Reflections- Georgia African American Historic Preservation Network, Vol. 4, no. 1 (Dec. 2003)

Volume IV, No. 1 December 2003
A Program of the Historic Preservation Division, Georgia Department of Natural Resources
continued on page 2
PLACE MATTERS IN MCINTOSH COUNTY
I
n 1736, a group of Scottish Highlanders established a
town in Georgia at the mouth of the Altamaha River. They
originally called the town New Inverness, but later renamed it
Darien. At that time, the Trustees of the Georgia colony believed
additional settlements were necessary to protect the colony from
nearby Spanish-controlled Florida. The threat of a Spanish invasion
was eliminated when the English successfully defeated Spanish
forces in the Battle of Bloody Marsh on St. Simons Island in 1742.
Some of the Scottish Highlanders remained in Darien and the
surrounding area, establishing plantations in what was later to
become McIntosh County.
Slavery was prohibited in the Georgia Charter of 1732, and
the Scottish Highlanders were opposed to slavery. They issued a
petition in 1739 to General James
Oglethorpe warning him not to
alter the colony’s position on
slavery. The Highlanders
opposed slavery because of
economic and social conditions
that they perceived would
threaten the early settlers, who
had migrated from England to
establish a free colony in
Georgia. The petition also
objected to slavery in religious
terms. It contained a prophecy
that a day of retribution would
come to all slave owners. In
spite of their objections, Georgia
eventually allowed slavery in
1750. In Darien, this prophecy
was later fulfilled during the
Civil War.
During the antebellum
period in Darien, the town was
laid out in 1806 based upon a
plan developed by Thomas
McCall. His plan consisted of 12 wards with each centering around
a square. This plan is one of the few descendants of Oglethorpe’s
plan for Savannah. Two of the wards survive today in the Vernon
Square-Columbus Square Historic District. In 1818, Darien became
the county seat of McIntosh County. The town was a shipping
port for rice and cotton produced on nearby plantations, and timber
that was abundant throughout the forests in McIntosh County.
On June 11, 1863, federal forces stationed on nearby St.
Simons Island raided Darien and burned all but a few homes and
churches. Most of the planters who lived in Darien built summer
homes in an area called the Ridge to escape the semi-tropical climate,
and when the raiders arrived, the town was largely abandoned.
Ironically, the raiders were some of the first black troops to serve in
the Union Army. Col. James
Montgomery commanded the 2nd
South Carolina Volunteers and
Col. Robert Shaw led the 54th
Massachusetts Volunteers. The
burning of Darien was one of the
most controversial raids during
the Civil War, since the town
was defenseless and believed to
have little strategic importance
to the Union cause.
During the New South
Era (1870-1910) Darien prospered
as the center of Georgia’s timber
industry. Plantation owners
returned to McIntosh County to
reclaim their estates, where
thousands of acres of timber
were available for cutting and
shipping as well as the emerging
naval stores industry. Former
slaves from these plantations
acquired land from the estates,
and began farming on their own
This circa 1840s residence was spared in the burning of Darien in 1863. For
many years, it was the residence of Professor James Grant, an African American
educator. Naomi Cooper and Derek Henley, descendants of the Grant family,
live in this historic house. The Grant House is a contributing resource in the
Vernon Square - Columbus Square Historic District, listed in the National
Register of Historic Places on March 14, 1985. Photo by Jeanne Cyriaque
2
continued from page 1
PLACE MATTERS IN MCINTOSH COUNTY
SHOUTIN’ IN BRIAR PATCH
Bolden is a small community located east of Eulonia in McIntosh
County. Most of Bolden’s residents are descendents of slaves
who once toiled on rice and cotton plantations. During
Reconstruction, freedmen purchased land from the descendants of
former plantation owners. Today, Bolden is also known as Briar
Patch, commemorating a slave cemetery that was a sacred place for
community residents. The community maintains many traditions
passed on from ancestral times, but none is more prevalent than the
ring shout.
or worked in the emerging
timber industries. At that time,
the Freedmen’s Bureau sent a
free man of color named Tunis
Campbell to McIntosh County.
