Volume IV, No. 2 April 2004
A Program of the Historic Preservation Division, Georgia Department of Natural Resources
continued on page 2
THE LAST ROSENWALD SCHOOL
Warm Springs, a town in Meriwether County, is famous for
the water and nearby Pine Mountain. Creek Indians once
used these mineral waters for their healing properties,
but white settlers preferred the area for recreation, as the pine forest
and 1,200 ft. elevation of Pine Mountain provided pleasant
temperatures during hot Georgia summer days. The town emerged
as a resort community, and was incorporated as Bullochville in
1896. The boom period ended by the end of World War I, and new
investment was needed to revitalize the Warm Springs economy.
In 1923, George Foster Peabody invited Franklin Delano
Roosevelt to Bullochville to meet Louis Joseph, a young man who
was cured of polio by swimming in the springs. Joseph told
Roosevelt his story, and soon Roosevelt could stand and walk in
four feet of freshwater. During this first visit, Roosevelt attended
the ceremony that officially changed the name of Bullochville to
Warm Springs. He was so impressed with the healing powers of
Warm Springs that he began annual visits each year. Peabody,
Roosevelt and other investors founded the Georgia Warm Springs
Foundation, Inc. By 1928, Roosevelt reentered politics, and became
governor of New York. He
purchased over 1,000 acres of
farmland and built a cottage near
the foundation that would be his
place for relaxation and therapy
while governor. When Roosevelt
became the President of the
United States, the cottage
became known as the Little
White House.
In 1929, during one of
his annual trips to Warm Springs
during Thanksgiving, Roosevelt
contacted Samuel L. Smith,
director of the southern office
of the Julius Rosenwald Fund
in Nashville. He told Smith that
“we voted to spend $15,000 for a white school and a Negro school,
but they used all the money on the white school. We still plan to
build the Negro school. Will you give us Rosenwald aid?” Smith
informed the governor that the Fund would contribute $2,500 but
the local school board and the community would have to raise the
bulk of the funds. Shortly after this conversation, the stock market
crashed, and the nation entered the depression.
Smith did not hear from Roosevelt again for almost five
years. In 1933, while spending Thanksgiving in Warm Springs,
President Roosevelt convened a meeting of local businessmen to
discuss “a matter of great importance.” He told them “I’m just
embarrassed every time any of my friends comes down here from
the North and goes out here and looks at that Negro school
building.” Following this meeting, Roosevelt telegraphed Smith,
inviting him to the White House to discuss the matter “we started
in 1929, but the depression stopped it all.”
When Smith visited the President, he reminded him of his
promise, but Smith informed him that the Julius Rosenwald Fund
had closed its school building program in 1932. “But you promised
me!” Roosevelt remarked. He
asked Smith to come to the Little
White House to work out the
details. Smith and Curtis Dixon,
state agent of the Georgia
Department of Education,
attended the meeting, and
President Roosevelt drove them
to the site of the Negro school
in his open top Plymouth. In
Builders of Goodwill, his book
about the state agents for Negro
education in the South, Smith
described the condition of the
old school as “one of the worst
I had ever seen. The second
The windows and front entrance of the Eleanor Roosevelt School were
covered with brick to prevent vandalism. Photo by Jeanne Cyriaque
2
continued from page 1
THE LAST ROSENWALD SCHOOL
story was used as a lodge hall and the first floor was petitioned off
for a two-room school.”
Following this site visit, they selected a six-acre site for
the new school on an elevation overlooking the Warm Springs
pools. Roosevelt reminded Smith that the Fund submitted plans
for a brick, seven-teacher white school in 1929, and said “we want
one just as nice for the Negroes.” He knew of a brick kiln nearby
that was closed since the depression, and he and Peabody were
certain the owner would be glad to make the bricks. Next, they
discussed the total construction costs. Smith reiterated the Fund
would authorize up to one fourth of the costs, and the Warm Springs
School Board, at the request of President Roosevelt, voted to
provide $8,000 to qualify for the $2,500 Fund grant. Because of the
economic conditions in Warm Springs at the time, the school board
could not borrow the necessary funds, and the project again
appeared stalled.
Smith continued to
correspond with Roosevelt about
the broader issue of federal aid to
rural schools in the South, and in
1935, the president telegraphed
him to come to the White House.
