African American heritage guide

African American
heritage

official state publication

Guide

Signature Sounds
georgia's music scene, entertainers, and local events

Ben Tucker, legendary
Georgia jazz musician

History buff
museums and sites from the civil war to civil rights
historic universities
the impact of african american institutions
arts & culture
food, festivals, and more!
exploregeorgia.org 1-800-VISIT GA

Plus: tips for planning your family
reunion
African American Heritage Guide

contributors
Jeanne Cyriaque, African American programs coordinator for the Historic Preservation Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, also acts as staff liaison to the Steering Committee of the Georgia African American Historic Preservation Network. She is the editor of Reflections, a quarterly publication that raises awareness of the contributions of African Americans to Georgia's cultural history, and secretary of the Gullah/Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor Commission.
Tomika DePriest is an Atlanta-based journalist whose byline has appeared in Black Enterprise, Rap Pages, Upscale, Creative Loafing and Atlanta Tribune. She has also contributed to Black Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia, Encyclopedia of African Americans in Education and the Hip Hop Encyclopedia. DePriest, a graduate of Spelman College and Clark Atlanta University, is Spelman's executive director of communications and serves on the board of the Black Women Film Preservation Project.
Harold D. ("Hal") Lamar is now retired from active broadcasting and print after a 40-year career in both. He spent most of his career in Atlanta, which is his hometown. Currently, Lamar is a freelance writer who also "contributes a sound byte here and there," he says, and is working on his memoirs.
Toni O'Neal Mosley of Marietta, Ga., is director of public relations at Morehouse College, a freelance writer and a marketing communications consultant for nonprofit organizations. A graduate of Clark Atlanta University, Mosley began her career more than 25 years ago as press secretary to former U.S. Congressman Newt Gingrich, and has been a contributing editor to several publications, including Atlanta Tribune, Black Voice Quarterly (BVQ) and Upscale magazines.
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Add Seymour Jr. is a Nashville, Tenn., native and graduate of The University of Tennessee-Knoxville who lives in Atlanta. Seymour has written and reported for African American newspaper group Pride, Associated Press, the Knoxville News-Sentinel and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He also served as a jazz show host at WFSK-FM, Fisk University in Nashville. Seymour is currently the communications writer for Morehouse College and a national freelance writer.
Vern Smith, a freelance journalist and author, grew up in Natchez, Miss., the oldest settlement on the Mississippi River. Smith, who studied journalism at San Francisco State University, is a former Newsweek Atlanta Bureau Chief and national correspondent who has written extensively on the civil rights movement. His work has appeared in GEO, The London Sunday Times and Emerge. His novel, The Jones Men, was nominated for an Edgar Award.
Terry Williams, a Mississippi transplant and mother of three, organizes the Black Parents Forum and manages The William Stery Company (WSC), a publishing company based in Decatur, Ga., that produces books and online media relating to parenting. The flagship publication for WSC is Young Horizons Online.com, an online newsmagazine for parents and teachers of African American children.

Georgia Department of Economic Development
Commissioner Ken Stewart
Deputy Commissioner of Tourism & Marketing Charlie Gatlin
Assistant Commissioner Tourism Division Kevin Langston
Director of Marketing Fred Huff
Associate Editor Leslie Breland

Director of Creative Services Lynne Palmer King
Advertising Director Jill Teter
Managing Editor Amber Jones Barry
Art Director Sheri Wilson
Production & Image Coordinator Julie Jamerson
Copy Editor Rachele Meaders

Published by Atlanta Magazine Emmis Custom Publishing
Publisher Sean McGinnis
Executive Vice President/ Director of Sales & Marketing Susie Love

communications
On the cover: Ben Tucker, GDEcD

African American Heritage Guide

contents
3 Arts & Culture Major theaters, museums, restaurants, and cultural festivals in Georgia
8 Music & Entertainment
Famous Georgia entertainers and their triumphs
21Sports The evolution of Atlanta's sports teams
26 Architecture & Historic Sites Go back in time with important places around Georgia
30 Gullah/Geechee Culture This unique culture thrives on Georgia's coast

14 Colleges & Universities
Georgia's Historically Black Colleges and Universities--past and present

34 Civil Rights The key figures from Georgia and the impact they made
African American Heritage Guide

32 The Civil War African American Georgians' roles in the war
40 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. His life and legacy
42 Family Reunions Key tips to planning and enjoying your own
46 Short Trips Four itineraries for sightseeing throughout Georgia exploregeorgia.org 1-800-VISIT GA

Arts and
Culture By ADD SEYMOUR J R .

The National Black Arts Festival's offerings include a stage rendition of
The Color Purple, July 15-Aug. 3 at The Fox Theatre in Atlanta.
Paul Kolnik

From Atlanta to Savannah and from Athens to Columbus, a variety of places and events abound as vehicles to tell the African American story of the Peach State.

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African American Heritage Guide

cau art gallery: Tim Hursley ; evidence dance company: Basil Childers Frankie Quimby

Evidence Dance Company performs in
Dance! A Tribute to Judith Jamison July 19-20 at Rialto Center for the Arts
in Atlanta.

Clark Atlanta University's galleries house one of the country's largest African American art collections.

College Art Museums

Off the radar for many visitors to Atlanta are a few sparkling jewels of art and

culture at the Atlanta University Center.

The Clark Atlanta University Art Galleries, located on the Clark Atlanta

National Black

University (CAU) campus in Trevor Arnet Library, is one of those jewels. The art museum began in the 1940s under the direction of "Father of African

Arts Festival

American Art" Hale Woodruff. Woodruff's artistic imprint is on all of the schools' art programs. He was instrumental in setting up art museums at

The annual National Black Arts Festival (NBAF)

Clark and Spelman. Emphasizing works by and about women of the African

is a showcase of music, literature, and art held

diaspora, The Spelman College Museum of Fine Art is the country's only

each July in venues all over Atlanta. The summer

museum that does so.

festival is just a part of NBAF's mission as year-

According to a former museum assistant and African and African

round programs bring African American culture

American Studies graduate student Earle Mitchell, "The CAU Art Gallery is

to the masses.

the most outstanding and finest collection of black art in the Southeast."

In 2008, the festival celebrates its twentieth

Mitchell, a Morehouse alumnus, credits that moniker to the famous artist

year on a grand scale. "When we look at all the

Hale Woodruff. Woodruff brought the superstars of African American art to

organizations that were part of our first festival,

the campuses. These artists included Jacob Lawrence, Elizabeth Catlett,

very few of them exist now," says Leatrice Ellzy,

John Biggers, and Romare Bearden. During certain years beginning in 1942,

manager of artistic programming and

Woodruff hosted the Art Annual, which brought the brilliance of these artists

festival production. "So the fact that the National Black Arts Festival

Events

to Atlanta for more than twenty-five years.



Terry Williams

is still here, and not only standing but standing strong, is very significant."
Singer Gladys Knight kicks off the festival this year, while the works of actor Charles Dutton will be featured in a retrospective. Jazz legend Wynton Marsalis and scholar Cornel West take part in a discussion of topical issues.
The annual artists' market, which showcases local and international artists, takes place at the Georgia World Congress Center, while the festival's main home will be Centennial Olympic Park in the heart of downtown Atlanta. A World Music Festival will also be held as part of the event this year.
"All of our festivals are exciting, but this is going to be extra exciting with this being the twentieth year," Ellzy says. "We continue to inspire, connect, and transform."

The Gathering at Geechee Kunda Riceboro, 31323 912-884-4440, geecheekunda.net
National Black Arts Festival Atlanta, 30312 404-730-7315, nbaf.org
Sapelo Island Cultural Day Sapelo Island, 31327 912-485-2197, sapeloisland georgia.org
Sea Islands Black Heritage Festival St. Simons Island, 31522 912-230-2834, 912-230-2831, seaislandsblack heritagefestival.com

coastal
Festivals

Where Georgia kisses the

Atlantic Ocean, cultural

festivals take place each

year. The Sea Islands Black

Heritage Festival is held on

St. Simons Island each sum-

mer. It includes entertainers,

a children's corner, arts and crafts, demonstrations, and low-country cuisine. The

The Georgia Sea Island Singers may be Sea Island's most famous residents.

Gullah people have retained much of their speech, language,

dialect, and cultural ways that came from West Africa, creating

a fascinating community. And every fall, Sapelo Island Cultural

Day celebrates the Geechee/Gullah culture on Sapelo Island

with gospel music, storytelling, African dance, demonstra-

tions, arts and crafts, and food. In Riceboro, The Gathering at

Geechee Kunda features food, crafts, music, and dance.

African American Heritage Guide

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Smithsonian Institution

Restaurants

At Lockett Kuntry Cooking in tiny Culloden,

in the Macon metropolitan area, seventy-

year-old Fannie Lockett serves up food

folks swear by. "Best fried chicken that

you'll ever put in your mouth," says resident

Lisa Murray. "We eat down there at least

twice a week. It's a ritual to go down every

Friday to have lunch."

Once owned and operated by Mama

Inez Hill and her goddaughter and cousin

"Mama Louise" Hudson, H&H Restaurant

is a soul food institution in Macon. Sadly,

Mama Hill recently passed away, but

Mama Louise continues the restaurant's

tradition. Beginning in the 1970s, H&H was

frequented by The Allman Brothers Band members; they even took Mama Louise along on a couple of tours. And the celeb-

Busy Bee Caf--an Atlanta institution since 1947--offers Southern and soul food that garners praise from critics citywide.

rity connection doesn't stop there. Oprah

Winfrey has also come in for a bite.

For great-tasting Southern favorites while you're touring the coast, head to Mom

& Nikki's Soul Food in Savannah. You'll find macaroni, cabbage, and turkey wings.

For upscale soul food, one of the hip spots to be in Atlanta's trendy Buckhead

section is Justin's Restaurant, owned and sometimes frequented by music and now

stage impresario Sean "P. Diddy" Combs (he named the restaurant after one of

his sons). Justin's has hosted album release parties and private or public parties for

celebrities from Usher to P. Diddy himself.

Just a few miles south in the Midtown area on historic Peachtree Street,

crowds line up for Gladys Knight and Ron Winans' Chicken & Waffles, where former

heavyweight boxing champion Evander Holyfield has been spotted. Just as popular

is the restaurant's Lithonia location, where people pack in on Sundays after church.

The civil rights movement had to have a feeding spot. The Reverend Martin

Luther King Jr. and his fellow soldiers for justice

plotted their civil rights strategies around his favorite

dish of fried chicken at places like Paschal's (its new incarnation stands on the edge of downtown Atlanta near the Atlanta University Center) or Busy Bee Cafe. Former U.S. Senator Max Cleland is known to make a stop at one of his favorite dining joints, Chantrelle's Restaurant, a small-but-folksy place for soul food that has some of the best curry chicken around.

Key Ingredients
The Smithsonian Institution and the Federation of State Humanities Council currently have a traveling exhibit titled Key Ingredients: America by Food. The exhibit will be

moving across the country

to rural communities to

teach the history and culture

surrounding our nation's

diverse cuisine. The exhibit

will begin traveling in Georgia

in 2008, making stops at

various cities: Buchanan,

Dahlonega, Ellijay, Flovilla,

Hapeville, Indian Springs,

Kingsland, LaFayette,

Thomson, Tifton, Vidalia,

Vienna, and Waynesboro.

Key Ingredients: America by Food explores the ways we produce, prepare, and present what we eat.
The exhibit travels throughout Georgia.

For more information, check out the Web site at keyingredients.com.