He leased 1,250 acres of the
Belleville plantation until 1877
and helped the freedmen to
establish their own farms.
Due to the demise of
the old plantations, Darien
became a major shipping
port, and opportunities were
available to African American
and white citizens alike at sawmills on the Altamaha River. During
this period, Henry Todd, a free man of color, settled in Darien, and
became one of the town’s prominent citizens. Todd established the
San Savilla Union Sawmill on
the west side of what is today
U.S. Highway 17. Though the
sawmill no longer exists,
archaeological excavations
have uncovered its location.
Many African Americans
lived in a community called
Mentionville, named in honor
of the Mention family, who
worked at Todd’s mill. Today,
this community’s historic
resources are part of the West
Darien Historic District.
During his lifetime,
Henry Todd aided Darien’s
African American churches.
When he died in 1886, his will provided funds for construction of a
school for African American children. James Grant, an African
American educator, implemented Todd’s dream in the 20th century.
In 1930, the Julius Rosenwald Fund aided Professor Grant with
$1,000 for the Todd-Grant Industrial School. Today, the original
wooden building no longer exists, but the Todd-Grant Elementary
School was built at the site.
By the 20th century, McIntosh County experienced another
depression, as the timber economy suffered from over-cutting. At
that time, canneries emerged, and the abundant oysters and shrimps
in the area provided new revenue sources for fishermen. By World
War II, McIntosh County became the site for industries associated
with the U.S. war efforts. At that time, 75 African American families
lived in Harris Neck. Due to its strategic location, the federal
government chose Harris Neck as the site of an airfield for defense
purposes during the war. With little notice, families were displaced
to assist the nation’s defense strategy. Because McIntosh County
never developed Harris Neck as a regional airfield, it ultimately
became a wildlife refuge.
Today, African Americans are reclaiming the diverse past
of McIntosh County. John Littles, executive director of McIntosh
SEED (Sustainable Environment and Economic Development)
recently hosted a community stakeholders meeting to build
multicultural relationships. Littles is a member of the Board of
Education, and McIntosh SEED sponsors a tour of this coastal
area’s historic resources. The tour guide is Wilson Moran, a
descendant of one of the displaced Harris Neck families. Tours are
conducted on Mondays and Saturdays. To schedule your group
tour, contact John Littles at 912/399-0698.
In 1987, Griffin Lotson was the pastor of Sams Memorial
Church of God in Christ. He wanted to stimulate economic
development in McIntosh County, and formed a nonprofit
organization, Sams Memorial Community Economic Development,
Inc. (CED) as a faith based initiative to create new housing and
jobs in McIntosh County. In 2003, Sams Memorial CED implemented
a $4 million dollar HUD-sponsored project that built 40 housing
units and created 30 new jobs in McIntosh County.
Eunice Moore
is a member of the Darien
Historic Preservation
Commission. One of her
preservation projects is
the St. John’s Baptist
Church in the West
Darien Historic District. It
was built by the African
American community.
After prayer services, the ring shout was practiced before Emancipation in
praise houses like this one in Bolden. The building was also used as a
school, and is is preserved today on Reverend Nathan Palmer Drive as the
Bolden Lodge. Photo by Jeanne Cyriaque
The Harris Neck Wildlife Refuge was once
home to an African American community.
Photo by Jeanne Cyriaque
This circa 1870 residence was once
the home of Henry Todd. The gabledell cottage is a contributing resource
in the West Darien Historic District,
listed in the National Register of
Historic Places on September 17,
2001. Photo by Jeanne Cyriaque
St. Cyprian’s Episcopal Church is a
rare tabby resource in Darien that
was built by freedmen from nearby
Butler’s Island plantation in 1876.
The church is named in honor of a
martyred African saint.
