Reflections: Georgia African American Historic Preservation Network, 2022 August

Historic Preservation Division

Volume XVIII, No. 1

August 2022

The Doctor is In: Dr. Calvin M. Baber Home as Greene County Museum
C. Mary-Angel Ekezie, Special Contributor Intern, Greene County African American Museum (GCAAM)

Born on December 23, 1905, to Sallie Bainbridge Baber and Caleb F. Baber in Milstead, Alabama, Calvin Melvin Baber received his education in a rural school setting. He later attended Talladega College in Talladega, Alabama, Walden University, Milstead, Alabama, and received his medical degree from Meharry Medical School in Nashville, Tennessee in 1921.1

After the death of Dr. A. T. Chisolm, Baber began his practice as Greene County's second African American physician from 1921 to 1945. During this time, he provided much needed healthcare to Greene County's rural African American population. Dr. Baber was very active throughout Greene County and owned numerous properties. He owned an office building in downtown Greensboro and leased spaces to other African American businesses as well.2
Dr. Baber's home at 1415 North East Street (formerly Penfield Road) was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 17, 1987 and is located in the Railroad Community of Greensboro. It is one of two National Register listed properties significant under African American history in Greene County.3 Serving as a tangible remnant of the long
1 "Asset Detail Baber, Dr. Calvin M., House," National Parks Service,U.S. Dept. of the Interior, December 17, 1987. Accessed May 10, 2022 https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/ AssetDetail/4465c5de-8e75-4d9f-96df-d87d130b6470 2 Ibid 3 Ibid

Dr. Baber's Home is now open. Courtesy of GCAAM Photo Credit: Elspeth Glimore for GCAAM
and productive history of this community, Dr. Baber's home is a one-and-a-half story wood framed Craftsman Bungalow style house built c. 1925. It is architecturally significant as an example of a 20th-century house designed with strong craftsman influences.4 Though the Baber House was placed on the National Register in 1987, by 1995 the historic home was dilapidated and under threat by the city to be destroyed. However, through the efforts of community members, led by Mrs. Mamie Hillman, Dr. Baber's home was saved.
Mamie Hillman, a revered and beloved community activist, has committed her life to honoring her ancestors by establishing a world in which their descendants, African Americans in and around Greene County, Georgia, can flourish. Knowing that she is the wildest
4 Interview of Mamie Hillman on the history of the Baber House by C. Mary-Angel Ekezie. May 6, 2022. Transcript filed with interviewer.

dream of her ancestors, she has worked without ceasing since 1995 to repurpose Dr. Baber's home as the Greene County African American Museum (GCAAM). With the Baber home serving as a place where the truth will be told about Black life in Greene County-- from forced migration and enslavement to Jim Crow and Civil Rights eras to today, Hillman continues the legacy of healing and restoration that Dr. Baber brought to the community so many years ago.
Between January 1995 and October 2021, fundraising, marketing, and outreach reminded the community of the significance of the Baber house and its restoration. Since the grand opening on October 16, 2021, the Greene County African American Museum aims to teach visitors about the achievements of the African American community, particularly in Greene County, and to preserve the legacy of Dr. Baber. This vehicle of change, under the leadership of Mamie Hillman, will now be a means to greater physical, spiritual, and emotional health for the African American community throughout Greene County and for Georgia as a whole.
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Ms. Ekezie is a native of College Park, Georgia and has been interning with GCAAM since 2021. She currently attends Wesleyan College and is pursuing a degree in nursing.

the other side of the rainbow: Preserving the Kiah House Museum Legacy
Deborah Johnson-Simon, Ph.D., Special Contributor African Diaspora Museology Institute, Savannah Georgia