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GDEcD

African American Heritage Guide

Athens' Morton Theatre has played host to audiences for almost 100 years.
Morton Theatre
Theaters
Charles Douglass knew talent. Not that the Macon native was an entertainer, agent, or teacher himself. In fact, by trade, Douglass, an African American, started in the bicycle-repair and -rental business in 1898. But with an interest in giving African Americans in Jim Crow Macon a welcoming venue for entertainment, Douglass and his wife started Douglass Theatre, which by the 1920s became the social staple for blacks in the area. Filmmaker Oscar Micheaux's Body and Soul and the Bessie Smith classic St. Louis Blues were shown at the Douglass. The Douglass Theatre, which closed in 1972 but reopened in grand style twenty-five years later, is but one jewel in the wealth of African American cultural arts offerings throughout the state of Georgia.
Monroe "Pink" Bowers Morton founded the Morton Theatre in Athens. Although he had little formal education, Morton established himself as a building contractor and built the Morton building, which housed the Morton Theatre. The other building occupants' rent helped subsidize the theater's operation. The office space included African American doctors and dentists on the upper floors, and a drug store at ground level. A drug store museum still exists in that spot today.
The Liberty Theatre in Columbus was built in 1924 as a movie and vaudeville theater for African Americans. Performers included Ella Fitzgerald, Columbus' own Ma Rainey, and the big bands of Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway. It closed in 1974, but was reopened in 1996 as the Liberty Theatre Cultural Center after extensive renovations.
African American Heritage Guide

Attractions

APEX Museum 135 Auburn Ave., Atlanta, 30303 404-523-2739, apexmuseum.org
Busy Bee Cafe 810 Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. SW, Atlanta, 30314 404-525-9212
Chantrelle's Restaurant 646 Evans St. SW, Atlanta, 30310 404-758-0909
Clark Atlanta University Art Galleries Trevor Arnett Hall, 2nd Level, Atlanta, 30314 404-880-6102, ext. 6102, cau.edu
Douglass Theatre 355 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Macon, 31201 478-742-2000, douglasstheatre.org
Gladys Knight and Ron Winans' Chicken & Waffles 529 Peachtree St. NW, Atlanta, 30308 404-874-9393 7301 Stonecrest Concourse, Suite 123, Lithonia, 30038 770-482-6766, gladysandron.com
H&H Restaurant 807 Forsyth St., Macon, 31201 478-742-9810, mamalouise.com
Hammonds House Museum 503 Peeples St. SW, Atlanta, 30310 404-612-0500, hammondshouse.org
Justin's Restaurant 2200 Peachtree Rd., Atlanta, 30309 404-603-5353, justinsrestaurant.com
The Liberty Theatre 823 Eighth Ave., Columbus, 31901 706-653-7566
Lockett Kuntry Cooking 443 Main St., Culloden, 31016 478-885-2345
The Lucy Craft Laney Museum of Black History 1116 Phillips St., Augusta, 30901 706-724-3576, lucycraftlaneymuseum.com
Mom & Nikki's Soul Food 714 Martin Luther King Blvd., Savannah, 31405 912-233-7636
Morton Theatre 195 W. Washington St., Athens, 30601 706-613-3770, mortontheatre.com
Paschal's 180-B Northside Dr., Atlanta, 30313 404-525-2023, paschalsrestaurant.com
Shirley's Soul Food 212 W. Currahee St., Toccoa, 30577 706-297-7739
Spelman College Museum of Fine Art 350 Spelman Ln. SW, Atlanta, 30314 404-270-5607, spelman.edu/museum
Tubman African American Museum 340 Walnut St., Macon, 31201 478-743-8544, tubmanmuseum.com

Take a break from touring the city with a stop at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta. The Fountain of Rings, the world's largest interactive fountain, offers a cool respite for children.
lynne palmer king

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The Yates & Milton Drug Store in Atlanta, replicated in the APEX Museum, was established in 1923.

Museums
Museums across Georgia tell a rich story about African Americans and those of African ancestry.
In Atlanta's West End neighborhood, the Hammonds House Museum focuses on visual arts that depict the African diaspora, says executive director Myrna Anderson-Fuller. "We are likely to have Haitian art or something by a person of African descent from the Netherlands," she says. "Although they may not be African American, their cultural heritage is from the African diaspora."
Having celebrated its thirtieth anniversary in April 2008, the APEX Museum in Atlanta provides a rich look into the history of African Americans. An acronym for African American Panoramic Experience, APEX has multiple galleries, which include the Hall of Achievement, a replica of the Yates & Milton Drug Store (one of Atlanta's first African American-owned businesses), and a display on black inventors.
Named in honor of Harriet Tubman, Macon's Tubman African American Museum offers exhibitions, permanent galleries, and programs for people of all ages. It is soon moving to a larger space in order to expand the museum's offerings. This new building will be located near the Georgia Music Hall of Fame and the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame.
The Lucy Craft Laney Museum of Black History in Augusta uses art and history to share the life and legacy of Lucy Craft Laney, a Georgia educator. She started Augusta's first African American school, which quickly grew from six students to 234 students. The museum is located in her former home, in the Laney-Walker Historic District.

GDEcD

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African American Heritage Guide

Georgia's rich history in the

music industry has made an

impact on multiple genres,

ranging from blues to hip-

hop, and it has supplied

the world with some of

its greatest musicians.

"Georgians have shaped

the fabric of American

music and influenced

pop culture worldwide for

decades," says Lisa Love,

executive director of the

Georgia Music Hall of Fame

Museum. "Our pioneering

musicians have included

the `Father of Gospel Music'

Dr. Thomas Dorsey from

Villa Rica; the `Mother of

the Blues' Ma Rainey from

Columbus; the `Architect of

Rock `n' Roll' Little Richard;

Music and

and the `Godfather of Soul' James Brown."

entertainment

By Tomika DePriest

Savannah's Anthony David blurs the line between soul and R&B.
GDEcD
African American Heritage Guide

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GDEcD Georgia Music Hall of Fame

Paving the Way

Born Gertrude Pridgett in Columbus on April 26, 1886, Ma Rainey was already known

as the Mother of the Blues before this moaning music genre peaked in the 1920s.

When she began recording with Paramount Records in 1923, she had a national

reputation as a leading female blues singer on the minstrel and vaudeville circuits.

She produced more than 100 recordings, and collaborated with Thomas A. Dorsey,

Louis Armstrong, and Coleman Hawkins, to name a few. She was a forerunner to

others who helped solidify the blues' place in American music, such as Bessie Smith

and Billie Holiday. The Ma Rainey House is on the National Register of Historic

Places and commemorates her legacy as an early pioneer of this musical genre.

Thomas A. Dorsey was first recognized as a blues and jazz pianist during the

1920s. During that time he performed as Georgia Tom with Ma Rainey and the Wild

Cats Jazz Band. However, Dorsey ultimately made an even bigger mark in gospel

music--a term he has been credited with coining. He gave up secular music and

turned to the genre in the early 1930s, after the loss of his wife and baby during

childbirth, which inspired the song "Take My Hand, Precious Lord." Known as the

Father of Gospel Music, he was the first to blend sacred text with blues musical

Blues legend and

styling. Dorsey was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 1981. Celebrate his life and music at the

Columbus native Ma Rainey was a solo star on the vaudeville circuit.

Thomas A. Dorsey Festival, an annual two-day jazz, gospel, and

events

blues event in Villa Rica.

"The Godfather of Soul: Mr. James Brown" Exhibit

Augusta Museum of History, 560 Reynolds St., Augusta, 30901 706-722-8454 augustamuseum.org

Spelman-Morehouse Annual Christmas Carol Concert (December)/ Annual King Tribute Concert featuring Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the Spelman-Morehouse Glee Clubs (January) spelman.edu or morehouse.edu

Augusta native James Brown is considered the Godfather of Soul. exploregeorgia.org 1-800-VISIT GA

The Birth of
Rhythm & Blues
Rhythm and blues music, made famous by Georgia artists such as Little Richard, Ray Charles, and James Brown, took the country by storm between the 1940s and 1960s. The electric guitar and bass added to the blues song structure. Chuck Willis had hits on both the R&B and pop charts from 1956 to 1958, but Augusta native James Brown became the undisputed heavyweight of R&B after the release of his first hit, "Please, Please, Please," in 1956 and later the crossover multimillion-selling success of Live at the Apollo in 1963. The Augusta Museum of History is exhibiting "The Godfather of Soul: Mr. James Brown," through 2011.
Self-proclaimed rock `n' roll originator "Little Richard" Penniman was born in Macon and became nationally known for his high-energy, wildly creative records like "Long Tall Sally" and "Tutti Frutti." He scored hits on both the R&B and pop charts from 1955 to 1957 and appeared in early rock `n' roll movies. The Rhythm & Blues Revue exhibit at the Georgia Music Hall of Fame museum salutes him and other greats of the genre.
Ray Charles is credited with merging R&B with gospel vocals and jazz, blues, and country-influenced instrumentation. Sometimes described as soul music, it was a style made popular by him and others like Sam Cooke and Jackie Wilson. He landed his first Top 10 R&B single in 1951 with the release of "Baby, Let Me Hold Your Hand" and is famous for "Georgia On My Mind." He was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 1979.
African American Heritage Guide

Keith R asmussen GDEcD
GDEcD

Pinetop Perkins plays during the original Living Legends of the Blues show at Savannah Music Festival in 2006.
Frank Stewart
Georgia's Blues and Jazz Festivals
The annual Blind Willie McTell Blues Festival, hosted in Thomson each May, honors the man who lost his sight in childhood but went on to become an influential country-blues guitarist. Born William Samuel McTell in 1901, he wrote "Statesboro Blues," which was re-recorded by the Allman Brothers Band. Since 1993, the Activities Council of Thomson has organized an allday event commemorating its native son. The Annual Culloden Chick Willis Blues Festival celebrates both the music and a major Georgia contributor to the genre. Chick "The Stoop Down Man" Willis was born Robert Willis in 1934 in Cabaniss (near Forsyth). He is the cousin of Chuck Willis, another blues pioneer, whose songs have been recorded by Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly. Blues and jazz are center stage at the annual Savannah Music Festival, held at various local venues during March and April and featuring such jazz greats as Savannah's own Ben Tucker. The Atlanta Jazz Festival is a popular annual event held in May that features soul, Latino, and jazz artists. The festival is organized by the City of Atlanta, Office of Cultural Affairs, which also hosts the Montreux Jazz Festival-- a three-day music event each September celebrating blues, jazz, gospel, R&B, and soul music.

Festivals
All Three Coasts Hip-Hop Festival CW Midtown Complex, Atlanta a3cfestival.com/A3C2008 Annual Culloden Chick Willis Blues Festival Ellis Field, Culloden hubbardalumni.org/ bluesfestival2008.htm Atlanta Jazz Festival Woodruff Park, Atlanta atlantafestivals.com Blind Willie McTell Blues Festival Stagecoach Rd. and Washington Rd., Thomson blindwillie.com Montreux Jazz Festival Underground Atlanta, Atlanta atlantafestivals.com Savannah Music Festival Savannah savannahmusicfestival.org/ tickets.php Thomas A. Dorsey Music Festival Villa Rica villaricatourism.com
Take a look into Georgia's musical past and present at the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in Macon. The museum includes both temporary and permanent exhibits featuring Georgia's musical greats.

Magic Moments

Ma Rainey In 1924, Rainey recorded "See See Rider," which became one of the most famous and recorded of all blues songs.

Thomas Dorsey After his first wife and their son died in childbirth in 1932, Dorsey wrote "Take My Hand, Precious Lord." It is considered his most famous song, and one of gospel's most famous songs as well.

Little Richard During a recordingsession break in 1955, Little Richard began singing and playing "Tutti Frutti." The song became his first hit and was released the same year.

Ray Charles Charles' 1962 album, Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, and Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, Vol. 2, helped make
country music mainstream.

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R&B Evolves

Macon native Otis Redding left an indelible mark in music history in a few short years.

Stax released his first Billboard Top 20 hit "These Arms of Mine" in 1962. He surpassed

Elvis Presley as world's top male vocalist by U.K. Melody Maker magazine in 1967 and in

that same year, he died in a plane crash. Although Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin made

"Respect" popular in 1967, it was originally penned by Redding.

Atlanta resident Usher Raymond, who signed his first record deal at age fourteen

with LaFace Records, currently wears the R&B crown. Inducted into the Georgia Music

Hall of Fame in 2007, the Grammy Award

winning crooner has more than six albums under his belt, and has starred in films such as Light It Up (1999) and in the Broadway

Before the platinum album sales and awards, Atlanta's Usher Raymond was a gospel-singing choirboy who later recorded

musical Chicago.

a jingle for The Coca-Cola Company.

Norman Jean Roy

James Brown During the mid1960s, "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" and "I Got You (I Feel Good)" were Brown's first Top 10 pop hits and were also major hits in the R&B genre.

Otis Redding Just before his death in 1967, Redding had recorded enough material for three new
studio albums. His hit "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" was part of these albums, which were released after his death.

Usher Usher's second album, My Way, was released in 1997. Its first-released single, "You Make Me Wanna," hit No. 1 the week the album was released.

OutKast The duo's 1994 debut album, Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, is credited with beginning the Southern hip-hop genre.