Photo by Jeanne Cyriaque
3
The coastal ring shout was practiced by the enslaved
population, albeit clandestinely, as plantation owners and
missionaries discouraged the practice. Lorenzo Dow Turner explains
in Africanisms in the Gullah Dialect that the word “shout” is a
Gullah dialect survival of the Afro-Arabic saut, a fervent dance in
Mecca. After prayer services, Gullah/Geechee descendants
performed the shout in praise houses. Shout songs are different
from spirituals or gospel music. Another distinguishing feature of
the shout is that it is seasonal. When African Americans built
churches after Emancipation, the shout was performed on Watch
Night to bring in the New Year, and that tradition continues today.
The ring shout dates from the earliest importation of
Africans to the southeastern coastal regions of Florida, Georgia,
and South Carolina. The ring shout combines call-and-response
singing, hand clapping, percussion, and a precise shuffle and
rhythmic movement complementing the song. The lead songster
begins or “sets” the song. The “stickman” beats a broomstick on
the floor to add rhythm, and the “basers” respond to the songster,
adding handclapping and feet patting to the stick beat and song.
The female shouters complement the song with small, incremental
steps in a counterclockwise circle, never crossing their feet, and
sometimes gesturing with their arms to pantomime the song. Though
the term “shout” is collectively applied to this folk tradition,
performers distinguish between the shouters (those who step in a
ring,) basers, and stickmen.
In 1942, Lydia Parrish observed the ring shout on St.
Simons Island and McIntosh County, and published Slave Songs
of the Georgia Sea Islands. As the Gullah/Geechee population
diminished in the
middle of the 20th
century, the ring
shout was believed to
have died out. In
Bolden, “we never
did let it go by,” said
Lawrence McKiver,
lead songster of the
McIntosh County
Shouters. McKiver,
who is now 89 years
old, learned the ring
shout from his mother,
Charlotte Evans.
The McIntosh County Shouters are descendants of
London and Amy Jenkins. Their seven daughters are credited with
passing on the ring shout tradition to the present-day shouters.
Venus McIver, Carletha Sullivan, and Freddie Palmer, who are
cousins, learned the ring shout from their mothers, and acknowledge
the strong communal ties that still remain today in Bolden and
attribute them to one family, the Jenkins.
In the 1980s, McKiver and the other shouters performed
on Christmas Eve and Watch Night in the Mount Calvary Baptist
Church annex. At that time, Frankie and Doug Quimby were
organizing the Georgia Sea Island Festival, and asked the group to
perform in public. Deacon James Cook coordinated the group, and
for the past 20 years, the McIntosh County Shouters have
performed at folk festivals including the National Folk Festival and
the National Black Arts Festival. In 1993, the McIntosh County
Shouters received a $10,000 National Heritage Fellowship award
from the Folk Arts Division of the National Endowment for the
Arts. In Georgia, the shouters appeared at the Sapelo Island Cultural
Day, the Book Sellers’ Convention on Jekyll Island, and the Telfair
Museum in Savannah.
For public performances, the shouters wear old-fashioned
costumes. Men wear overalls and straw hats while the women wear
long dresses and bonnets, or African head wraps. Both the shout
songs and their dress connect them with their ancestors. At the
annual Watch Night at Mount Calvary, the shouters teach the
tradition to the youth of Bolden, and are optimistic that the youth
will become future shouters.
In the last decade, Art Rosenbaum, art professor at the
University of Georgia, and his wife, Margo, observed the ring shout
and collaborated with the McIntosh County Shouters to produce
Shout Because You’re Free. The University of Georgia Press
published this book that documents the African American ring
shout as practiced in Bolden. Rosenbaum received a 2003
Governor’s Award in the Humanities for his studies of folk traditions
in Georgia. The book and music are available on the shouters
website at www.hometown.aol.com/Shoutforfreedom/Shout.html.
From the site, you can email Carletha Sullivan to book performances.
The McIntosh County Shouters: back row (from left to right) Bettye
Ector, Harold Evans, Lawrence McKiver, Freddie Palmer; second
row (from left to right) Carletha Sullivan, Alberta Sallins; front row
(from left to right) Odessa Young (deceased), Venus McIver, and
(Stickman) Benjamin “Jerry” Reed.