Smith discussed the conditions of
both white and Negro schools,
and the inability of southern
states to build any public schools
without federal aid. Roosevelt
subsequently implemented New
Deal initiatives that ensured the
establishment of the Works
Progress Administration (WPA)
and the Public Works Administration
(PWA). These federal agencies
constructed two billion dollars
worth of educational buildings
from 1935 to 1940.
The Warm Springs board applied for $12,000 in WPA aid
to build and equip the school, and the $500 contributed by the
Negro community paid for the site. Peabody contributed $500 and
the Fund allocated $2,500. When the WPA director indicated they
needed an additional $1,000 on deposit to begin work, Roosevelt
sent his personal check to build the four-classroom building with
an auditorium and library, the 5,358th Rosenwald school.
The crowd anxiously awaits the arrival of President Franklin D.
Roosevelt before dedication exercises on March 18, 1937. This photo
appeared in Samuel L. Smith’s Builders of Goodwill.
The Eleanor Roosevelt School was dedicated on March
18, 1937. The keynote speaker was President Roosevelt. Edwin R.
Embree, president of the Julius Rosenwald Fund, addressed the
crowd, along with M.L. Collins, state superintendent of education.
Robert L. Cousins, director of Negro education, accepted the
building. S.L. Smith introduced the President as “your friend and
good neighbor, Franklin Delano Roosevelt!” Roosevelt remarked
that he began to learn economics at Warm Springs in 1924 through
discussions with his neighbors about teachers’ salaries and the
price of cotton.
Until the mid 1960s, the Eleanor Roosevelt School served
grades one through eight. As school consolidation plans were
implemented, the school held elementary classes until it closed in
1972 with integration. The school housed an Adult Education
Center for three years, and a Day Care Center until it was sold to the
present owner in 1977, who cuts and stores carpet there.
The Eleanor Roosevelt School Task Force, a partnership
of tourism, government representatives, and the present owner are
working on plans to preserve the last Rosenwald school. They are
developing strategies to adaptively use this historic resource as a
heritage museum. The Eleanor Roosevelt School is located at the
corner of Hunter and Alexander Streets, near the Leverett Hill Church.
Each side of the building features entrances to two classrooms.
Photo by Jeanne Cyriaque
The cornerstone for the Eleanor
Roosevelt School, circa 1936.
A walkway was added in the 1950s to connect the school
to restrooms and a cafeteria. Photo by Jeanne Cyriaque
3
RECLAIMING ROSENWALD SCHOOLS
Tracy Hayes, Program Assistant
Southern Office, National Trust for Historic Preservation
Mark your calendars for Reclaiming Rosenwald Schools:
Preserving a Legacy, a conference to be held May 21-22,
2004 at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. Sponsored by the
National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Rosenwald Schools
Initiative, and hosted by Fisk, the conference will feature educational
sessions, tours, an exhibit and resource room, and time to network
with other Rosenwald school preservationists. Reclaiming
Rosenwald Schools will bring together preservation professionals,
community activists, scholars and individuals interested in finding
out more about Rosenwald schools and how to preserve them.
The historic campus of Fisk University is home to the
Rosenwald Fund’s archives. Housed in Special Collections at the
John Hope and Aurelia Franklin Library on campus, the collection
is invaluable to anyone researching a particular school, or the
Rosenwald school building program in general. A session featuring
the collection’s contents will be held at Reclaiming Rosenwald
Schools. Research times will be scheduled before and after the
conference.
The National Trust’s Rosenwald Schools Initiative grew
out of a need across the southern and southwest regions to provide
assistance and help to coordinate efforts of a growing number of
individuals and organizations interested in preserving Rosenwald
schools. Built between 1918 and 1932 for African American children
across fifteen states using seed money from the Julius Rosenwald
Fund, the schools are now aging, and most were abandoned after
desegregation. It remains unclear how many of the 5,358 structures
built still exist, though survey efforts in several states, including
Georgia, are underway.