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African American Heritage Guide 11

GDEcD Ricardo Morris

Making Hip-Hop History

Hip-hop combines elements of blues, jazz, and R&B--and

Atlanta has been a hotbed of hit-makers. Organized Noize

Productions, Jermaine Dupri's So So Def Recordings, and

LaFace Records, founded by Antonio "L.A." Reid and Kenneth

"Babyface" Edmonds, as well as producer Dallas Austin, played

a major role in establishing the city as an R&B, pop, and hip-hop

mecca. At fourteen, Dupri produced his first group, Silk Tymes

Leather, in 1989. But it was chart-

topping duo Kriss Kross' debut album Totally Krossed Out (1992)

attractions

Dallas Austin, Columbus native and hip-hop impresario, wrote a song ("The ATL") to promote Atlanta.

that solidified his stature in hip-hop. Dupri has also left his mark on R&B, having launched Xscape and Jagged Edge, and produced records for

artists like Mariah Carey and Janet

Jackson. He earned a spot in the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 2006.

When Atlanta-area resident Andr ("Dre" or "Andr 3000")

Georgia Music Hall of Fame 200 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Macon, 31201 478-751-3334, 888-GA-ROCKS, georgiamusic.org

Calhoun native Roland Hayes is shown here at home in 1961.

Benjamin and Savannah native Antwan ("Big Boi") Patton met at Tri-Cities High School in East Point, their mutual interest in hip-hop sealed their fate. At age seventeen, the duo known as OutKast signed with LaFace Records and their first single, "Player's Ball," hit the top of Billboard's rap chart in 1993. With several Grammy Awards and six critically acclaimed and wildly successful albums to date, they help cement Atlanta's place in the annals of hip-hop history.
Ludacris continues Atlanta's "Dirty South" tradition. Born Christopher Bridges in Illinois, he later moved to Atlanta with his family. In the late 1990s, he worked as on-air personality "Chris Luva Luva" for a local hip-hop station and released his first album with a label in 2000. Seven albums later, he remains at the top of the industry and has crossed over into films, earning a 2005 Screen Actors Guild Award for his performance in Crash.
To celebrate and learn more about various forms of rap, check out the annual A3C (All Three Coasts) Hip-Hop Festival.

Jessye Norman Amphitheatre 15 Eighth St., Augusta, 30901 706-821-1754, augustaga.org
Ma Rainey House 805 Fifth Ave., Columbus, 31901 706-653-4960, raineyblues.com
Roland Hayes Museum 212 S. Wall St., Calhoun, 30703 706-629-2599, cgarts.org/roland hayes/tabid/64/ default.aspx

The Classics
Roland Hayes, born in Calhoun in 1887, is cited as the first internationally acclaimed African American male classical and opera singer. He produced a number of recordings and at one point in his fifty-year career was among the world's highest-paid singers.
Born in Augusta on Sept. 15, 1945, Jessye Norman sang at civic and church events. A fourtime Grammy Award winner, she made her operatic debut in 1969 as Elisabeth in Richard Wagner's Tannhuser with the Deutsche Oper Berlin, and she also sang for U.S. presidents and Queen Eliza-

Quincy Jones, left, stands next to Jermaine Dupri as he is inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in a ceremony in Atlanta.

beth II. In 1997, she became the youngest recipient of the Kennedy Center Honor. An amphitheater and plaza, located on Augusta's Riverwalk, are named in her honor.

Atlanta's Mattiwilda Dobbs, the first

African American woman to sing at Milan's

La Scala, was also the first black person

offered a contract with The Metropolitan

Opera in New York.

Classical music, hymnals, and sacred

text are celebrated in conjunction with the

King Center, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra,

and the Spelman College and Morehouse

College Glee Clubs every January. The

annual Spelman and Morehouse Christmas

Carol Concert is another opportunity to hear

a diverse mix of holiday music. Performances

are held the first weekend in December--a

Friday performance at Spelman's Sisters

GDEcD

Chapel and a Saturday performance at

Morehouse's King Chapel.

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Sharon Farmer

Bernice Johnson Reagon, Activist Songstress

For more than forty-five years, Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon has moved audiences.

For thirty of those years she led the internationally acclaimed African American a

cappella ensemble Sweet Honey in the Rock, retiring in 2004. A celebrated singer of

Southwest Georgia congregational sacred song and singing traditions who raised

her activist voice as a freedom singer, Reagon worked as a folklorist, program

director, and curator for the Smithsonian Institution from 1974 to 1993. A composer

of documentary film scores, including a Peabody Award-winning, four-film series

for PBS, Reagon was the primary scholar and voice for Wade in the Water: African

American Sacred Music Traditions, a Peabody Award-winning radio program pro-

duced by National Public Radio and the Smithsonian Institution. A Spelman College

alumna, Reagon served as the 2002-2004 William and Camille Olivia Hanks Cosby

Endowed Professor at her alma mater. She won the prestigious Heinz Award for the

Arts and Humanities in 2003 and the MacArthur Fellowship in 1989. "As a student

leader and activist in the Albany Movement, I sang and stood in the sound of the congregational singing of the freedom songs charging the air we breathed," notes Reagon in her Web site biography. "For the first time, I understood how the singing

Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon, an Albany native, was a Freedom Singer and civil rights activist.

not only pulled us together, but became our articulate collective testimony to all

who stood within the sound."

Lisa Love, Georgia Music Hall of Fame Museum's executive director, recalls, "Dr. Bernice Johnson

Reagon was one of the many young people whose spirit and conviction were at the heart of the civil rights

movement. As a songleader, her powerful voice and soothing presence were inspiring to others, whether it

was sharing a cell in jail, marching in the streets, or on the stage at the Newport Folk Festival as a member of

the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee Freedom Singers."

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African American Heritage Guide 13

Colleges and
universities By Terry Williams
Sprinkled around crowded parking lots in Atlanta's West End, buses hailing from across the United States are filled with wide-eyed high school seniors and juniors. They are eager to join the ranks of alumni from America's top black colleges. College advisors shepherd thousands of youth annually into the Atlanta University Center, exposing them to the best of the Historically Black College and University (HBCU) experience.
Georgia has some of the best public and private HBCUs in the nation. Each has a rich and powerful history, which prepares its students to compete globally.

Spelman College students wander the campus in front of Giles Hall in Atlanta.
spelman college
14 African American Heritage Guide

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Clark Atlanta University Clark Atlanta University

The Big Three
Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse College, and Spelman College are some of the most well-known Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the nation. All are located in the same area of Atlanta.

Harkness Hall is the administrative building for Clark Atlanta University.

Clark Atlanta

University

Clark Atlanta University (CAU) was

formed by the 1988 merger of two

schools, Clark College and Atlanta

University. Clark College began at the

end of the era of slavery and quickly

expanded. Atlanta University began in 1865 as a free-standing graduate school.

Clark Atlanta University students are of diverse racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds.

It drew the country's finest educators,

such as Dr. W.E.B. DuBois, the first African American to receive a doctorate from Harvard University.

Historically, Clark Atlanta has had a significant impact on the city of Atlanta. Clark Atlanta is a

comprehensive university that offers undergraduate, graduate, specialist, and doctoral degrees in a

range of subjects. Currently, CAU is home to one of America's best-known communications schools

and houses the renowned WCLK-FM jazz radio station, which celebrated its thirtieth anniversary in

2004. CAU remains a stalwart of community support and pride.

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African American Heritage Guide 15

Morehouse College
The only historically black college for men, Morehouse College was founded as Augusta Institute in 1867 in the basement of Augusta's Springfield Baptist Church. After several name changes the school became Morehouse College in 1913, named in honor of Henry L. Morehouse, a white minister and corresponding secretary of the Northern Baptist Home Mission Society. The American Baptist Home Mission Society was a primary funding and sponsoring agency for many Southern black colleges.
The international scholarship and service focus Morehouse is known for today developed under the dynamic leadership of Dr. Benjamin Elijah Mays, the sixth president. Mays' inspiration and demand for academic excellence and racial justice in America influenced students like Martin Luther King Jr., Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson, and U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher. It was during his tenure that Morehouse received full accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools in 1957, and was recognized with a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa in 1968.

morehouse college

morehouse college

King Chapel at Morehouse College in Atlanta. Martin Luther King Jr. studied at Morehouse.
Atlanta's Morehouse College is one of only five all-male colleges in the country.

Under the current leadership of its tenth president, Dr. Robert Franklin, Morehouse is home to students and faculty from more than forty states and eighteen countries. It has produced three Rhodes Scholars and has been recognized by several U.S. publications, including the Wall Street Journal and Black Enterprise.

Spelman College
Founded in 1881 for women by women as a safe haven for former slave girls and young ladies, Spelman started as the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary, which began training teachers and missionaries. The college's roots were planted by two white missionaries, Sophia B. Packard and Harriet E. Giles, in the basement of Atlanta's Friendship Baptist Church. With the help of Senior Pastor Frank Quarles, the seminary grew quickly.
The school was named by the board of trustees to honor Laura Spelman Rockefeller and her parents, Harvey Buel and Lucy Henry Spelman, in recognition of their work as abolitionists.
Spelman now has more than 200 professors and 2,100 students from around the world. The school offers Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees in fine arts, humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and education. The school garners interest for its inclusion in the Best Colleges edition of U.S. News & World Report.

spelman college

Atlanta's Spelman College is America's oldest historically black college for women.

18 African American Heritage Guide

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Throughout the State
Albany State University
Albany State University, a four-year, state-supported coed liberal arts college, was founded in 1903. Initially known as Albany Bible and Manual Training Institution, it had a dual purpose of teacher training and trade skills. In 1917, the school became a public two-year college named Georgia Normal and Agricultural College. The college became a four-year college in 1943, with the name Albany State College. In 1996, the school became Albany State University.
Today the school has more than 4,000 students and is a member of the Southeast Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in NCAA Division II. It has more than thirty undergraduate degree programs and six graduate degree programs.

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African American Heritage Guide 19

Savannah State University F VSU Office of Marketing and Communications

Fort Valley State University

Located in Fort Valley, Fort Valley State University

is a liberal arts college chartered in 1895 and is the

only 1890 land-grant school in Georgia. As such, it

was funded under the Morrill

resources

Acts and granted federally controlled land via the State

Albany State University 504 College Dr., Albany, 31705

of Georgia. The Morrill Acts helped to ensure the working class would have access to

229-430-4600, asurams.edu

an education.

Clark Atlanta University 223 James P. Brawley Dr. SW, Atlanta, 30314 404-880-8000, cau.edu

The university (formerly Fort Valley State College) began in 1939 when Fort Valley High and Industrial School and the State

Fort Valley State University 1005 State University Dr., Fort Valley, 31030 478-825-6211, fvsu.edu

Teachers and Agricultural College of Forsyth combined. The school became Fort Valley State University in

Morehouse College

1996. Located in Central

830 Westview Dr. SW, Atlanta, 30314 404-681-2800,

Georgia, the school has more than 3,000 students.

morehouse.edu

Founders Hall at Fort Valley State University. The university has served African American students for more than 100 years.

Paine College 1235 15th St., Augusta, 30901 800-476-7703, paine.edu
Savannah State University 3219 College St., Savannah, 31404 912-356-2181, savstate.edu
Spelman College 350 Spelman Ln. SW, Atlanta, 30314 404-681-3643, spelman.edu

Paine College
Paine College in Augusta is a liberal arts college founded in 1882 as Paine Institute by the Colored (now Christian) Methodist Episcopal Church (CME). Its founder, Bishop Lucius Henry Holsey, quickly recognized the growing educational and spiritual concerns of newly freed slaves. With support from the CME Church, the education scope widened and the school grew, receiving accreditation in 1931. This private Historically Black College and University (HBCU) has more than 800 students and was established to train African American teachers and preachers.

During World War I, African American soldiers trained at Walter Bernard Hill Hall, the oldest remaining building at
Savannah State University.

Savannah State University
Savannah State University (SSU), founded in 1890 and originally located in Athens, is the former Georgia State Industrial College for Colored Youth. SSU is the oldest public HBCU in Georgia and oldest institution of higher learning in Savannah. In 1928, SSU became a four-year, full-time degree institution serving the constituents of Southeast Georgia and the Savannah area. It gained University System of Georgia status in 1996. Today the school boasts an enrollment of more than 3,000 students and is listed in U.S. News & World Report's America's Best Colleges 2008 South category on the "UniversitiesMasters (South) Tier 4" list. It has 23 accredited undergraduate programs and research centers, including a Center for Teaching, Learning and Academic Support.

20

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Atlanta Brave Hank Aaron was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982.
National Baseball Hall of Fame Library, Cooperstown, N.Y.

By Hal Lamar
sports
The state of Georgia, home to peaches, peanuts, and presidents, has also racked up some remarkable firsts and history-making feats in a plethora of disciplines, including sports.
It is unfortunate, however, that many of the athletic exploits of African American Georgians are missing from the record and history books. Fortunately, sports accomplishments of the last thirty years or so have helped improve that.