My heart no longer has a natural rhythm. These days I try to exhibit a smile of confidence but inside it is anxiety that greets me when I wake up, in anticipation of reaching one more milestone in my quest to preserve the Kiah Museum in Savannah, Georgia and the legacy of its founders. While others have come on this journey with me, reaching the end of my "Kiah" rainbow (or discovering what will is on the other side of this mountain) is ultimately mine to fulfill. The current milestone is the unveiling of an informational marker on May 9, 2022 at The Kiah House Museum, 505 West 36th Street. The museum was opened November 28, 1959, in the home of Drs. Calvin L. and Virginia West Jackson Kiah. Today it still stands closed and in a state of deterioration.*
Since 2013, my research focus has been Georgia's Black museums, specifically Kiah House and the three museums established by Savannah leader Westley Wallace Law. However, my research of the Kiah's did not begin in Savannah. I learned about them and their museum in 2009 while working at the Morgan State University's Office of Museums in Baltimore. I was part of a team developing the exhibitions for the re-opening of the Lillie Carroll Jackson Civil Rights Museum there. In 1978, this became the second museum started by Virginia Kiah and named in honor of her mother. In the early 90s the Kiahs saw that the museum was falling into disrepair. In spite of their struggle with health issues, the couple would orchestrate a monumental effort to ensure the LCJ Civil Rights Museum's survival. This included negotiating for support from the President of Morgan State, for an agreement for the university to take ownership of the museum, and for funding from the State of Maryland through the Governor's office to secure its continuance.
National Trust for Historic Preservation senior vice president Brent Leggs provides a national overview on the need to preserve Black historic places and landscapes, stressing that the preservation of such sites are the endeavor of individuals who realize that the stories and places of the past would all but be erased if they did not act to protect them.1 In my naivete,
1 Leggs, Brent. 2018 "Teaching Public Historians to Advance Preservation Practice", The Public Historian, Vol. 40(3), pp.90106.

Dr. Virginia Kiah welcomes young visitors to museum in 1969. Courtesy of Savannah Morning News
I assumed the Kiah House Museum in Savannah could have similar success. There were so many historically significant factors associated with the Kiahs and their house that it was hard to comprehend why it had received no attention and was eligible for the City of Savannah's Blight list. According to 1974 article, "Kiah Museum Receives National Recognition" in The Herald, I learned that the Kiah House Museum is only one of the few Black galleries and museums in Georgia included in the Reader's Digest's volume Treasures of America. The Herald article also listed other publications that recognized the museum: The Georgia Archives Magazine summer 1974 issue and American Women published by McGraw-Hill Company. The Herald reported that the Kiah Museum was recognized as the only one of its kind in America--a "Museum for the Masses... especially designed to serve the varied needs of youth and adults." 2
Under the Center for the Study of African and African Diaspora Museums and Communities (CFSAADMC) I began climbing my mountain in earnest in 2013 and by 2014 I had solicited members for a friends' group for the Kiah Museum. I also joined the Coastal Museum Association (CMA) (formerly Museum Association of Savannah) because I saw that they offered a Kiah Fund for its members. My research revealed Virginia Kiah was selected Professional Member by this association on October 3, 1968, and that she implemented a fund to provide financial assistance to support members seeking professional development in their field but unable to 2 The Herald, "Kiah Museum Receives National Recognition". October 16, 1974.

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afford such opportunities.3 This fund continues to be enjoyed today by CMA members. Research also found the Kiah House Museum in the national African American Museum Association's (AAMA) 1983 Blacks in Museums Directory.
In 2015, Savannah State University students conducted ethnographic field research on the Kiahs. Students also formed the Hue-Man Research Institute for African Diaspora Museum Anthropology and honored Dr. Calvin Kiah with a gathering at the Elmore Theater on the SSU campus. Students from that year's Introduction to Anthropology class contributed research to a study of Georgia Black Museums as part of the Institute of Museum and Library Services grant study. In 2016, concerned supporters found that the Kiah gravesite needed attention. We held a wreath ceremony and cleanup of Savannah gravesite. Hudson Hill Golden Age quilters unveiled its Kiah and Law Quilt at the Beach Institute African American Cultural Center there. These champions became the Friends of the Kiah Museum that secured a City Proclamation naming September 9, 2016, as the Kiah Museum Day of Remembrance.

Archaeological Alliance lead a field crew of studentmembers of the Anthropology Club of Armstrong Campus of Georgia Southern University along with SSU museum Anthropology students. As a result, site was added to the Georgia Archaeological Site File for the state of Georgia and gained media attention as a historic preservation resource.
In 2019, CFSAADMC turned its focus to genealogical research and to securing a historic marker to educate the public about the Kiahs and this house-museum site. With help through the Genealogy Research Support Center (GRSC) at the Beach Institute, outreach work began with the Kiah, Jackson, and Mitchell families. Regarding the marker, the Friends launched a GoFundMe campaign and successfully raised $5,290.
On October 7, 2021, CFSAADMC (now the African Diaspora Museology Institute (ADMI)) applied to the City's Historic Sites and Monument Commission for a permit to install a maker in the public right-of-way in front of the Kiah House. Savannah's City Council approved the permit in December 2021 and later that month (on the anniversary of Virginia Kiah's death), ADMI ordered the marker that would honor the Kiah legacy and document this important contribution.