Lawrence McKiver is the lead songster for the
McIntosh County Shouters. He led the initiative
to present the Georgia ring shout tradition to
the public. Photo by Jeanne Cyriaque
On Watch Night, the ring shout is performed in the annex of the Mount Calvary
Baptist Church to bring in the New Year in Bolden. Photo by Jeanne Cyriaque
4
ROME’S MAIN HIGH SCHOOL
Ayanna Cummings, African American Programs Assistant
Historic Preservation Division
Main High School is located east of downtown Rome in Floyd
County. This community landmark school complex was the
first public school built for African American students in Rome.
The Main School was founded in 1883 by the board of trustees of
the Rome City Schools. For its first ten years, African American
students attended classes in rented office space. Between 1894
and 1896, the Main School moved to another building that was
purchased for $800. This building was large enough to accommodate
grades one through eight.
In 1925, a two-room annex was added on the Main School
property to reduce overcrowding. Additional grade levels were
added in consecutive years from 1926-1930. By 1930, diplomas
were given for the completion of the 11th grade. In 1932, the school
received accreditation from the Georgia Accrediting Commission
and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. By that
time, the school was known as Main High School. Twelfth grade
classes were not available until the 1952-53 academic year.
In 1934, the Board of Education purchased additional land
behind the existing school, and allocated $11,000 for a new building
to relieve overcrowding. R.L. Townsend and day laborers completed
Main High School. This building featured two classrooms, but the
student population continued to grow. An addition was constructed
in 1938, consisting of two classrooms and an auditorium. Odis Clay
Poundstone, an Atlanta architect, designed the addition, and local
contractor J.P. Roberts completed it in 1939. Seating for the
classrooms consisted of used desks from Rome’s white high school.
In 1940, the building received electric lighting three years after it
was reinstalled in Rome’s white high schools. These expansions
reflect Jim Crow practices that were common during segregation,
when all public facilities were separate for the races, and rarely
were the facilities equal for African American students. In spite of
these challenges, Main High School offered the same academic
curriculum that the white students received instead of vocational
training that was common for most African American high schools.
Main High School is a one-story, brick building with
Colonial Revival stylistic features that were common in Georgia
school architecture. The building has the original doors,
blackboards, windows, hardwood floors, wood ceiling, and brick
chimneys. Main High School is the oldest building on the campus,
and is situated near the top of a hill. Six buildings were added to the
campus on the slopes beneath the 1934 building to relieve
overcrowding in the 1950s and 1960s. These buildings were
constructed in the International Style of architecture that emerged
following World War II. The International Style buildings are onestory, square or rectangular shaped, with flat roofs and no
ornamentation. They also represent Rome’s continuing resistance
to integration in public education.
A new high school building, constructed between 1955
and 1956, was abandoned in 1969 after the city schools were
integrated in 1966. After desegregation of the Rome City Schools,
all students were given the right to choose their school under the
Freedom of Choice Desegregation Plan. Ultimately, most students
opted to choose
Rome’s two white
high schools, and
Main High School
closed in 1969 due to
low enrollment.
Today, the
Main High School
campus continues to
serve educational
functions. The 1934
building is used for
storage, while the
1958 building is used
for the Rome Transitional Academy and the Rome City Schools
Technology Center. The Boys and Girls Club use the gymnasium,
and Main Elementary School, though not a contributing property,
continues to function as a school. The Main High School alumni
hold reunions regularly. At the 2001 reunion, graduates came from
all over the country, and 80 percent of the class of 1935 had obtained
a college degree.
The Main High School Band began performing
in 1948. Photo courtesy of Rufus N. Turner Jr.
The Main High School campus includes the 1934 Colonial Revival building
at the top of a hill. International Style buildings were added as enrollment
grew to over 1,200 students. Photo by James R. Lockhart
The circa 1934 Main High School is the central building on the campus. As
enrollment grew, additional buildings were constructed on adjacent slopes.