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African American Heritage Guide 21

aCtotuhreteAstylaonftathHeiKsteonraynCReensteearrch Center

Baseball

Thanks to his record-breaking 715th home run hit off Los

Angeles Dodger Al Downing on April 8, 1974, in Atlanta-

Fulton County Stadium, the name Henry "Hank" Aaron

is often mentioned when sports, especially baseball, are

discussed. And of course Cairo native Jackie Robinson

broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball in 1947.

But seldom talked about are other stars, such as those

that played for the Atlanta Black Crackers, a team with

Georgia roots dating back to 1887, when they were

known as the Atlanta Cubs. The semi-professional

Cubs, made mostly of players from the Atlanta University Center schools, eventually changed their name to the Atlanta Black Crackers. This was largely because of their

The Atlanta Black Crackers were founded in 1919 and disbanded in 1952.

comparison by fans to the Atlanta Crackers, an all-white team that played in professional baseball's Southern Association.

In 1938, an Atlanta minister and Auburn Avenue service-station owner, John Harden, bought the Black Crackers,

moved them from the Negro Southern to the Negro American League, and won

Attractions

half of the league championship the following year. The Black Crackers played their home games at Ponce de Leon Ballpark and, in 1947, hosted the Brooklyn Dodg-

ers. The game was broadcast over Decatur radio station WEAS, and it provided yet

Atlanta Braves Turner Field, 755 Hank Aaron Dr., Atlanta, 30315 404-249-6400, 404-522-7630, atlanta.braves.mlb.com

another page in the book of black Georgia sports history. The game's announcer, the late Paul E.X. Brown, became the first known African American broadcaster of a major league contest.
During the team's sixty-five-year existence, several Black Crackers gained a

Atlanta Dream Philips Arena, 1 Philips Dr., Atlanta, 30303 404-604-2626, wnba.com/dream

modicum of distinction. Othello Nelson "Chico" Renfroe, who became a highly respected sportscaster and writer, started with the team as a batboy and went on to star with several Negro League clubs. Nat Peeples, a member of the pennant-winning 1938 Black Crackers, became the first black member of the white Crackers in

Atlanta Falcons Georgia Dome, 1 Georgia Dome Dr., Atlanta, 30313 404-249-6400, atlantafalcons.com
Atlanta Hawks Philips Arena, 1 Philips Dr., Atlanta, 30303 866-715-1500, atlantahawks.com

1954. One of the few surviving Black Crackers, Atlanta native James "Red" Moore, was a first baseman who also played for several other Negro League teams. This included the Baltimore Elite Giants, where his roommate was a sixteen-year-old kid named Roy Campanella, who was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1969.
Although never a Black Cracker, Georgia's Henry "Suitcase" Simpson played for a number of Negro and major league teams. In fact, legend has it that his extensive "traveling" between teams earned him his nickname. However, other historians contend he picked up that moniker from a comic strip character long before his baseball career started.

Atlanta Silverbacks RE/MAX Greater Atlanta Stadium, Atlanta Silverbacks Way, Atlanta, 30340 404-969-4900, atlantasilverbacks.com

Today, visitors to Atlanta can enjoy Atlanta Braves baseball. The Braves made their way to Atlanta by way of Boston and Milwaukee. In 2008, the team celebrated its forty-second anniversary in Atlanta. Fans can enjoy regular-season games at Turner Field (the former Olympic stadium) from April through September.

Atlanta Thrashers Philips Arena, 1 Philips Dr., Atlanta, 30303 866-715-1500, atlantathrashers.com

Atlanta Xplosion Roswell High School Stadium, 11595 King Rd., Roswell, 30075 atlantaxplosion.com

Georgia Force The Arena at Gwinnett Center, 6400 Sugarloaf Pkwy., Duluth, 30097 800-224-6422, georgiaforce.com

Georgia Sports Hall of Fame 301 Cherry St., Macon, 31201 478-752-1585, georgiasportshalloffame.com

Turner Field, home of the Atlanta Braves, opened in 1997 as a retro-style ballpark.

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22 African American Heritage Guide

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Football
Atlanta's Ponce de Leon Ballpark hosted many sporting events, including a number of high school football games and the former Thanksgiving Day Classic between Clark College (now Clark Atlanta University) and Morris Brown College. Fans would adorn themselves in their finest and jam street cars, charter buses, and private vehicles for the cross-town trek to see college stars of the day. One of these stars was Pennsylvania native and Morris Brown graduate John "Big Train" Moody, a powerhouse running back.
With its first games at Georgia Tech's Grant Field, the Atlanta Football Classic is now held at the Georgia Dome. Sponsored annually since 1989 by the Atlanta chapter of 100 Black Men of America, the Atlanta Football Classic features the Rattlers of Florida A&M University against the Tigers of Tennessee State University.
In the 1960s, Life of Georgia Insurance mogul Rankin Smith Sr. plunked down $8.5 million and brought the city its first pro-football franchise, the Atlanta Falcons. Catch a regularseason game at the Georgia Dome from August through December. For another football experience, check out the women's variety of the sport via the Atlanta Xplosion. The fiveyear-old franchise, part of the thirty-three-team Independent Women's Football League, plays a ten-game schedule from April to June at Roswell High School stadium. If high scores are more appealing, head to an arena football game at The Arena at Gwinnett Center to watch the Georgia Force.

Jimmy Cribb /Atlanta Falcons

Atlanta Falcon Roddy White. As a high school student, he broke every school career receiving record.

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African American Heritage Guide 23

National Baseball Hall of Fame Library, Cooperstown, N.Y.

Fame

o f N .Y.

LNiabtriaorny,alC BoaospeebraslltoHwaln,l

Hank Aaron:

Atlanta Sports Hero

Atlanta cannot technically claim one-

time home-run king Henry "Hank"

Aaron as one of her own. That distinc-

tion belongs to Mobile, Ala. But having

served this city as one of its most rec-

ognized athletic and community figures

since moving here with the Milwaukee

Braves in 1966, he comes close to quali-

fying as a "native son."

Thirty-four years after he broke Babe

Ruth's home-run record in 1974, Aaron

"The Hammer" has become Aaron the businessman. He owns a variety of auto

Hank Aaron hits his 715th home run in 1974.

dealerships, property holdings, and a

Krispy Kreme doughnut shop in Atlanta's trendy West End community. He has also lent

his support to a number of community causes, like

the effort just a few years ago to save Southwest

Community Hospital. Major League Baseball (MLB),

Famous Names
Georgia hosts an elite roster of homegrown African American athletes from across various sports. These include, but are not limited to, Augusta golf pro "Big" Jim Dent; Atlanta native Richard Dent, whose exploits on the gridiron as a Chicago Bear earned him MVP status in Super Bowl XX; welterweight boxing

to which he devoted 23 years of his life, didn't forget him either. He was elected to baseball's Hall of Fame in 1982 on the first ballot; he became one of the sport's first front-office executives; and he was named by fans to MLB's all-century team in 1999. The Hank Aaron Award, which applauds the top hitter in both the American and National leagues, was created in 1999 to honor the twenty-fifth anniversary of Aaron's record-breaking 715th homer.
He fought his way through racism in the minors, spoke out about bigotry he saw in the majors, and survived hate letters and death threats.
Aaron held the title of MLB's home-run king until Aug. 7, 2007, when San Francisco Giant Barry Bonds hit career homer number 756. After the feat, Aaron appeared on the video screen in San Francisco and offered his congratulations: "I move over now and offer my best wishes to Barry and his family on this historic moment. My hope today, as it was on that April evening in 1974, is that the achievement of this record will inspire others to chase their own dreams."

champ and Ailey native

"Sugar" Ray Robinson;

heavyweight boxing cham-

pion Evander Holyfield, a

Fayette County resident;

Augusta boxing great

Sidney "Beau Jack" Walker;

and Macon big-league

pitching ace John "Blue

Moon" Odom.

Olympic medals for

track and field events have

been awarded to several Georgia natives, including Margaret Matthews Wilburn

The Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in Macon celebrates Georgia's

Macon - Bibb County CVB

of Griffin/Atlanta; Mel Pender of Atlanta's Lynwood Park community; Eastman's Martha Hudson "Pee Wee"

athletes and sports. The largest state sports museum in the United States, it is a mix of traditional and

Pennyman; and Carrollton's Catherine Hardy-Lavender.

interactive exhibits, and includes a state-ofthe-art theater, which

shows a film about

Georgia sports history.

24 African American Heritage Guide

Camille Little of the Atlanta Dream drives to the basket against Lisa Leslie of the Los Angeles Sparks at Philips Arena.

Scott Cunningham / NBAE / Getty Images

Other Top Sports in Atlanta
Football and baseball are not the only professional sports to watch in and around Atlanta.
In 1968, the St. Louis Hawks moved to Atlanta. Today, the Hawks play their regular-season games from October through April at Philips Arena.
Philips Arena is also home to two other professional teams, including the city's newest. In 2008, the Atlanta Dream became the newest team in the 14-member Women's National Basketball Association. The team plays its regular-season games from May through September. The National Hockey League's Atlanta Thrashers came to the city in 1999. Regular-season games are played from October to April.
If you love soccer, watch the United Soccer League's Atlanta Silverbacks from April to September at RE/MAX Greater Atlanta Stadium.

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African American Heritage Guide 25

Architecture and
historic sites By Jeanne Cyriaque

GDEcD

Throughout Georgia, historic buildings and neighborhoods reflect the contributions of African Americans to the state's heritage. From churches and schools established after Emancipation to historic districts that flourished during the segregation era, these sites tell the story of communities that emerged.

GDEcD
Clockwise from top left: Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta; The Lucy Craft Laney Museum of Black History in Augusta's Laney-Walker Historic District; Beach Institute in Savannah's National Historic Landmark District.
26 African American Heritage Guide

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Churches

First African Baptist Church
Another contender for the

title "oldest black church in

Ebenezer Baptist Church

North America," First

Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta is

African Baptist Church in

a Gothic Revivalstyle building that

Savannah was originally

is located in the Martin Luther King

known as First Colored

Jr. National Historic Site. In 1922, the

Church. George Liele

congregation moved into this church

constituted the church in

on Auburn Avenue. Martin Luther King

December 1777 and

Sr. became pastor of Ebenezer Baptist

became its first pastor.

GDEcD

Church in 1931, succeeding his father-

Liele baptized slave Andrew

in-law, A.D. Williams. Martin Jr., his

Bryan, who eventually

eldest son, preached his first sermon there while still a teen.

This stained-glass window at the First African Baptist Church in Savannah depicts the Reverend Andrew C. Marshall.

became the church's second pastor. Another

pastor of the church,

Prince Hall Masonic Temple When the Southern Christian Leadership Conference was founded in the late 1950s, the national headquarters was located in the Prince Hall Masonic Temple on Auburn Avenue in Atlanta. This Romanesque Revivalstyle commercial building was constructed in 1941, and it is one of the buildings that influenced
John Wesley Dobbs to call the area "Sweet Auburn" as a symbol of African American achievement.

Andrew Marshall, was also born a slave but became a successful businessman. The congregation changed the name of the church in 1822 to First African Baptist Church, and in 1826, the

Links to Georgia's African American Past
One of the best ways to learn about African Americans' contributions to Georgia history is to visit cemeteries where they are buried. Cedar Grove Cemetery in Augusta is the final resting place of Amanda Dickson, the daughter of David Dickson, a white planter, and Julia, a slave. When David Dickson died in 1885, he willed his estate and 17,000 acres of land to his daughter, making Amanda Dickson the richest African American woman in Georgia.
Gospel Pilgrim Cemetery is located on a nine-acre site in the African American community known as East Athens. The Gospel Pilgrim Society established the cemetery in the late 19th century. One of the family plots is the final resting place of Monroe "Pink" Morton. Other notable graves are those of Madison Davis and Alfred Richardson, who served in

Springfield Baptist Church The genesis of Springfield Baptist Church in Augusta began when Jesse Peters, an itinerant preacher, organ ized the congregation in 1787. The congregation met secretly in a brush arbor until

church organized the first black Sunday school in North America. In 1859, the congregation worked to build the current sanctuary.

the free black community

purchased a New England

style building from the white

St. John Methodist Church.

In 1844, the congregation

moved the building by wag-

ons to its present location on

Twelfth and Reynolds Street.

In 1867, the Augusta

Institute was organized in

the basement of the church.

By 1879, with enrollment

steadily increasing, the

school moved to Atlanta and

changed its name to Atlanta

Baptist Seminary. Under the

presidency of John Hope, a

native Augustan, the school

became Morehouse College in 1913.

Augusta's Springfield Baptist Church considers its congregation the oldest African American one in the country.

the Georgia legislature during Recon-

struction, and educators Samuel

United Church of Christ

Harris and Annie Smith Derricotte.