Administered out of the Trust’s Southern office in
Charleston, SC, the Rosenwald Schools Initiative has been
instrumental in networking preservationists from across the nation,
and providing technical assistance to dozens of groups and
individuals seeking help. Over $20,000 in Preservation Services
Fund planning grants were awarded to Rosenwald school
preservation projects over the past several years, including one to
Noble Hill-Wheeler Memorial Center in Cassville, Georgia. The
National Trust has helped to raise national awareness of the fragility
of these historic resources by placing Rosenwald schools on it’s
11 Most Endangered Historic Places list in 2002. The Rosenwald
Schools Initiative has developed a web site that will be kept updated
with current information, resources and links, and has coordinated
the National Trust publication Preserving Rosenwald Schools, by
Mary Hoffschwelle.
Reclaiming Rosenwald Schools: Preserving a Legacy
represents a major effort by the National Trust’s Rosenwald Schools
Initiative to continue networking, educating, and providing
assistance to the growing numbers of people involved in preserving
Rosenwald schools across the South and Southwest. To learn
more about the history of the schools or the Rosenwald Schools
Initiative, or to learn more about the upcoming Reclaiming
Rosenwald Schools conference visit www.rosenwaldschools.com.
Email tracy_hayes@nthp.org to be placed on the conference mailing
list, or call the Southern office of the National Trust at 843-722-8552.
Conference registration materials are currently available.
Jubilee Hall was constructed in 1876, and was one of the first brick buildings
on the Fisk University campus. This National Historic Landmark was
named in honor of the Fisk Jubilee Singers. Photo by Jeanne Cyriaque
Vienna High & Industrial School (Dooly County) was built in 1926.
The building was continuously used as a school by the Dooly County
Board of Education, and Pre-School classes were held in this building
until the end of the 2003 academic year. Photo by Jeanne Cyriaque
A case study of the Noble Hill School in Cassville (Bartow County)
is featured in Preserving Rosenwald Schools. The school was
listed in the National Register of Historic Places in July 1987.
The school is adaptively used as the Noble Hill-Wheeler Memorial
Center, a heritage museum. Photo by Jeanne Cyriaque
4
DEVELOPMENT TOOLS FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION
Martha Gravely, Tax Incentives Coordinator
Historic Preservation Division
The Historic Preservation Division (HPD) administers three tax
incentive programs for the rehabilitation of historic buildings:
1) The Federal Rehabilitation Investment Tax Credit (RITC); 2) the
Georgia Preferential Property Tax Assessment Freeze; and 3) the
Georgia State Income Tax Credit for Rehabilitated Historic Property.
The state income tax credit is the newest program. It became
effective January 1, 2004. These programs serve as valuable financial
incentives encouraging the rehabilitation and preservation of
Georgia’s resources.
Taxpayer savings for each program are different. The
Federal RITC provides historic property owners who complete a
certified rehabilitation the opportunity to take 20% of the
rehabilitation cost as a federal income tax credit. The Georgia
Preferential Property Tax Assessment program provides an
opportunity to freeze a historic property’s tax assessment for 8 ½
years for the substantial rehabilitation of a certified historic
structure. The Georgia State Income Tax Credit provides historic
property owners the opportunity to apply for a state income tax
credit equal to 10%, 15%, or 20% of rehabilitation expenses, up to
$5,000, depending on the building’s use and location.
An income-producing property may be eligible to
participate in all three programs if it meets the following criteria: It
must be eligible for or listed in the National Register of Historic
Places; rehabilitation work must be reviewed by HPD and certified
by the National Park Service as meeting the Secretary of Interior’s
Standards for Rehabilitation, and the total rehabilitation cost must
exceed the value of the building.
Resources Standards for Rehabilitation. Additionally, the Georgia
Preferential Property Tax Assessment Freeze program requires that
the rehabilitation increase the fair market value of the building by
50%, and the Georgia State Income Tax Credit program requires
rehabilitation costs exceed the lesser of $25,000 or 50% of the fair
market value of the home. For historic properties used as a principal
residence in a qualified census tract designated by HUD, the
homeowner must spend only $5,000 to qualify for the state income
tax credit program.