I will finally be able to exhale, having reached the end of my rainbow with the official marker dedication on May 9, 2022. And I know that I will be the loudest voice singing "Lift Every Voice and Sing" on that day.

This marker stands at the Kiah House Museum. The house contributes to the Cuyler-Brownville National Register Historic District in Savannah. Courtesy of Deborah Johnson-Simon.
In the winter of 2018, we successfully managed a Digging Kiah Community Archaeology excavation at the West 36th Street property in the Cuyler Brownsville district. Archaeologist Laura Seifert of the Savannah 3 http://coastalmuseums.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/KiahFund-Guidelines-Application.pdf, Accessed 4/28/2022

* Nonprofit preservation advocate Historic Savannah Foundation, Inc. announced its purchase of the Kiah House on April 26, 2022, which ended a decades-long probate process, and its plan to raise funds to stabilize the historic structure and to identify a preservationcommitted buyer to complete a sensitive rehabilitation. This update was received after the narrative was submitted. Visit https://www.myhsf.org for more information.
~ Dr. Deborah Johnson-Simon is the Founder and CEO of the African Diaspora Museology Institute in Savannah, GA. She is currently the Savannah State University Asa H. Gordon Library Scholar in Residence.

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Grace towns Hamilton and the Towns Home Remembered
Rachanice Candy Tate, DAH, Contributor African American Programs Assistant
classic four-square style home with brick exterior, Neoclassical porch details, Victorian window treatments; inside are eight rooms, four on the first floor living area and four bedrooms on the second floor, as well as a full basement.2 Towns was a student and then professor at Atlanta University. With his interest in architecture and his carpentry and mechanical skills, Towns was involved every step of its construction even though life in the Jim Crow South made such an occupation impractical.3 Once completed, Towns moved his family from faculty housing in South Hall (no longer standing) to this new home now on University Place.4

Mrs. Grace Towns Hamilton - February 10, 1907- June 17, 1992. Photo Credit: Jean B. Bergmark papers, Stuart A Rose Library/ Emory Univerrsity. Public/Educational Access.
In celebration of the first African American female Justice named to the U.S. Supreme Court, let us recall Atlantan Grace Towns Hamilton, the first African American woman elected to the Georgia General Assembly in 1966, and served until 1984. She is credited with being the principal architect of the new 1973 Atlanta City Charter.
Before her election to the state legislature, Mrs. Hamilton was executive director of the Atlanta Urban League from 1943 to 1960. In 1964, she co-founded Partners for Progress, a biracial group formed to help public and private sectors meet the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Hamilton credited much of her political crossover success to her interracial interactions early in life as part of her unique childhood on University Place in the northeast section of Atlanta University (now Clark Atlanta University). The school was breaking the segregation laws with its interracial education of White children of faculty together with Blacks.
Today, her childhood and adjacent adult homes-- now tarpcovered--in the historic Vine City neighborhood, are in peril and desperately need preservation. The memoir, Grace Towns Hamilton and the Politics of Southern Change 1 shares many remembrances that could aid preservationists by answering a historian's usually illusive question--if these walls could talk.... Both the 2-story childhood home and her Ranch-style adult residence are shadows of the impactful life and work of the Towns, an outstanding Georgia family. Her father, George Alexander Towns, Sr. built the childhood home in 1910. It is a
1 Lorraine Nelson Spritzer and Jean B. Bergmark, Grace Towns Hamilton and the Politics of Southern Change, Athens and London: University of Georgia Press, 1997.