The United Church of Christ (UCC) established Congregational churches and schools

In 1886, South-View Cemetery

in Beachton and Thomasville. In 1955, Reverend Andrew Young became the minister

in Atlanta was created in response to

for both of these churches in Southwest Georgia. In spite of their common Congrega-

freed blacks wanting to honor their

tional influence, the worship styles at both churches were distinct. Services at Bethany

loved ones. Many African Americans

Congregational were tightly organized with a direct message, but the Evergreen UCC

who have made an impact on society

congregation preferred gospel hymns interspersed with the sermon, and they insisted

and history are buried here.

that Reverend Young "preach from the heart and not the paper."

King Tisdell Cottage Foundation Augusta CVB

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African American Heritage Guide 27

Archives Division, Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History, Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System
Ga . Dept. of Natural R esources

Exploring the Legacy of Horace King
In 1807, Horace King was born enslaved in South Carolina to parents with mixed African, Catawba, and white ancestry. King would ultimately become a master bridge builder as he and Washington King, one of his sons, built several covered bridges that still exist in Georgia today. Horace King built the Red Oak Creek Covered Bridge around 1840. It is the oldest covered bridge in Georgia. The bridge is located in a community known as Imlac near Woodbury, and it is appropriately accessible on Covered Bridge Road, which connects to Georgia Highway 85.
Washington King built a bridge in 1885 that currently spans 229 feet across the south fork of the Broad River near the border of Madison and Oglethorpe counties. Today, the bridge sits above rocky shoals that form a fall, and it is the centerpiece of Watson Mill Bridge State Park,
one of the most picturesque parks managed by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.

This Beaux Arts building in Atlanta housed the Atlanta Life Insurance Company from 1920 to 1980.
Atlanta Life
The Atlanta Life Financial Group was founded by Alonzo F. Herndon, a former slave. After the Civil War, Herndon was owner and barber of The Crystal Palace, an upscale barbershop in Atlanta. Then, in 1905, Herndon purchased The Atlanta Benevolent and Protective Association (later called Atlanta Mutual). The insurance company grew rapidly and later, it moved to 148 Auburn Avenue and became known as Atlanta Life.
When Atlanta Life was initially founded, salesmen sold low-cost industrial insurance door to door. The company became woven into the communities it served through its salespeople and its involvement in the civil rights movement, such as bailing out students arrested during sit-ins.
Today, Atlanta Life Financial Group is a privately owned financial services company. It consists of three operating units: Atlanta Life Insurance Company, Atlanta Life Investment Advisors, and Jackson Securities.
28 African American Heritage Guide

Historic Districts

The centerpiece of Watson Mill Bridge State Park in Comer is the longest covered bridge in Georgia.

Sweet Auburn African Americans began to settle in neighborhoods around Auburn Avenue following the Civil War and, by the twentieth century, the district emerged as the center of African American commerce. In the late 1950s, buildings along Sweet Auburn became sites for the emerging civil rights movement. The Sweet Auburn Historic District was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.

Laney-Walker Historic District The Laney-Walker Historic District in Augusta is named for Lucy Craft Laney, principal of Haines Normal and Industrial Institute, and Reverend C.T. Walker, pastor of Tabernacle Baptist Church. Today, Tabernacle Baptist Church is the largest historic church in the district, and Laney's legacy is explored in her home, the Lucy Craft Laney Museum of Black History.

Stevens Street Historic District The Stevens Street Historic District in Thomasville includes 341 buildings. When the railroad was built in the 1860s, African American freedmen began to settle in the neighborhood. Sam Young purchased the Mitchell-Young-Anderson House in 1909. He converted the former dance hall downstairs into bedrooms for his family. In the 1940s, his granddaughter, Virginia Anderson, inherited the home and started the Rosebud Tourist Home to provide housing for African American travelers. Continuing the family tradition, Jule Anderson converted the home into a bed-and-breakfast.

Washington and Wilkes County Washington and Wilkes County include sites such as Jackson Chapel A.M.E. Church, the Cherry Grove School, and School Street Cemetery. The church was established in 1867 to serve the African American community called Wylieville. Dr. Frederick Douglass Sessoms, Washington's first African American doctor, practiced medicine and lived in a two-story house on Lexington Avenue. School Street Cemetery is nestled southwest of the downtown historic district on a 7.7-acre site. The Cherry Grove School is a rare, one-room, wood-frame building that rests on a stone pier foundation.

Pleasant Hill Historic District Pleasant Hill Historic District in Macon was one of the first predominantly African American neighborhoods to receive National Register Historic District recognition. Developed between the late 1800s and early 1900s, this area was called home by many of Macon's most influential and prosperous black residents. Homes show the influence of various styles, including Craftsman-inspired porches, Neoclassical columns, and "shotgun"-style homes.

Cuyler-Brownsville The Cuyler-Brownsville historic district is one of Savannah's oldest African American neighborhoods. The name of the historic district derives from the Brownsville community that was settled by freedmen after the Civil War. Row houses and corner-store commercial businesses were built to accommodate workers during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. By 1920, single detached residences including Queen Anne, shotguns, and bungalows were constructed. Both middle- and working-class African Americans lived in the neighborhood due to segregation.

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Schools
Dorchester Academy After the Civil War, William A. Golding, one of the first African Americans to serve in the Georgia legislature, donated land in Midway for a one-room school to educate freedmen. In 1879, with the aid of the American Missionary Association, the school evolved to a boarding and day school and became known as Dorchester Academy. A new boys' dormitory was dedicated in 1934 and named Elizabeth B. Moore Hall in honor of the school's first African American female principal. When Liberty County opened public schools for African Americans in 1940, the school closed.
In 1948, the Dorchester Improvement Association was founded, and the boys' dormitory became a community center. Claudius Turner directed voter registration drives and set the stage for a future role in the civil rights movement. In 1961, the boys' dormitory became the site for the Citizenship Education Program, which was led by Reverend Andrew Young, Septima Clark, and Dorothy Cotton. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern

Christian Leadership Conference planned the Birmingham campaign at this site.
In 2004, it became the Dorchester Academy Museum of African American History. The boys' dormitory was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2006.
Noble Hill School In 1924, the Noble Hill School opened, one of the 242 Rosenwald Schools that once existed in Georgia. Located in Cassville, a rural community near Cartersville in Bartow County, the school was a two-room wooden structure. Noble Hill offered a seventh-grade curriculum and was the community's public school until 1955, when local schools were consolidated. In 1983, Dr. Susie Wheeler, a former student, envisioned a community partnership that led to the restoration of the school as a heritage museum. The Noble Hill-Wheeler Memorial Center, opened to the public in 1989, documents rural life and African American education during segregation.

The Beach Institute The Beach Institute is in Savannah's National Historic Landmark District. The American Missionary Association established this school in 1867. Both the school and the surrounding neighborhood are named for Alfred S. Beach, the philanthropist who donated land for the building. The Beach Institute hosts lectures and art exhibits. The KingTisdell Cottage Foundation is the steward for the building.

By 1917, the fully accredited Dorchester Academy in Midway had eight frame buildings and 300 students.

Massie Heritage Center While Savannah was occupied by Union troops during the Civil War, Massie Common School House served as a Union hospital. In 1865, federal troops designated the house a public school for African American children. Today, it is open for tours and students can live a nineteenth-century school day.

GDEcD

for more information

Atlanta Life 404-659-2100, atlantalife.com
The Beach Institute 912-234-8000, kingtisdell.org
Beulah Rucker Museum and Education Center 404-401-6589, beulahruckermuseum.org
Cedar Grove Cemetery augustaga.org
Cherry Grove School 706-678-2013, washingtonwilkes.org
Dawson Street Historic District 229-228-7977, thomasvillega.com
Dorchester Museum of African American History 912-884-2347, dorchesteracademy.com

Ebenezer Baptist Church 404-688-7300, historicebenezer.org
The Emery Center 706-277-7633
First African Baptist Church 912-233-6597, oldestblackchurch.org
Gospel Pilgrim Cemetery visitathensga.com
Herndon Home 404-581-9813, herndonhome.org
Jackson Chapel A.M.E. Church 706-678-5557
Laney-Walker Historic District 706-823-6600

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Lucy Craft Laney Museum of Black History 706-724-3576, lucycraftlaneymuseum.com
Massie Heritage Center 912-201-5070, massieschool.com
Mitchell-Young-Anderson House 229-228-5133
Noble Hill-Wheeler Memorial Center 770-382-3392, notatlanta.org
Pleasant Hill Historic District 478-743-3401, maconga.org
Prince Hall Masonic Temple sweetauburn.us/princehall.htm
School Street Cemetery 706-678-2013, washingtonwilkes.org

South-View Cemetery 404-622-5393, southviewcemetery.com
Springfield Baptist Church 706-724-1056, historicspringfieldaugusta.org
Stevens Street Historic District 229-228-7977, thomasvillega.com
Summer Hill Educational & Recreational Complex 770-606-8683, etowahha.com
United Church of Christ in Beachton and Thomasville 229-228-7977, thomasvillega.com
Watson Mill Bridge State Park 706-783-5349, gastateparks.org

African American Heritage Guide 29

The ruins of Chocolate Plantation, founded in the early 1800s, still stand on Sapelo Island today.
GDEcD

Gullah/Geechee
culture

By Jeanne Cyriaque
Shrimp net weaving is just one of the demonstrations at Cultural Day on Sapelo Island.

In 2006, Congress designated the barrier islands and coastal regions along the Atlantic Ocean as the Gullah/Geechee Heritage Corridor. The corridor spans the coast through four states: North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. Gullah/Geechee people survived the Middle Passage in the 1700s as enslaved Africans who were captured from the rice-producing regions of Senegambia, Angola, and Sierra Leone. At first, thousands were brought to the port of Charleston, S.C., as Georgia was founded as a free colony. But when Georgia lifted its ban on slavery in 1750, vast plantations along the coast were established with the labor of these West Africans. They lived and worked in semi-tropical conditions. Isolation was a key factor in the survival of their culture.

Sapelo Island
Sapelo Island is one of a series of barrier isles that extend along the Georgia coast and is about the size of Manhattan Island in New York. Five miles of tidal water and salt marsh separate Sapelo Island from Darien, the nearest town on the mainland. Accessible only by ferry, Sapelo Island is home to Hog Hammock, a Gullah/Geechee community.
Each October, the Sapelo Island Cultural and Revitalization Society hosts Cultural Day, transporting up to 1,000 visitors to the island for a sampling of music, food, arts and crafts, and tours. Visitors come to the marketplace to purchase sweetgrass baskets and observe fishing demonstrations, while shrimp-ngrits are available for breakfast and smoked mullet and other Gullah/Geechee foods are served throughout the day. Accompanying these culinary delights are music and storytelling, as Cornelia Bailey, island historian, shares many Gullah/ Geechee stories from her book, God, Dr. Buzzard and the Bolito Man.

Sapelo Island's Gullah/Geechee community descends from slaves brought to the island in 1802.

30 African American Heritage Guide

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GEDcD GEDcD

GEDcD

The ring shout may be the oldest surviving African American performance tradition in North America. Here it's demonstrated by a McIntosh County Shouter.
Shoutin' in Briar Patch
Today, a small African American community known as Bolden is located east of Eulonia in McIntosh County. Bolden is also known as Briar Patch to commemorate a slave cemetery in the community. These Gullah/Geechee people maintain many ancestral traditions. None is more prevalent than the ring shout.
The ring shout combines calland-response singing, hand clapping, percussion, and a precise shuffle and rhythmic movement. The leading 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 hand clapping 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.
In 1942, Lydia Parrish observed the ring shout on St. Simons Island and McIntosh County. She wrote about it in her book, Slave Songs of the Georgia Sea Islands. As the Gullah/Geechee people migrated after World War II, the ring shout was believed to have died out. In Briar Patch, "we never did let it go by," says Lawrence McKiver, lead songster of the McIntosh County Shouters and now in his nineties. McKiver and the McIntosh County Shouters learned the ring shout from their parents, and they perform it at folk festivals, the National Black Arts Festival, and Sapelo Island Cultural Day.
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African American Heritage Guide 31

the Civil
war

E arly in the spring of 1862, a young escaped slave named Christopher Green became one of the first recruits for a Civil War regiment of former slaves. The regiment was formed along the Georgia-South Carolina coast by maverick Union General David Hunter. Green became one of

the earliest African Americans to join the war in Georgia. It was months before Abraham

Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation freed "all persons held as slaves within any state"

and authorized that freed slaves be received into the

Attractions

Union's armed services. General Hunter had taken command of the

Andersonville National Historic Site 496 Cemetery Rd., Andersonville, 31711 229-924-0343,

Georgia coast after Union forces captured Hilton Head Island, S.C. He began to form the 1st South Carolina (African Descent) in the Department of the South at Hilton Head the following spring, according to Scott Smith, executive director of the Coastal Heritage

nps.gov/ande

Society, who operates Fort Jackson and the Savannah

The Cannonball House 856 Mulberry St., Macon, 31201 478-745-5982, cannonballhouse.org

History Museum. "Hunter decided on his own to go ahead and start recruiting and arming black troops [from Georgia and South Carolina]," says Smith. "He raised a couple of companies, and some people may have said he was using force to recruit people."