Individuals who wish to take advantage of the tax incentive
programs for the rehabilitation of a historic building must submit a
formal application to HPD. The Historic Preservation Division and
the National Park Service review applications for the federal tax
credit; however the Historic Preservation Division is the only agency
that reviews applications for the two state programs. Each program
has a separate application that must be accompanied with
photographs, plans, and a location map. Once an application is
submitted, HPD has 30 days to review the material and issue an
approval of the project. All program applications and instructions
can be found on the HPD web-site www.gashpo.org under the
Financial and Technical Assistance menu item “Tax Incentives.”
For additional information, please contact Martha Gravely, Tax
Incentives Coordinator, at 404-651-5566. Or, reach me by email:
martha_gravely@dnr.state.ga.us.
Residential property owners may apply for the Georgia
Preferential Property Tax Assessment Freeze program and the
Georgia State Income Tax Credit program, but not the Federal RITC.
A residential property must be eligible for or listed in the Georgia
Register of Historic Places, and rehabilitation work must be reviewed
and certified by HPD as meeting the Department of Natural
For many years, the childhood home of Alma Woodsey Thomas, an African
American artist, stood abandoned in the Rose Hill community of Columbus
(Muscogee County). A preservationist purchased the home, and participated
in the Federal Rehabilitation Investment Tax Credit and the Georgia
Preferential Property Tax Assessment Freeze.
Today, the Alma Thomas childhood home is included in the Columbus Black
Heritage Trail. A law firm now occupies the parlors where the Thomas
family once resided. The final certification was approved in August 2003.
An ADA-accessible ramp was added to the rear
entrance of the Alma Thomas childhood home.
 Photo by Jeanne Cyriaque
5
continued on page 6
The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer
featured this drawing of Alma
Thomas in the special series of 100
People to Remember.
COLUMBUS REMEMBERS ALMA THOMAS
I
n the late 19th century, few economic opportunities were available
to African Americans in Columbus, but John Harris Thomas
managed to develop successful business ventures. He co-owned
a saloon as late as 1897, when prevalent Jim Crow practices
prohibited renewal of a liquor license. Undaunted, John Thomas
achieved successful employment as a bookkeeper, bartender, and
porter at the Muscogee Club, an exclusive club for whites in
Columbus. As the city expanded, Thomas purchased a lot from
Sallie May Markham in the Rose Hill community and built a one
story Queen Anne-style home for his family. He married Amelia
Cantey, who was a dress designer from nearby Fort Mitchell,
Alabama. Alma Woodsey was the oldest of four Thomas daughters.
She was born in Columbus on September 22, 1891.
As Alma and her three sisters grew up, they frequently
visited their maternal grandparents at their 330-acre farm in Alabama.
The Cantey farm provided a setting where Alma Thomas first
developed her lifelong affinity with nature and the environment.
At her childhood home, John Thomas planted numerous varieties
of trees, flowers, and shrubs in the family garden. These naturecolor- influenced environments would become sources of inspiration
for Alma’s ultimate career as an artist.
Fannie and Winter Cantey, Alma’s maternal grandparents,
strongly advocated education for their children. The Cantey
children attended Tuskegee Institute, and Amelia Cantey’s skills
as a dress designer probably emerged from early exposure to the
Tuskegee industrial arts curriculum. As Amelia and John began to
raise their family, Alma Thomas often heard lectures from family
and friends who would visit her childhood home. A cousin, Inez
Cantey, was the secretary for W.E.B. DuBois from Atlanta
University. She typed the manuscript for The Souls of Black Folk
in the Thomas household.
While the Thomas
family lived as middle-class
citizens in Columbus, they
were affected by racial
segregation and Jim Crow
practices that were common
throughout the South. Four
Columbus public schools
provided education for
African Americans through
the ninth grade, and private
education was the only option
for further studies. In
September 1906, on Alma’s
15th birthday, the Atlanta race
riot prompted John Thomas
to move the family to
Washington, D.C. Both John
and Amelia found work in their new city, and Alma entered the
Armstrong Manual Training High School in the fall of 1907.
Armstrong High School advocated the Booker T.
Washington model of vocational training and teaching. Once
enrolled, Alma Thomas excelled in math and architectural drawing
and was the only woman in these classes. She also studied fashion
design and received her first formal training in art. By 1911, Alma
Thomas was ready to attend Miner Normal School (now the
University of the District of Columbia) and received her teaching
certificate in 1913.