The Main High School campus was listed in the National Register of Historic
Places on October 24, 2002. Photo by James R. Lockhart
5
THE CENTENNIAL FARM AWARDS: CELEBRATING GEORGIA’S AGRICULTURAL HERITAGE
The Georgia Centennial Farm
Awards were presented at a
luncheon held in the new MillerMurphy-Howard building at the
Georgia National Fairgrounds and
Agricenter in Perry on October 3,
2003. Seventeen farms received
awards this year, and the winners and guests enjoyed the keynote
speaker: Jimmy Carter, the 39th President of the United States of America.
Former President Carter discussed the importance of
agriculture in Georgia’s heritage. He grew up on a rural farm in
Archery operated by his
father, Earl Carter. African
American tenant farmers and
sharecroppers worked on the
Carter farm near Plains in
Sumter County. Carter shared
memories from An Hour Before
Daylight, his autobiography:
“I preferred to plow or hoe
during cultivating time, but my
job as a boy was often to
provide drinking water for the
dozens of workers in the field.”
After the luncheon, Carter
dedicated Mule and Tenant
Farmer, a sculpture that
depicts a farmer and mule
plowing fields. The sculptors,
Donald Haugen and Teena
Marie Stern, were inspired by Carter’s book, and enhanced the
sculpture with a barefoot boy bringing water to the farmer.
The Zach and Camilla Hubert Farm in Hancock County
received a Centennial Heritage Farm Award. Zacharias (Zach)
Hubert, the family patriarch, was a tenant farmer after emancipation.
In 1869, Zach Hubert rented his first farm, a 20-acre site near
Powelton in Hancock County. By 1871, Zach, David, and Floyd
Hubert purchased 165 acres of land in Hancock County from a
lawyer named Henry Burke. The Hubert brothers worked the land
for three years, paying annual installments of $550. When they
took the last installment to Burke, expecting title to the land, he
threatened to evict them if they did not continue the tenant farming
arrangement. With the legal assistance of Poulton Thomas, a white
lawyer from Crawfordville, the Hubert brothers became the first
African American property owners in Hancock County in 1876.
After the case was settled, the brothers equally divided the
land. Zach and Camilla Hubert settled on his share, where they raised
12 children. Zach Hubert implemented building projects, including a
church and school in the community. By the 20th century, Zach Hubert
opened a community store and purchased 1,500 acres of land.
Benjamin Hubert purchased 417 acres on the Zach
Hubert farm from his siblings in 1929. While president of Georgia
State Industrial College in Savannah, Benjamin Hubert organized
the Association for the Advancement of Negro Country Life,
and completed the Camilla-Zach Country Life Center in 1932.
I
n 1992, Georgia joined several states in establishing a program to
recognize historic farms. The purpose of the program is to honor
Georgia’s farmers for their contributions to the state’s agricultural
heritage and to encourage preservation of agricultural resources
for future generations. To qualify, the working farm must remain in
the same family for over 100 years or the farm must be at least 100
years old and be listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Each farm must be a working farm with a minimum of ten acres or
$1,000 annual income. Recognition is given to farms through one
of three distinguishing awards:
Centennial Heritage Farm Award – This award honors farms owned
by members of the same family for 100 years or more that are listed
in the National Register of Historic Places.
Centennial Farm Award – This category does not require continual
family ownership, but the farm must be at least 100 years old and
must be listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Centennial Family Farm Award – this category honors farms that
were owned by members of the same family for 100 years or more.
To receive an award, an application with supporting
documentation must be completed. Applicants must submit
photocopies of supporting documents showing original family
purchase, proof of 100 years of continual family ownership, and a
brief description of the history of the farm.
Applications are approved and selected by the Centennial
Farm Program Committee. Applications are accepted throughout
the year, but must be received by March 1, 2004 to qualify for the
next award cycle.
For more information or an application, contact:
Gretchen Brock
National Register Coordinator
Historic Preservation Division
Georgia Department of Natural Resources
404/651-6782
gretchen_brock@dnr.state.ga.us
THE CENTENNIAL FARM PROGRAM
Dr. Clinton Warner, Georgia
Commissioner of Agriculture Tommy
Irvin, and Leola Hubbard celebrate
the legacy of the Zach and Camilla
Hubert farm. Both Warner and
Hubbard are family descendents.