Born March 5, 1870, in Albany, Georgia to Luke Towns, Jr. who was formerly enslaved there, and Mary Colt Towns, of Cherokee Indian ancestry, George Alexander Towns left Albany at the age of 15 to study at Atlanta University (AU) in 1885.5 James Weldon Johnson, author of "Lift Every Voice," was Towns' senior roommate and part of his all male graduating class of seven in 1894. Towns taught at AU and took a leave to attend Harvard University. He was the only African American in the class of 1900. Towns returned to AU and went on to be a colleague and friend of Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois. Towns was a professor of English and pedagogy for nearly 30 years and the founder and editor of the "Crimson and Gray," the AU Alumni Association monthly newsletter. He retired in 1929 when the school shifted to a graduate studies-only institution.6 Towns was a "race man" in all his endeavors. He was a charter member of the Atlanta Branch of the NAACP in 1917, noted for registering more than 1,000 African American voters. Towns lived ninety years, passing December 20, 1960. He is buried in the family plot at South-View Cemetery.7
Matriarch Harriet Eleanor "Nellie" McNair Towns was active with First Congregational Church and helped found the Gate City Free Kindergarten Association for working families. She volunteered with the Phillis Wheatley YWCA when this "Negro Branch" was established in Atlanta in 1919.8 The building remains at 599 Mitchell Street also in Vine City community; it too sits unoccupied. Nellie McNair studied under Towns at AU. And, after a long courtship, they married in September 1902. Her mother Hattie McNair lived with the couple until her death. Grace Towns Hamilton was the oldest for four surviving children of George and Nellie Towns. Mrs. McNair Towns died on May 11, 1967.9
2 Ibid, p. 26. 3 Ibid. 4 Ibid, p. 25. 5 Ibid, p. 13 6 Ibid, p. 17. 7 https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/147620287/george-alexander-towns, Accessed 4/23/22. 8 Ibid, p. 33. 9 https://www.geni.com/people/Grace-Towns-Hamilton/6000000019582414516 Accessed 6/8-2022

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University Place was an exclusive section situated on the "Northeast Lot" of the AU campus. Construction of the mansion of millionaire barber and Atlanta Life Insurance Company founder Alonzo Herndon and wife, AU professor Adrienne Herndon began at the same time across the street from the Towns home. There was also a two-story shingle-style house called "Bumstead Cottage" (since razed) built for AU's second President Horace Bumstead, also a Congregationalist Minister from Boston, who served from 1888-1907.10 This academic elite area overlooked the working-class neighborhood referred to as "Black Bottom" to the north and the unpaved, unlit streets of "Beaver Slide'' to the east.11 There was also a farm close to University Place, and Grace Towns Hamilton remembered that "going to get the milk" daily from the AU dairy that gave a "country" feel to University Place.12
The Towns house was made a home with stories of the sights, sounds, and smells--things memories are made of. As a child, Mrs. Hamilton recalled, "...I do remember we had a regular period of study with a teacher who would come to the house. We'd have a school period every day in the morning, in the summertime too. I can remember very well having school work to do every day. The classroom, at least in the summer, was the porch, the front of the porch."13 Her father's students were her tutors. "My father was interested in all kinds of reading matter. As children we were read to every day. I can remember a reading period after supper at night, it was just sort of a standard part of the day."14 Though Professor Towns instilled a love of literature, Mrs. Towns was noted for usually reading to the children.15
Grace Towns Hamilton went on to Oglethorpe Practice School, now a restored classroom building of CAU, and entered high school at AU in 1919.16 University Place was a gathering spot for AU students and Harriet Towns Jenkins, Grace's sister, recalled "they'd roll up the rug and dance. We had the old RCA-Victor gramophone and that was in the years of Paul Whiteman. His recording of `Rhapsody in Blue'. It played over and over'."17 She and husband Henry Cooke "Cookie" Hamilton met at AU as students and married June 7, 1930 in Ware Memorial Chapel in Stone (now Fountain) Hall.18 After both pursued advanced degrees and a teaching stint in Memphis, they returned in 1941 to live in Atlanta under one roof at University Place.19 Both sets of parents were in their 70s. Mrs. Hamilton remembered, "All my family except my parents were away, so we lived at my parents' home, shared
10 Ibid, p. 26. 11 Ibid, p. 27-28. 12 Ibid, p. 30, fn. 8, Grace Towns Hamilton (GTN) interview with LN Spritzer and JB Bergmark, April 23, 1984. 13 Ibid, p. 31. 14 Ibid, p. 32. 15 Ibid, p. 32, fn. 10, GTH interview with Carole Merritt, July 28, 1988. 16 Ibid, p. 35. 17 Ibid, p. 43, fn. 31, Harriet Towns Jenkins interview with LN Spritzer, June 26, 1985. 18 Ibid, p. 55. 19 Ibid, p. 81.