In 1921, Alma Thomas enrolled at Howard University at the
age of 30 to pursue an undergraduate degree. She worked for
Howard’s theatrical troupe, designed costumes for the drama
department, and contributed drawings for several sections of the
Howard University Bison yearbook. In 1924, she became the first
Howard University student to receive a B.A. degree in fine arts.
After graduation, she was offered a teaching position in the D.C.
colored schools. For the next 35 years, Alma Thomas was an art
instructor at Shaw Junior High School.
Alma Thomas spent summers in New York at the Teachers
College of Columbia University to pursue a master’s degree from
1930-1934. Her thesis topic was marionettes (puppets). Since her
students were not allowed to view marionette shows at the
segregated National Theatre in Washington, Thomas found
alternative locations in the African American community to display
marionettes with costumes that she designed.
In 1943, she formed a partnership that led to the first private
art gallery in Washington that was open to all races, and became
the vice president of the Barnett Aden Gallery. In this capacity, she
administered fundraising initiatives to ensure biracial exhibits from
leading Washington artists.
Alma Thomas, at age 59, was so inspired by her interaction
with other Washington artists that she enrolled at American
University in 1950 to continue her studies in painting during the
evenings and on weekends. For the next ten years, she developed
This side view of the Alma Thomas childhood home features trees and
shrubs that were planted at the end of the 19th century by her father,
John Thomas. Photo by Jeanne Cyriaque
6
continued from page 5
COLUMBUS REMEMBERS ALMA THOMAS
This 1971 photograph by Ida
Jervis shows Alma Thomas
working in her kitchen studio. It
appeared in Alma W. Thomas: A
Retrospective of the Paintings.
her inclusion in The 35th Biennial Exhibition of Contemporary
American Painting at the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Howard
University, Fisk University, and North Carolina Agricultural and
Technical State University exhibited her paintings prior to her death
on February 24, 1978.
In 1998, the Fort Wayne Museum of Art organized a
retrospective exhibition of 53 Alma Thomas works. The Henry
Luce Foundation provided a grant for the exhibition and catalogue,
Alma W. Thomas, A Retrospective of the Paintings. The exhibition
itinerary ended at the Columbus Museum in January 2000.
The Columbus Museum features Air View of Spring
Nursery, an Alma Thomas painting, in the permanent collection.
This painting was donated to the Columbus Museum by the
Columbus-Phenix City chapter of the National Association of Negro
Business Women. In July 2002, the Georgia African American
Historic Preservation Network celebrated the legacy of Alma
Thomas. The Steering Committee meeting was held at the Columbus
Museum, and was organized by Charlotte Frazier, former chair.
Other museums that feature Alma Thomas paintings in
their collections include: the Art Institute of Chicago, the Hirshorn
Museum, the National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian
Institution, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, and the
National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
The Alma Thomas residence in Washington, D.C. is a
contributing resource in the Logan Circle Historic District that is
listed in the National Register of Historic Places. It is included in
the African American Heritage Trail, a recent publication produced
by Cultural Tourism DC with grant support from the DC Historic
Preservation Office. The trail guide also features the old Shaw
Junior High School, where Thomas taught from 1924-1960. In 1982,
the Asbury United Methodist Church converted the old Shaw school
building into senior citizen housing. For more information, visit
www.CulturalTourismDC.org.
her signature abstract style noted by color and its response to
nature. By age 60, Alma Thomas seriously pursued painting on a
full-time basis and retired from her teaching career.
From 1950-1960,
Alma Thomas began to
abandon oil as her chief
medium in painting and
became fascinated with the
brilliant, vibrant colors
available in acrylic. She was
inspired by color and how it
seamlessly interacted with the
natural environment. Thomas
converted part of her kitchen
into an art studio and derived
many inspirations for her
paintings while looking out
the window and studying how
light interacted with the leaves
of a holly tree in her yard. By
1960, she used watercolors
as studies for larger paintings
and developed a technique
characterized by jagged,
short, brushstrokes applied
in geometric shapes with
extensive use of color.
Since Alma Thomas
was associated with artists who used color extensively in their
paintings, she was believed to be a member of the Washington
Color School. These painters stained acrylic into unprimed cottonduck canvas, but Alma Thomas did not use this process. She painted
in her signature, jagged brushstrokes on primed, sized canvases.