Fort Pulaski National Monument US Hwy. 80 E, Savannah, 31410 912-786-5787, nps.gov/fopu

Savannah History Museum 303 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Savannah, 31401 912-651-6825, chsgeorgia.org

The Savannah History Museum, housed in a railway passenger shed, reflects the city's history from its beginnings in 1733.
32 African American Heritage Guide

Michael Jordan / Coastal Heritage Society

By Vern E. Smith
A lone cannon on the banks of the Savannah River overlooks Fort Pulaski, located between Savannah and Tybee Island.
GDEcD
Evolution of Hunter's Troops
The 1st South Carolina troops were uniformed in red pants and blue coats and outfitted with arms. They were used in Georgia and South Carolina in small scrimmages and scouting expeditions along the coast in the summer of 1862, says Smith.
Word soon reached the Union headquarters in Washington about Hunter's unauthorized black troops, and the unit was disbanded later that summer, according to Smith. Some of these soldiers settled in the St. Simons Island area, according to one of Chris Green's descendants in Savannah, A. Jamal Tour, who has done extensive research on African American history in Georgia coastal communities and conducts living history tours about the area.
When the 1st South Carolina was reorganized under the command of Colonel Thomas Wentworth Higginson, these Georgians and a group of about forty new black Georgia recruits began drilling in the fall with as many as 800 men. The men that Higginson trained received their colors and officially enrolled into the United States Army. "A good case can be made that this is actually the first Union unit of black men," Smith says, and it included several hundred black Georgians.
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DARIEN
Darien is the site of one of the earliest battles involving African American troops--the 1863 battle of the 54th Massachusetts (Colored Infantry) led by Colonel Robert Gould Shaw. The 54th, subject of the movie Glory, occupied the town in an attempt to destroy crucial supplies and seize blockade materials. The fierce fighting left most of the village destroyed. The rebuilt town contains a number of historic buildings and homes.

Tri -Star Pictures Inc.

United States Colored Troops

According to the Georgia Civil War Commission, "at least

3,500 African Americans from Georgia served in the Union

Army. The 136th, 137th, and 138th United States Colored

Troops (U.S.C.T.) Infantry Regiments were formed in Atlanta at

the end of the war in 1865, and served as occupation units in

the post-Civil War era."

Eventually, the 1st South Carolina became a part of the

U.S.C.T., after the federal government began to officially recruit

Glory, filmed in Savannah, tells the story

African Americans. Christopher Green's Savannah descendants

of the Civil War's first all-black volunteer company. were able to obtain his official U.S.C.T. discharge papers from

the National Archives in Washington, says Tour. "When you talk

about the Civil War in this area, you'll find some of us will tell you our ancestors also fought," he says. "For

me, it's a sense of pride and vindication, but also a sense of responsibility to get out and let people know."

African American Georgians also made their presence known by enlisting as pilots and crewmen on

Union ships starting in 1865 until the end of the war, says Smith. They further contributed to the Union war

efforts as cooks, laborers, and scouts.

Civil War Educator
In 1862, African American educator Susie King Taylor went from Savannah to St. Simons Island, where she opened a school at the request of Union officers. This made her the first black teacher for freed African American students who taught in a freely operating freedmen's school in Georgia.

Macon - Bibb County CVB Michael Jordan / Coastal Heritage Society

The

Cannonball

House

This Southern home

is named for damage

sustained during the

Civil War. Listed on the

National Register of

Historic Places, it is an

example of authentic

Greek Revival archi-

tecture containing fine

period furnishings. In

the narrative history,

tour guides include

The Cannonball House was the only house in Macon struck by a cannonball during a Union attack in 1864.

the unusual story of two African American women, Cora Lundy and Millie Ross, who

cared for the place under an unusual contract with the home's owner,

Judge Asa Holt. "When he built the house, Judge Holt acquired the two

women as servants," says Dorene McElwain, education director for

The Cannonball House. "They are even listed as servants in the census

along with Judge Holt and his wife. Slaves were never mentioned in the

census unless it was a slave census." Cora Lundy was the cook, while

Millie Ross provided all the sewing and oversaw the property when the

judge traveled. They were the only ones present when Union forces

shelled the home.

exploregeorgia.org 1-800-VISIT GA

Re-enactors at Fort Jackson in Savannah help tell the story of Georgia's oldest brick fortification.
freedom Colonies A number of "freedom
colonies" also existed on the Georgia coast during the war, where African Americans from the neighboring coastal island communities took advantage of the Union forces' presence to find and relocate family members. "There was a young man by the name of Cain, who went into Liberty County to rescue some of his family and bring them to St. Simons," says Tour. "He had escaped, and led a group of people to one of the freedom colonies. Here was someone who had his freedom and was safe there on St. Simons, and he goes back for other people. That is significant, and we have to make sure those stories get out there."
African American Heritage Guide 33

People and places around Georgia, especially Atlanta, were key figures in the civil rights movement. Today you can visit multiple sites that pay homage to those who were a part of it.

Civil

By Vern E. Smith

rights

34 African American Heritage Guide

Former Southern Christian Leadership Conference President Reverend Joseph Lowery is considered the "Dean of the Civil Rights Movement."
z ach wolfe
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C. M. Battey / getty images SCLC

In Search of Liberty

From the very beginning, African Americans in Georgia have waged a sustained struggle for freedom and equality. In Run-

ning a Thousand Miles for Freedom, escaped slaves William and Ellen Craft wrote in 1848 of their dramatic escape from

a plantation in Macon, "in eight days after [a plan] was first thought of we were free from the horrible trammels of slavery,

and glorifying God who had brought us safely out of a land of bondage."

The thirst to be free embodied in the Crafts' daring escape from bondage continued for

African Americans in Georgia as the Civil War neared. A drive to expand the meaning of American

citizenships increased after the war, as black men participated in the state's politics for the first

time during Congressional Reconstruction.

Between 1867 and 1872, 69 African Americans served as members of the state legislature.

They included Jefferson Franklin Long, a tailor from Bibb County, who served in Congress from

December 1870 to March 1871.

Other prominent African legislators were Henry McNeal Turner, Aaron A. Bradley, and Tunis

G. Campbell. Turner moved to Georgia from Washington, DC in 1865 to organize congregations

for the African Methodist Episcopal Church (A.M.E.). His greatest success came in organizing

the black Republican vote and attracting other black ministers into politics.

Political and education gains fought for and won during Reconstruction were eventually

overturned in a reign of terror and intimidation by the Ku Klux Klan, which was bent on reclaiming

W.E.B. DuBois was deemed the "Father
of Pan-Africanism."

Georgia as a white supremacist state. In 1906, W.H. Rogers of McIntosh County was the last black legislator to be elected
before African Americans were legally disenfranchised in 1908.

Early Stirrings
W.e.b. Dubois and the Niagara Movement
With the rise of the Klan after Reconstruction, African Americans in Georgia found themselves under physical assault. One of the bloodiest riots occurred in Atlanta in 1906.
A year before the Atlanta riots, W.E.B. DuBois was joined by other activists to form the Niagara Movement. This movement was the forerunner of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). With formal organization of the NAACP in 1909, stemming the tide of lynchings, burnings, and riots became the initial focus of the fledgling civil rights organization.

Andrew Young, Martin Luther King Jr., and Joseph Lowery all left indelible legacies in the civil rights movement.
1955 M.L. KING & NON-VIOLENT DIRECT ACTION
After the historic 1954 Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education outlawed "separate but equal" laws in the public schools, African Americans in Georgia joined the organized efforts across the South in challenging segregation. The most significant early campaign, the Montgomery, Ala., bus boycott from 1955 to 1956, was led by Georgia's best-known African American civil rights figure, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Two years later, King and a group of other ministers, including the Reverend Ralph David Abernathy and the Reverend Joseph E. Lowery, formed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
Each of King's lieutenants, which included, among others, executive staff members Andrew Young and the Reverend C.T. Vivian, would go on to have significant impact in Georgia. Young was named United Nations Ambassador by former President Jimmy Carter in 1977 and later served two terms as mayor of Atlanta.

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African American Heritage Guide 35

System

Library

Public

AavnednuHeisRteosrey,aArtclhaLnitbar-aFruyltoonn

1978 Joseph LOWERY TAKES THE REINS
Reverend Joseph Lowery moved to Atlanta from Birmingham, Ala., in 1968 following the death of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He became the Southern Christian Leadership Conference's (SCLC) third and longestserving president when he succeeded Reverend Ralph David Abernathy, who resigned and ran for Congress in 1977. Now in his 80s, Lowery is still active as chairman of the Georgia Coalition for the People's Agenda.
Lowery's closest call with death came in 1979 during a SCLC march in Decatur, Ala., when Ku Klux Klansmen fired into a car driven by Lowery's wife, narrowly missing her. "I heard the bullets go over my head," Lowery recalls. Two marchers and two Klansmen were shot in the melee.
African American women like Evelyn Lowery, Coretta Scott King, and Juanita Abernathy were equal foot soldiers in the civil rights movement. Like Mrs. King, Juanita Abernathy participated in all of the pivotal protests of the era. "Men were the spokespersons, but had we not had the women we would not have had a movement," says Mrs. Abernathy. Fearless in the face of constant death threats during the Montgomery boycott, she and her infant daughter survived the bombing of their home by white supremacists in 1957. After the family moved to Atlanta in 1961, Abernathy continued her activism. She worked to desegregate the city's schools by enrolling her children in independent white schools, and helped organize boycotts that forced businesses to hire blacks in non-menial jobs. During Dr. King's crusade against segregated housing in Chicago, Mrs. Abernathy and her husband, along with Dr. and Mrs. King,
moved into a tenement building to protest slum conditions. The key to the success of the movement in Geor-
gia and elsewhere, Lowery observes, is when the focus moved from the courts to the streets. "The drama and trauma of street demonstrations took it from individual legal redress to mass mode," he says. "Demonstrations in the street impacted everybody."

uburn ulture

A C

rchives Division, frican American

A A

SCLC

Top left to bottom right: SCLC office on Auburn Avenue, Atlanta; Reverend Lowery with Coretta Scott King; Lowery leads a 1984 protest on Monroe Drive in Atlanta.
36 African American Heritage Guide

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SCLC

Center for Civil and Human Rights

It began as the vision of people who had lived the history of the African American civil rights movement in Atlanta and beyond. Now the city's projected $100 million Center for Civil and Human Rights is well on its way to a grand opening in 2010.
"This should really be a catalyst for the entire state and Southeast region; the central hub for learning the lessons and inspiration of the civil rights movements," says Doug Shipman, executive director of the Center for Civil and Human Rights Partnership, the group overseeing development.
Civil rights veterans Evelyn Lowery, founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference's (SCLC) W.O.M.E.N. and wife of former SCLC President Joseph Lowery; Juanita Abernathy, wife of Reverend Ralph Abernathy; and former U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young first broached the idea of such a center with Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin several years ago. Convinced of its merit, Franklin pulled together influential members of Atlanta's corporate world to begin raising the money needed.
While no final decision on a location has been made, Shipman says it is likely to be on land The Coca-Cola Company has offered near Centennial Olympic Park. That site would be a central hub for existing civil rights sites in Atlanta. "The center's connectivity to historic Auburn Avenue is key," Shipman says.
Members of the museum's Content Council, chaired by Emory University Provost Earl Lewis, are working on the scope and detail of eleven specific "galleries."

The draft proposal of the Content Council galleries begins with "The Evolution of Human Rights (1700s-1865)," with emphasis on the role of members of the African diaspora in articulating a notion of human rights that extend national boundaries.
Another theme, "From Emancipation to Jim Crow (18631930s)," will give visitors an appreciation of how emancipation ushered in a new era in the efforts of African Americans to achieve equal rights.
Other themes would explore World War II and its aftermath as a watershed in civil and human rights; the development and strategies of civil and human rights movements of the 1950s; the emergence of Dr. King as a national figure; how events in Atlanta and Georgia reflected developments in the international world; and the role of young people in the direct action movement.
The Center for Civil and Human Rights Partnership has also acquired the rights to display Dr. King's papers, which are owned by Morehouse College. It recently announced another major gift for the planned museum: a series of paintings and drawings by the late Benny Andrews on the life of civil rights icon and U.S. Representative John Lewis.
In addition to being an exhibition facility like a museum, the new center will also house performance and meeting space. "It will serve as a site for new conversations about civil and human rights issues," says Shipman.