cooking but had our own separate living quarters, and living room upstairs."20 She and her husband lived with the Towns in the family home nearly a decade of their married life and "lived most of her life within earshot of the campus chimes."21 Those hourly sounds came from the clock tower of Fountain Hall. Grace and Cookie Hamilton had one child, Eleanor, who remembered as a youngster knowing when her grandparents' car was approaching because "...it started bumping over the rutted dirt road."22
Today University Place stands in the shadow of Mercedes Benz stadium, but lights and paved roads in African Americans areas were virtually non-existent in the Jim Crow South. Mrs. Hamilton said of her childhood, "Yet my sheltered upbringing was a disadvantage, too. I had gone through high school and college in Atlanta University and didn't learn what the real world is like until...I got a job."23 By 1950, The Hamilton's modern home was built next door on an original portion of the Towns family lot where patriarch George Towns once maintained a vegetable garden.24
Where a memoir is most read for life's accomplishments, this one reveals how important oral history interviews can open the mind's eye to historic spaces and places. The sounds of bells, pianos, record players or billiard balls, the smells of fresh garden vegetables and farm animals, and the sights from the porch of these old homes enlighten us to the life of Black elite and the early integration experiment at Atlanta University (AU). From these homes on University Place in the Atlanta University Center Historic District, Grace Towns Hamilton broke barriers for Black women and in voting rights, housing, schools, and health care. She died June 17, 1992 and is buried in South-View Cemetery in Atlanta.
20 Ibid, p. 69. 21 Ibid, p. 3. 22 Ibid, p. 28. 23 https://www.georgiawomen.org/grace-towns-hamilton. Accessed April 27, 2022. 24 Ibid, p. 69.
Both citizens and visitors hold the Towns-Hamilton Home in high esteem and call for its preservation. Photo Credit: R..Candy Tate/ HPD

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Coming Full Circle: Learning Georgia's Black History
Nyla Henderson, Special Contributor
GAAHPN Social Media Intern at HPD

Discovering the preservation efforts in Black communities in Georgia has opened my eyes to the prolific yet hidden history of those resilient African Americans who once resided and still reside in this deep southern state. Having been born and raised in Ohio with a northern socialization, I am gaining insight to understand the sufficiency of southern hospitality as it pertains to the creation and sustainability of Black communalism.
The idea of African American preservation stems from the historical need to properly and accurately document the lives of people who are often forgotten. The preservation efforts in Georgia have shown me how gentrification and industrialism have attempted to cover the historical Black communities such Freemantown1 on what is now Berry College Campus. One thing it seems we can count on is America's reluctance to depict the lives of African Americans in its true light. However, historic preservation efforts, done in an attempt to stand the test of time, offer our future generations an opportunity to understand how we lived.

Project in Macon County 5 served as resilient communities that strived to create a faction of Black success and selfsufficiency. One major thing I have learned about Georgia's Black historic communities is that despite all previous efforts of their eradication, they were determined and are destined to create a living legacy of Black excellence.
Please visit Georgia African American Historic Preservation Network (GAAHPN) on social media: On Facebook under GAAHPNetwork (spell out fully when searching). On Instagram under @gaahpn . Read more about Black historic resources in "AfricanAmerican Historic Places and Cultural: A Preservtion Resource Guuide for Georgia" at www.dca.ga.gov
~~
Nyla Henderson is a graduate student at Georgia State University, seeking a Master's in Africana studies. She is also the social media intern for Georgia African American Historic Preservation Network (GAAHPN).

My time here at GAAHPN affords me the opportunity to participate in the preservation from a creative and social aspect. As an undergraduate, I studied Journalism and PanAfrican Studies. Once here I learned of the prominence of Atlanta's Peachtree Street 2 as having a major African slave trading market. I never thought that pertinent piece of historical information would end up being a source for research for me and a potential content creation as part of this GAAHPN internship.

5 Flint River was established in 1937 and became home to 106 Black families where they worked the land as sharecroppers. https://georgiahistory.com/marker-mondayflint-river-farms-resettlement-project/ Accessed July 12, 2022.

