were great; most of the calories an
adult consumed would have been burned quickly while keeping up
with the daily workload. High physical demand, poor diet, and
insufficient volume would have spiraled together to place the adult’s
health in jeopardy. Add disease and it is little wonder why most
adults died before reaching their 50s. There are extremely few health
responses among the bones, implying that death tended to happen
quickly, leaving no trace or opportunity for the skeleton to respond.
A review of Federal Mortality Census data for the region indicate
that communicable diseases including pneumonia, whooping
cough, malaria, typhoid, and other fevers, took a significant toll in
southern Bibb County. These and similar maladies likely accounted
for many of the deaths in Avondale.
At the conclusion of the Dedication Ceremony, family
member, Rev. Skip Mason observed, “These must be very special
people, we only get one funeral and they got two”. A funeral is a
time to remember the dead, to bond families and friends together,
and reaffirm one’s ties to the community as a whole. During the
course of this journey, family and church members discovered that
they shared common roots, surnames, and a desire to see their
ancestors treated in a sacred and respectful manner. Avondale’s
Dedication Ceremony served to remember these forgotten people
and helped tie the Avondale Burial Ground descendants with living
members of the community. Avondale’s people were brought not
only their own world closer together, but that of their descendants.
Their memorial services were carried out by two communities
separated by time, but bonded by a common desire not to forget
who they are. Indeed Rev. Mason was truly correct; the folks who
were buried in Avondale Burial place truly were and are a very
special people.
For more information about the Avondale Burial Place,
visit the project website at www.avondaleburialplace.org and watch
the project video: I Remember, I Believe at www.youtube.com/user/
georgiadeptoftrans?feature=results
These children were buried next to each other in a family plot at Avondale
Place Cemetery. Photo by Jeanne Cyriaque
The Georgia African American Historic Preservation Network (GAAHPN)
was established in January 1989. It is composed of representatives from
neighborhood organizations and preservation groups. GAAHPN was formed
in response to a growing interest in preserving the cultural and built diversity of Georgia’s
African American heritage. This interest has translated into a number of efforts which
emphasize greater recognition of African American culture and contributions to Georgia’s
history. The GAAHPN Steering Committee plans and implements ways to develop
programs that will foster heritage education, neighborhood revitalization, and support
community and economic development.
The Network is an informal group of over 3,000 people who have an interest in
preservation. Members are briefed on the status of current and planned projects and are
encouraged to offer ideas, comments and suggestions. The meetings provide an
opportunity to share and learn from the preservation experience of others and to receive
technical information through workshops. Members receive a newsletter, Reflections,
produced by the Network. Visit the Historic Preservation Division website at
www.georgiashpo.org. Preservation information and previous issues of Reflections are
available online. Membership in the Network is free and open to all.
ABOUT GAAHPN
This publication has been financed in part with federal
funds from the National Park Service, Department
of the Interior, through the Historic Preservation
Division, Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
The contents and opinions do not necessarily reflect
the views or policies of the Department of the
Interior, nor does the mention of trade names,
commercial products or consultants constitute
endorsement or recommendation by the
Department of the Interior or the Georgia
Department of Natural Resources. The
Department of the Interior prohibits
discrimination on the basis of race, color, national
origin, or disability in its federally assisted
programs. If you believe you have been discriminated
against in any program, activity, or facility, or if you
desire more information, write to: Office for Equal
Opportunity, National Park Service, 1849 C Street,
NW, Washington, D.C. 20240.
Published quarterly by the
Historic Preservation Division
Georgia Department of Natural Resources
Dr. David Crass, Division Director
Jeanne Cyriaque, Editor
Lillian Davis
Dr. Gerald C. & Barbara Golden
Terry & Cynthia Hayes
Richard Laub
Kenneth Rollins
Isaac Johnson, Chair
706/738-1901
Velmon Allen, Vice-Chair
GAAHPN Network
912/261-1898
STEERING COMMITTEE
Isaac Johnson
Chairman
Jeanne Cyriaque
African American
Programs Coordinator
Reflections Editor
Voice 404/656-4768
Fax 404/657-1368
jeanne.cyriaque@dnr.state.ga.us
STAFF
8
Since its first issue appeared in December 2000, Reflections has documented
hundreds of Georgia’s African American historic resources. Now all of these
articles are available on the Historic Preservation Division website
www.georgiashpo.org. Search for links to your topic by categories: cemeteries, churches,
districts, farms, lodges, medical, people, places, schools, and theatres. You can now
subscribe to Reflections from the homepage. Reflections is a recipient of a Leadership
in History Award from the American Association for State and Local History
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