Thomas differed from the Washington Color School painters in
another technique. They used masking tape to ensure flat color
stripes while Thomas experimented with a variety of geometric
shapes, including vertical, horizontal and circular patterns, and her
brushstrokes appeared to literally jump off the edge of the canvas.
In 1972, Alma Thomas emerged as a nationally prominent
artist, and her paintings were displayed internationally through the
U.S. Department of State’s Art in Embassies Program. At the age of
80, she was the first African American woman to have a solo exhibit
at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, and a
retrospective exhibition of her work appeared in Washington’s
Cocoran Gallery of Art. In 1974, Alma Thomas, who suffered for
years with chronic arthritis, broke her hip. These health impediments
challenged her painting for the next two years, but she attended the
opening of her last solo exhibition in New York at the Martha Jackson
Gallery. Upon her recovery, Thomas experimented with large mural
paintings. This was remarkable since she was small in stature. To
overcome this challenge, she would assemble canvases across two
tables to prevent her from falling.
Howard University awarded Alma Thomas with the
“Alumni of Achievement Award” in 1975. In 1977, U.S. President
Jimmy Carter invited Alma Thomas to the White House, following This 1975 photograph by Roland L. Freeman
appeared in Alma W. Thomas: A
Retrospective of the Paintings.
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
GAAHPN 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
GEORGIA HISTORY THROUGH THE EYES OF AFRICAN AMERICANS
The first annual meeting of
the Georgia African
American Historic Preservation
Network (GAAHPN) was held
at the historic Springfield
Baptist Church in Augusta on
January 30-31, 2004. Seventyfive preservationists attended
Georgia History Through the
Eyes of African Americans. Glenda Gunn shared her experiences
with technical tools she utilizes in historic preservation at the
plenary luncheon.
Friday workshops included From Free Black Communities
to Historic Districts, where historian James E. Carter shared the
evolution of black communities in Augusta and the historic
Springfield Village. Monifa Johnson, Savannah Arts Academy,
and Melissa Jest, Historic Savannah Foundation, Inc. provided
both historical information and current preservation challenges and
initiatives in Savannah. GAAHPN Steering Committee members
Karl W. Barnes and M.M. (Peggy) Harper discussed Technical
Tools they utilize to preserve a spirit
of place in urban environments.
The annual meeting banquet
was held at the Marbury Inn, a
historic firehouse located on
Augusta’s Broad Street. Georgia
Commissioner of Labor Michael
Thurmond was the keynote speaker.
He discussed Freedom, his new
book. Thurmond shared anecdotes
from his ten-year research project
that contributes to Georgia history
from its earliest settlement by James
Oglethorpe through the end of the
Civil War.
Gloria Lucas of the Augusta
Genealogical Society opened
Saturday workshop sessions with In
Search of Who We Are, a discussion
of available tools in genealogical
research. Richard Hunt, sculptor,
shared his research in developing
both the current and planned
sculptures in the Springfield Village
Park At the conclusion of his
session on The Evolution of
Springfield Village Park, participants
began their tour of Augusta’s
African American historic resources.
The tour stopped at the Augusta
Canal Interpretive Center in the historic Enterprise Mill, and
participants visited the Lucy Craft Laney Museum, the Haines
Normal and Industrial Institute Alumni Association building,
and other sites in the Laney-Walker Historic District.
Michael Thurmond
Commissioner of Labor
Georgia History Through the Eyes of African Americans
was sponsored by benefactors from the corporate community, who
contributed $1,000. Springfield Baptist Church hosted the meeting.
Patron sponsors from nonprofit organizations contributed $500.
Friends of GAAHPN contributed $250. These contributions reflect
the partnerships and volunteerism that have aided GAAHPN since
its inception. We acknowledge your valuable support of African
American preservation in Georgia.
Isaac Johnson, GAAHPN chairman, Robert Kirby,
chairman of the Springfield Village Park Foundation,
Inc. and Richard Hunt, sculptor, celebrate the GAAHPN
first annual meeting.
Isaac Johnson
Chairman
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 1,700 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
47 Trinity Avenue, S.W.
Suite 414-H
Atlanta, GA 30334-9006