Photo by James R. Lockhart
Former President Jimmy Carter
received an honorary Centennial
Farms plaque to commemorate his
family farm in Archery.
Photo by James R. Lockhart
Today, the log cabin center,
Piney Rest teachers’ cottage,
and the community store are
contributing resources in the
Camilla-Zach Community
Center Historic District.
Benjamin Hubert
bequeathed the center to the
Association for the Advancement
of Negro Country Life, and
Mabel Hubert Warner
purchased it in 1962. Her son,
Dr. Clinton E. Warner, is the
present owner of this
Centennial Heritage Farm. Dr.
Warner uses 174 acres of the farm for timber, while preserving
buildings from the Camilla-Zach Community Center Historic District.
6
The history of Evergreen Congregational Church and
School began in Alabama. The Evergreen congregation moved en
masse from Alabama to escape white terrorism. Their minister, who
was trained in an AMA school, was threatened for teaching his
congregation basic educational skills. Whites gave the minister 24
hours to leave the county, and he found a new home for the entire
congregation in Beachton. They fled to Beachton to seek education
for their children at the Allen Normal and Industrial School in nearby
Thomasville.
In 1938, the Grady County Training School moved to
another location, and the original building became a community
hall for voter registration, county meetings, volunteer activities,
and youth services. The school is presently known as the Evergreen
Recreation Center, and serves as the fellowship hall for the
Evergreen Congregational Church.
In 1957, Reverend Andrew Young became the minister for
both Evergreen and Bethany Congregational Church in Thomasville.
Trained as a minister at Hartford Theological Seminary, Reverend
Young was fascinated by the stylistic differences in his two
churches. Young cited that the worship styles at Bethany and
Evergreen were distinct, in spite of their common Congregational
affiliation. Services at Bethany were tightly organized with a direct
message, but this approach did not work with the Evergreen
congregation, who preferred gospel hymns interspersed with the
sermon. The Evergreen congregation insisted that Reverend Young
“preach from the heart and not the paper.” This influence would
impact his future career in the American Civil Rights movement.
Andrew Young served Evergreen and Bethany until 1959.
He would later become a leading aide for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
executive director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference,
and the first African American congressman from Georgia since
Reconstruction. In 1977, Young was appointed U.S. Ambassador to
the United Nations, and served as mayor of the City of Atlanta for two
terms, and co-chair of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games.
BEACHTON PRESERVES EVERGREEN CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH AND SCHOOL
Ayanna Cummings, African American Programs Assistant
Historic Preservation Division
Evergreen Congregational Church and School are located in
Beachton, a southwest Georgia rural community in Grady
County. Nestled south of Thomasville, Beachton lies near the
Florida state line. Evergreen Congregational Church is a rare example
of congregational churches that were built in Georgia during the
first half of the 20th century. The original church was organized in
1903 and was a frame building. It was demolished in 1925, and the
new church was completed in 1928. It is built of concrete block and
wood lath, and is distinguished by a gable-roofed portico and cupola.
The church’s sanctuary seats 250 people, and the one-classroom
school is located in a separate building next to the church on a twoacre site.
The United Church of Christ originated in New England
and the church missionaries provided funding and teachers for the
education of African American children through the American
Missionary Association (AMA). The Evergreen School and
Dorchester Academy in Liberty County are examples of AMA
schools built in Georgia associated with Congregational churches.
In Thomasville, Allen Normal and Industrial School was associated
with Bethany Congregational Church.
James E. Wright, a church member who was an architect
trained at Tuskegee University, designed the Evergreen School. In
1911, Jerry Walden, Jr. and other church members built the school
on land donated by Please Hawthorne, a local businessman. Walden
was the first African American teacher in Beachton.
The Evergreen School provided housing for teachers. Four
bedrooms on the second floor provided residences for teachers
until 1938. The AMA supported the school until 1916, when the
county assumed partial funding, and it was renamed the Grady
County Training School.
Evergreen Congregational Church and School were listed in the National
Register of Historic Places on October 31, 2002. These landmark buildings
are excellent examples of an early 20th century church and school complex
in a rural African American community. Photo by James R. Lockhart
Evergreen Congregational Church was built by church members in 1928.