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African American Heritage Guide 37

Young Lions SNCC

While Martin Luther King Jr.'s work took an international scope, other African American Georgians answered the call

for organized protest across the state. College students from the Atlanta University Center, including Morehouse

students Julian Bond and Lonnie King, and Spelman coed Ruby Doris Smith joined Alabama native and seminary

student John Lewis to form the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.

Attractions

Inspired as a young boy by the Montgomery bus boycott and Dr. King's speeches, Lewis organized sit-in demonstrations at segregated lunch counters in Nashville, Tenn.,

The Albany Civil Rights Institute at Mount Zion Baptist Church 326 Whitney Ave., Albany, 31706 229-432-1698

and was one of the original Freedom Riders in 1961. Arrested more than 40 times, Lewis helped spearhead one of the most seminal
moments of the civil rights movement: the 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery March for voting rights. Marchers were attacked by Alabama lawmen as they attempted to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Nightly television broadcasts and wire photos of the brutal

APEX Museum

confrontation stunned the nation, leading to passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

135 Auburn Ave., Atlanta, 30303

404-523-2739, apexmuseum.org

The International Civil Rights Walk of Fame Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site, 450 Auburn Ave., Atlanta, 30312 404-331-5190, nps.gov/malu/wof/walkoffame.html
Jack Hadley Black History Museum 214 Alexander St., Thomasville, 31792 229-226-5029, jackhadleyblackhistorymuseum.com
The Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site and Preservation District 450 Auburn Ave., Atlanta, 30312 404-331-5190, nps.gov/nr/travel/atlanta/kin.htm
The Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change 449 Auburn Ave., Atlanta, 30312 404-526-8900, thekingcenter.org
The Ralph Mark Gilbert Civil Rights Museum 460 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Savannah, 31401 912-231-8900
Tubman African American Museum 340 Walnut St., Macon, 31201 478-743-8544, tubmanmuseum.com
Named for civil rights leader Ralph Mark Gilbert, the Ralph Mark Gilbert Civil Rights Museum in Savannah includes
exhibits that highlight the area and Georgia's
civil rights struggle.

"MR. CIVIL RIGHTS"

Along the Georgia coast, another fear-

less crusader for justice was W.W. Law.

Law served as president of Savannah's

National Association for the Advance-

ment of Colored People (NAACP)

chapter from 1950 to 1976, becoming

known locally as "Mr. Civil Rights."

In 1923 in Savannah, Westley

Wallace Law was born to a poor family,

and he began working to help out at

the age of ten. Despite the hardships,

Law's mother and grandmother, Lillie

Belle Wallace, instilled in him a love for

reading and a thirst for social justice.

Law's mentor, the Reverend Ralph

Mark Gilbert, pastor of the First African

Baptist Church who revived the local

branch of the Savannah NAACP, also

influenced him. Shortly after taking over as the
city's NAACP president, Law filed a

Civil Rights leader W.W. Law believed a nonviolent approach would open Savannah to African Americans.

federal lawsuit against the segregation

of Savannah-Chatham County public schools. However, Law, along with the Reverend

L. Scott Stell, chair of the NAACP Education Committee, and other leaders were forced

to refile the case after a judge held up the case so long the original-named plaintiffs had

graduated from high school.

Another Savannah civil

rights leader, Hosea Wil-

liams, headed up a group

called the Chatham County

Crusade for Voters. A

dispute over tactics caused

Williams to leave the Savan-

nah NAACP and join Dr.

King's Southern Christian

Leadership Conference.

In 1965, he became a key

organizer of the Selma-to-

Montgomery March.

GEDcD GEDcD

38 African American Heritage Guide

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The Albany Movement
Many ordinary black Georgians took up Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s belief that anyone of conscience could serve in the civil rights movement. Rutha Mae Harris was a seventeen-year-old college student home for the summer when she met Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) organizer Charles Sherrod on a downtown Albany street in 1961. Challenged by Sherrod to become involved, Harris postponed college to join SNCC. She was arrested three times in the demonstrations against segregated buses and public facilities that became known as the Albany Movement.
More than 700 people were arrested during the Albany Movement in December 1961, including Dr. King. He had come to town at the invitation of local leaders, hoping his national stature would boost their efforts to break the back of segregation through mass marches and massive arrests. However, Albany Police Chief Laurie Pritchett prepared for the wave of marchers determined to overflow the local jail with a plan to arrest demonstrators by the score and cart them off to jails in neighboring counties.
At the height of the Albany Movement, with arrests mounting and funds running low, Harris joined fellow SNCC activists Charles Nesbett, Cordell Reagon, and Bernice Johnson Reagon in forming the original Freedom Singers in 1962. The group traveled 50,000 miles that year, singing movement songs and raising funds for SNCC. "Music played a vital part," says Harris. "Without the music there wouldn't have been a movement, because the songs uplifted your spirits, made you move."
Visitors to the Albany Civil Rights Institute on every second Saturday of the month can hear Harris and her new group of Freedom Singers perform a mix of movement songs and black gospel hymns.

GEDcD

The Albany Civil Rights Institute at Mount Zion Baptist Church is located in Albany's Freedom District.
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African American Heritage Guide 39

Dr. Martin Luther
king jr.

bob adelman courtesy of the high museum of art

This photograph, titled "Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Camden, Alabama, 1966" (Bob Adelman), is part of the Road to Freedom: Photographs of the Civil Rights Movement, 19561968 exhibit, which takes place at Atlanta's High Museum of Art June 7Oct. 5, 2008. The exhibit covers the twelve-year period between the Rosa Parks case in 19551956 and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination in 1968, and features works by almost fifty photographers.

40 African American Heritage Guide

exploregeorgia.org 1-800-VISIT GA

Archives Division, Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History, Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System

M artin Luther King Jr. spent his early years in the family home at 501 Auburn Avenue in Atlanta, a few blocks up from Ebenezer Baptist Church, where his maternal grandfather, A.D. Williams, was pastor until King was two years old. After Williams' death, King's father succeeded his father-in-law at the Ebenezer pulpit. At the age of fifteen,

young Martin enrolled at Morehouse College. Dr. Ben-

jamin Mays, Morehouse's president, became a lifelong

mentor. Although King considered medicine or law as

career paths, the ministry seemed his true calling all along.

He began serving as an assistant to his father at Ebenezer

while studying at Morehouse, and his father ordained him

as a Baptist minister in February 1948.

After Morehouse and Crozer Theological Seminary

in Upland, Penn., he then studied for his Ph.D. in sys-

tematic theology at Boston University, where he met his

future wife, a music major from Alabama named Coretta

Scott. King accepted a pastoral job at Dexter

Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Ala.,

Houses on Historic Auburn Avenue, the Atlanta street where Martin Luther King Jr. was born in 1929.

and the couple moved there in 1954. King received his Ph.D. in June 1955.

His Role in Civil Rights

Fate and circumstance thrust King into his first role as a civil rights leader when Rosa Parks, a

member of the local National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)

chapter, refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger. She was arrested for violating a city

segregation statute. To protest, local leaders proposed a boycott of the bus by African Americans.

King allowed his church to be used as a meeting place to discuss the boycott. After a one-day

morehouse college

boycott proved successful, King was asked to head the new organization formed to plan a longer

protest, the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA). Despite numerous efforts by whites to

break the boycott, it lasted for 381 days. King was arrested along with other MIA members, and

segregationists even bombed his home.

The victory in Montgomery made King a national symbol of black protest. Two years after

the bus boycott, King and a group of other ministers formed the Atlanta-based Southern Christian Leadership Conference. In 1960, King moved back to Atlanta and began to refocus his efforts on non-violent direct action as the major thrust of his leadership.
The years between 1963 and 1965 put King into worldwide prominence. He lead massive protests in Birmingham, Ala., and he helped stage the civil rights movement's largest demonstration at

Statue of Martin Luther King Jr. outside of King Chapel at Morehouse College in Atlanta, where King, his father, and his grandfather studied.

the March on Washington. King's riveting "I Have a Dream" speech echoed around the globe, and

he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. That same year, Congress passed the

landmark Civil Rights Act.

The next year, King turned his attention to the denial of black voting rights in

Courtesy of the Kenan R esearch Center at the Atlanta History Center

the South with a campaign in the Alabama black-belt town of Selma. The movement

resulted in passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which outlawed legal restrictions to

African Americans' right to the ballot.

King's work brought many enemies. The FBI targeted him for surveillance as King

turned his sights on the de facto segregation of the North. He came to believe that

many of the problems African Americans faced were due to fundamental economic

inequalities in American society. His last campaign to dramatize this plight was a Poor

People's March to Washington in spring 1968. But on April 4, 1968, while in Memphis,

Tenn., to support striking sanitation workers, King was assassinated as he stood on

the balcony of the Lorraine Motel. He was 39.

In 1968, Coretta Scott King founded the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for

Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta as a memorial to King and his work. Due to her

Andrew Young and Martin Luther King Jr. speak at a press conference in 1967.

efforts, Congress passed legislation that made the third Monday in January a national holiday honoring King. He remains the only African American to receive such an honor.

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African American Heritage Guide 41

Family-friendly Attractions
Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau 233 Peachtree St. NE, Suite 1400 Atlanta, 30303 404-521-6600, atlanta.net, atlantareunions.com/ services.asp
Atlanta History Center 130 W. Paces Ferry Rd., Atlanta, 30305 404-814-4000, atlantahistorycenter.com

Family By Toni O'Neal Mosley
Reunions

Augusta Convention & Visitors Bureau 1450 Greene St., Augusta, 30901 800-726-0243, augustaga.org

DeKalb Convention & Visitors Bureau 1957 Lakeside Pkwy., Suite 510, Tucker, 30084 770-492-5000, dcvb.org, atlantasdekalb.org

DeKalb History Center Old Courthouse on the Square, 101 E. Court Sq., Decatur, 30030 404-373-1088, dekalbhistory.org

Fernbank Museum of Natural History 767 Clifton Rd., Atlanta, 30307 404-929-6300, 404-929-6400, fernbank.edu/museum
Georgia Aquarium 225 Baker St., Atlanta, 30313 404-581-4000, georgiaaquarium.com
Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site 450 Auburn Ave., Atlanta, 30312 404-331-6922, nps.gov/malu
The NEW World of Coca-Cola 121 Baker St., Atlanta, 30313 404-676-5151, worldofcoca-cola.com
Six Flags Over Georgia 275 Riverside Pkwy., Austell, 30168 770-948-9290, sixflags.com
Stone Mountain Park Exit 8 off US Hwy. 78 E; Exit 39-B off I-285, Stone Mountain, 30083 770-498-5690, stonemountainpark.com
Underground Atlanta 50 Upper Alabama St., Atlanta, 30303 404-523-2311, underground-atlanta.com

Planning Your Reunion

If you are responsible for planning your next family reunion or just curious about how to take it to

the next level, you need look no further than your office computer for help.

An Internet search on the key words "family reunion planning" delivers hundreds of related

links. The DeKalb Convention & Visitors Bureau (DCVB) offers one of the most comprehensive

reunion-planning programs in the country, including free Reunion Planning Workshops through-

out the year. The DCVB also assists with all aspects of planning, from meals and entertainment

to transportation, and provides reunion "welcome bags" containing information and personal-

ized reunion materials. The Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau, which offers reunion-planning

workshops as well, is another extensive source for reunion promotional materials and hands-on

guidance, including assistance with everything from hotel selection and suggested children's

activities to lists of area parks. The Augusta Convention & Visitors Bureau Web site provides

links for requesting planning information and a sample itinerary. Another site has a national family

reunion calendar (listing your reunion is free). That's how I discovered that while summer months

are still the most popular reunion season, any month is a good month for a family reunion (with

an expected slowdown between November and January due to the holidays).

There are several approaches to planning your reunion, depending on the size of your

family and the scope of activities you want to include. But the one thing all the experts agree on

is the need for organization. To

get you started, there's an easy-to-follow, fifteen-month checklist at familyfun.com.
In addition to the basics, Sandra Jamison, author of Finding Your People: An African American Guide to Discovering Your Roots, shares a wealth of knowledge

Share the Work "Identify responsible people in your family. Make sure they have e-mail and know exactly what they are supposed to do."
Set a Realistic Budget "Do some sort of assessment to see what your family can afford." Consider annual dues or monthly installment payments.
Don't Forget the T-Shirt! "Don't think for a second you can get away with not having a T-shirt made for everybody."

and advice for planning your

Make it About Family--and Friends, Too "The extended

reunion in her book, including

family is very real, and if you are Bubba's best friend, then

these tips:

Bubba's going to invite you."