Georgia is one of the top states with the most African American population.3 Coastal Georgia is known for its
port areas where ships transporting a plethora of enslaved
Africans would dock. We are often told about the many
migratory efforts of Black Americans after Emancipation
and during Reconstruction, wanting to escape Jim Crow.
What is often forgotten is how communities such as
Atlanta's Pittsburgh neighborhood and Sweet Auburn Avenue district 4 or even the Flint River Resettlement
1 Freemantown was founded c.1871 in northwest Georgia. https://libguides.berry. edu/freemantown . Accessed July 12, 2022. 2 "The slave market, Atlanta, GA". This market was documented on Whitehall Street. Whitehall Street was renamed Peachtree Street, SE in the 1980s https:// www.loc.gov/item/2011647092/ Accessed July 12, 2022. 3 "Black population by State- 2022". Texas, (3.9 million Black residents), Florida (3.8 million), New York (3.7 million), Georgia (3.5 million) https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/black-population-by-state. Accessed July 12, 2022. 4 The Pittsburgh neighborhood was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburgh,_Atlanta Sweet Auburn District was designated a National Historic Landmark District in 1976 https:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_Auburn. Accessed July 12, 2022.

Named for Pennsylvania's steel town, Pittsburgh neighborhood was founded in 1883 alongside Pegram Rail shops as a Black working community. Photo Credit: Nyla Henderson/HPD
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Announcements
Mark your Calender: 2022 Statewide Historic Preservation Conference September 19-23
Georgia HPD in cooperaton with its partners the Georgia Trust and the Georgia Municipal Association will host the annual preservation conference this September via Zoom.
Join fellow Advocates and Practitioners as we share successes earned and lessons learned in the various preservation projects and public education efforts around the State.
To register, visit The Georgia Trust website at https://www.georgiatrust.org/tours-events/ statewide-historic-preservation-conference/
For more information on the 2022 sessions, Email inquiries to outreach@dca.ga.gov.
Help SAVE Georgia History: Volunteer with a GAAHPN Action Committee
In just two hours a week, Georgia neighbors like you can: -- Help save historic places that tell of our rich past by sharing updates on local places and stories. -- Learn about inspiring preservation projects by grassroots organizations and individuals happening across Georgia. -- Connect with professionals that support the revitalization of important place and stories. For a Volunteer application packet, email Melissa Jest, GAAHPN Liasion at melissa.jest@dca. ga.gov or call 404 486 6395. Please follow GAAHPN on Facebook and Instagram.
Georgia Historic Preservation Division
60 Executive Park South, NE, Atlanta, GA 30329-2231 www.dca.ga.gov | 404 679 4840
Image credit: Georgia HPD
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About Reflections
Since its first issue appeared in December 2000, Reflections has documented hundredsofGeorgia'sAfricanAmericanhistoricresources. Nowallofthese articles are available on the Historic Preservation Division webpage https://www.dca.ga.gov/georgia-historic-preservation-division/historicresources/historic-african-american-resources. Search for your topic by categories: cemeteries, churches, districts, farms, lodges, medical, people, places, schools, and theatres. You can subscribe to Reflections byvia email to HPD staff. Reflections is a recipient of a Leadership in History Award from the American Association for State and Local History.

Board of Directors

Dr. Alvin D. Jackson, MD Chair

Dr. Alvin D. Jackson, Chair
Jenefer Ford Angela Cain Gibson Vaughnette Goode-Walker
Richard Laub Joyce Law
Dr. Linda McMullen Dr. Darryl Nettles Tracy Rookard Doris Tomblin

About GAAHPN

HPD Staff

Melissa Jest African American Programs Coordinator Reflections Editor Voice 404/486-6395 Fax 770/806-5066 melissa.jest@dca.ga.gov

Dr. R. Candy Tate African American Programs Assistant Voice 404/327-6847 Fax 770/806-5066 melissa.jest@dca.ga.gov

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 webpage at www.dca.ga.gov/georgia-historic-preservation-division. Preservation information and previous issues of Reflections are available online. Membership in the Network is free and open to all.
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Published quarterly by the Historic Preservation Division Georgia Department of Community Affairs
Jennifer Dixon, Division Director Melissa Jest, Editor
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 Community Affairs. 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 Community Affairs. 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.