Architectural features include a pyramidal-roofed cupola and a gable-roof
portico supported by four posts. Photo by James R. Lockhart
7
Karl Webster Barnes
Atlanta, 404/758-4891
C. Donald Beall
Columbus, 706/569-4344
Corinne Blencoe
Newnan, 770/254-7443
M.M. (Peggy) Harper
Atlanta, 404/522-3231
Linda Wilkes
Atlanta, 678/686-6243
Thomas Williams
Kennesaw, 678/445-5124
Isaac Johnson
Augusta, Chair
706/738-1901
Beth Shorthouse
Atlanta, Vice-Chair
404/253-1488
Jeanne Mills
Atlanta, Secretary/Treasurer
404/753-6265
STEERING COMMITTEE
Jeanne Cyriaque
African American
Programs Coordinator
Reflections Editor
Voice 404/656-4768
Fax 404/651-8739
jeanne_cyriaque@dnr.state.ga.us
STAFF
Ayanna Cummings
African American
Programs Assistant
Voice 404/657-1054
Fax 404/651-8739
Web site ayanna_cummings@dnr.state.ga.us E-Mail
Phone Fax
City State Zip Code
Address
Organization
Name
GEORGIA HISTORY THROUGH THE EYES OF AFRICAN AMERICANS
Yes, I plan to attend the annual meeting.
Please mail me a brochure.
Since 1989, volunteers around the state have
preserved a spirit of place in Georgia
through listing churches, schools, properties
and historic districts in the National Register
of Historic Places. These preservation
initiatives have increased awareness of the
contributions of African Americans to the
cultural and built environment in Georgia.
Through the support of the Historic
Preservation Division (HPD), nonprofit
organizations and the corporate community,
these volunteer efforts evolved into the
Georgia African American Historic
Preservation Network (GAAHPN). Today, over
1,600 Georgians are members of the Network.
In 2000, a milestone was achieved
when the Georgia legislature allocated funding
in HPD for African American programs. With
this additional support, GAAHPN produces
Reflections, sharing historic preservation
information, technical services and significant
resources associated with African American
heritage. To celebrate the growth of the
network during the past 15 years, GAAHPN
will host its first annual meeting in Augusta
on January 30-31, 2004, when volunteers and
professionals interested in African American
heritage will meet at historic Springfield Baptist
Church. The theme for the meeting is
Georgia History Through the Eyes of
African Americans.
The annual meeting will provide a forum to
discuss successful preservation initiatives and
exchange information about the contributions of
African Americans to Georgia history. The meeting
format will include workshops, a banquet and tours
of historic sites and districts in Augusta.
The keynote speaker for the banquet is
Michael Thurmond, Georgia Commissioner of Labor.
Thurmond will discuss Freedom, his book that
presents a chronicle of the quest for independence
for both black and white Georgians, from the founding
of the colony through the end of the Civil War.
The registration fee is $50. This fee
includes all meeting workshops, meals and tour.
Return the registration form and fee by January 23,
2004 to: Jeanne Cyriaque, Historic Preservation
Division, Georgia Department of Natural Resources,
156 Trinity Avenue SW, Suite 101, Atlanta, GA
30303. If you need additional information, contact
her by voice, email or fax (see below). Please make
checks or money orders payable to the Georgia
Department of Natural Resources. Credit cards
are not accepted.
Enclosed is my $50 check or money order
to attend the annual meeting. Please mail
me a brochure.
Lodging
Radisson Riverfront $92
706/722-8900 King or Double
Partridge Inn $69
706/737-8888 King or Double
Red Roof Inn $49 - $55
706/228-3031 King or Double
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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 ethnic 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 meets regularly
to plan and implement 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 1,600 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.gashpo.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
W. Ray Luce, Division Director &
Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer
Jeanne Cyriaque, Editor
A Program of the
Historic Preservation Division
Georgia Department of Natural Resources
156 Trinity Avenue, S.W.
Suite 101
Atlanta, GA 30303-3600