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Where to Play
Perhaps the most important decision you'll have to make in planning your reunion is location. Choosing a convenient location with a diverse offering of activities and attractions is the key to getting your family members excited and committed to attending your reunion.
With the average reunion lasting two to three days over a weekend, the DCVB suggests a schedule for a fun-filled reunion:
Day One
Welcome/registration--check into hotel Family dinner--share what's new with everyone

Day Two

A Day of Entertainment and Leisure

Sporting events

Amusement parks



or

Georgia Aquarium

A Day of Heritage and Culture

Museums

Historic districts

Historic sites



or

A Day of Family Fun

Family picnic

Games, activities, and events geared toward the family

Celebrate any family birthdays, milestones, and

individual achievements

Family talent show or opportunity to share family history

Evening banquet

GEDcD

Above: The World of Coca-Cola, Atlanta, explores more than 100 years of the history of the world's most popular soft drink.
Left: The Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta is the world's largest, with more than 100,000 animals representing 500 species.
Day Three
Morning worship service Family lunch with reflections on reunion Check out of hotel Closing activities

exploregeorgia.org 1-800-VISIT GA

African American Heritage Guide 43

Tracing Your
heritage
Family reunions are not only a time for bringing family together to relax, reminisce, and have fun together, but it can be a prime opportunity to create a legacy steeped in family history and traditions. And planning the reunion has evolved into the catalyst for reuniting the past with the present, as well as the family members who travel from state to state and the world over.
"For any family historian, reunions are like a fabulous threecourse meal," says Rhonda Y. Barrow, a member of the AfroAmerican Historical and Genealogical Society, Metro Atlanta Chapter. The society is a nonprofit membership organization committed to the preservation of the history, genealogy, and culture of the African-ancestored populations of the local, national, and international community.
"The appetizer is meeting and greeting new and seldom-seen family members. The main course is sharing and learning the history of the family. And dessert is savoring the sweet moments of learning and appreciating who you really are," says Barrow. "Where else can you videotape a casual conversation between two elders or have an engaging session where family recipes, traditions, or photos are shared?" Genealogy.com, a popular Web site for tracing family history, reports an estimated 200,000 families, each averaging fifty persons, hold reunions each year as a way to preserve and share their family history. For many African American families whose family roots live deep in the Southern soil, choosing a reunion location means coming to Georgia. Such is the case for the Bembry-Duhart Family Reunion. Shirley Carswell, reunion planner and family historian, tells why their reunion (held every two years) comes to Georgia: "Our family roots are in Hawkinsville. My grandparents, who were freed slaves, became landowners there, and we like to go down and visit the site of the old farm and the gravesites. They had eleven children; eight are still living, and three of my aunts still live down there. We have anywhere from 150 to 170 family members coming in from several states: Texas, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania. We stay in a hotel in Atlanta near the airport because it can accommodate our family's size and it's convenient. Some years we have had bus tours to Hawkinsville. Last year, people went on their own." Shirley, who lives in Glenn Dale, Md., says their reunion activities always include a banquet on Friday night, where she gives an update on the latest family history information gathered since the last reunion. To raise money for their reunion budget, they hold fundraisers during the reunion--from selling T-shirts or jewelry with heirloom photos of the grandparents to raffle tickets for cash prizes (which Shirley says raised the most money to date). This year, she plans to produce a family calendar, an idea she got from her ex-husband's family reunion. "Each month will feature a different family and their birthdays." Her nephew, Michael Carswell, who lives in Atlanta and owns a video production company, remembers the year he captured his uncle sitting on the porch talking about old times. "He thought he was just talking, but we were capturing family history." The highlight of every family reunion for Michael, especially now that he has a child of his own, is meeting new family members. "My second cousin and I worked for the same media company, in the same building, but in different divisions located on different floors, and didn't even know each other. What a surprise when we met at the family reunion and realized we had been working in the same building for three years."

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The King Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta includes the burial site of Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife, Coretta. King was assassinated April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tenn.

"Family reunions are about uniting the family, bringing together the young and old. Singing and dancing and thanking God. ... I want every single one of you, young man, young woman, turn to the next person standing alongside of you. Grab them and hug them and tell them that you love 'em. Tell them, `If you need anything, come to me.' ... When you leave
this reunion today, you take that with you."
-- Myrtle (played by actress Cicely Tyson in Madea's Family Reunion, directed by Tyler Perry and shot on location in Covington)

GEDcD GEDcD

African American Heritage Program
The DeKalb Convention & Visitors Bureau (DCVB) hopes to enhance African Americans' appreciation of their cultural heritage with a unique journey through history.
The journey is a three-day, three-night African American Heritage Program that includes seminars, networking, dinners, and a scenic bus tour to key African American cultural sites, such as The King Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta, the historic all-black neighborhood of Flat Rock in Decatur, and the Civil Rights Museum in Birmingham, Ala.
An important element of the experience is a two-hour multimedia DVD presentation in three parts. Part I, African Roots, takes participants back to a time before coming to America as slaves-- ancient Africa. Part II, The Fight for Liberation, moves participants from the heartbreaking realities of slavery through the politically charged fight for equality during the civil rights movement and beyond. The journey culminates with Part III, Stepping Into the Future, where participants are challenged to see themselves through the lives of other African Americans who have realized their full potential and made significant contributions.
The African American Heritage Program is the vision of Jon D. Manns, president and CEO of the DCVB. "The program is designed to get into the very souls of the people who experience it," he says. "At the end of the three-day journey, I want people to have an enlightened sense of awareness about what it means to be African American. I want lives to be changed."
The African American Heritage Program is scheduled to launch in late 2008. For more information, contact DCVB at 866-633-5252, ext. 3337, or visit dcvb.org.
exploregeorgia.org 1-800-VISIT GA

Lasting Impressions
You have dropped off the last cousin at the airport. Now what? Expert planners and plain folks alike agree that what you do after the reunion is just as important as all of the pre-planning. You want people to come to the next reunion. Here are a few tips for capturing the magic and making a lasting legacy:
Create a Family Reunion Scrapbook At the beginning of your planning, identify a creative person in the family to be in charge of gathering photos, family quotes, and memorabilia for a scrapbook. You can make copies and send them to each family, or bring the scrapbook to the next reunion for family members to browse through.
Build a Family Reunion Web site Organize all of those memories-- photos, quotes, stories, and legends--online for the whole family to visit throughout the year. In addition, you can post information about next year's reunion.
Send Creative Reunion Updates Send periodic updates on the next reunion plans and activities. For inspiration, include a CD or online link to music that represents your chosen destination. Coming to Georgia? Include Savannah-born singer/songwriter Anthony David's "Georgia Peach," Gladys Knight's "Midnight Train to Georgia," or Ray Charles' "Georgia On My Mind," the official state song.
African American Heritage Guide 45

Short
trips

Auburn Avenue Stroll
Take a walking tour through Atlanta's Auburn Avenue to see the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site, Preservation District, and the Sweet Auburn Historic District. These places were designated as National Historic Landmarks to protect and interpret for the public the places where Dr. King lived, worked, worshipped, and was buried.
Start your journey at the King Birth Home on Auburn Avenue about one block east of Ebenezer Baptist Church. In the Birth Home block today you will see "shotgun"-style houses that were built as rental units in the 1920s. The old fire station on the corner

has been restored and is a good source for books and memora-

ACruclhtiuvreesaDnivdiHsiiosnt,oAruy,buAtrlnaAnvtean-uFeu RltesoenaPrucbhlLiicbLriabrryaroynSAyfsrticeamn American

There are so many options of things to see and do throughout Georgia that it may seem overwhelming. To help you narrow down your choices, we have provided a few example itineraries. You can choose to travel around the state and do them all, or pick your favorites.

bilia about Dr. King. Next, stop at Ebenezer Baptist Church. Construc-
tion for the building began in 1914 and services were held in the basement until 1922, when it was completed. In 1931, Martin Luther King Sr. became pastor of Ebenezer, when he succeeded his father-in-law, A.D. Williams. Martin Luther King Jr. grew up attending services at Ebenezer and succeeded his father as pastor in the 1960s.
In the next block is the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change and the King gravesite. After Dr. King's death, he was interred at South-View Cemetery until 1970, when the tomb was constructed. An eternal flame burns in front of the tomb, which is surrounded by

a plaza and reflecting pools. Today, Martin and Coretta

Scott King are both buried there. Across the street from

Ebenezer Baptist Church are the Horizon Sanctuary, built in

1999, and the National Park Service Visitor Center.

Just down the block from Ebenezer is the Prince Hall

Masonic Temple, which was completed in 1941. It was

headquarters for the Southern Christian Leadership Confer-

ence when Dr. King worked in this building from the late

Atlanta's Butler Street YMCA

1950s until his death in 1968.

is the only minority YMCA in America allowed to operate independently rather than as a branch.

Continue your walking tour on Auburn Avenue and you will see Wheat Street Baptist Church and Big Bethel A.M.E. Church. Wheat Street Baptist Church is a 1923 Gothic Revivalstyle building, and Big Bethel A.M.E. Church was

reconstructed in 1924 after a fire destroyed the 1891 building.

Next you will see a series of buildings that were the core of "Sweet Auburn" busi-

ness establishments. The Odd Fellows building, completed in 1912, features an office

tower for businesses and an auditorium for

concerts and theater. Around the corner is

the Butler Street YMCA, Atlanta's first YMCA

built for African Americans.

Be sure to view the exhibits at the APEX

Museum. The museum is located in an old

book repository across the street from the

Atlanta Life Insurance Company complex. The

Royal Peacock nightclub on Sweet Auburn

remains an entertainment locale today.

You can add to your touring experience

by listening to an audio tour made available

by the Center for Civil and Human Rights

Partnership. The tour is narrated by Andrew

Young and highlights Auburn Avenue's key

sites and people. You can access the audio

via a podcast from iTunes or from your cell

Ebenezer Baptist Church was founded in Atlanta in 1886 during the Reconstruction era.

phone. Go to cchrpartnership.org for more information.

Big Bethel A.M.E. Church's neon sign has lit the Atlanta city skyline since 1918.

GEDcD Ernest M. Tate

46 African American Heritage Guide

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Golden Isles Excursion

As you drive down the beautiful Georgia coastline

toward the Golden Isles, you'll want to make time for

Brunswick- Golden Isles CVB

a few stops along the way. Visit Seabrook Village in

Liberty County, where you will experience life as it was

for freed slaves in rural coastal Georgia from the end

of the Civil War until the Great Depression. Then travel

down Highway 17 and stop by the Hofwyl-Broadfield

Plantation Historic Site. This site is among the last of

the remaining remnants of the 19th-century rice plan-

tations that once flourished along the Georgia coast.

Continue traveling along Highway 17 South, and you will pass the Needwood Church and School. It is

Gascoigne Park on St. Simons Island is full of old oaks, the ancestors of which were used in the construction of the USS Constitution.

an example of rural churches and one-room schools

that were established to meet the needs of African

The cabins were once home to enslaved Africans from Hamilton

Americans who labored on nearby plantations.

Plantation. Stop for lunch on the bay, and visit Neptune Park near

Once you arrive in Brunswick, turn left on Amherst Street

the lighthouse. The park is named for a brave slave who brought

to see First African Baptist Church. The church is part of the

his master's body home from a Civil War battlefield.

Old Town Brunswick Historic District. You will drive by a series

Drive through St. Simons Island to see African American

of school buildings on Albany Street that collectively are known

neighborhoods that evolved from former plantations. Emanuel

today as the Risley School complex. The school began after the

Baptist Church is a community landmark building in South End

Civil War when Captain Douglas Risley, a Freedmen's Bureau

that was founded in 1890.

agent, started Brunswick's first African American school.

End your day with a stop on Jekyll Island, where Georgia's

Travel across the Torras causeway to St. Simons Island.

last slave ship, the Wanderer, disgorged some 500 slaves illegally

Stop by Gascoigne Park and see two former tabby slave cabins.

in 1858 after importing slaves had been outlawed in 1808.

exploregeorgia.org 1-800-VISIT GA

African American Heritage Guide 47

John Kissane, Athens-Clarke Heritage Foundation, Inc.

heartland
Odyssey

Day 1

Start your journey in Athens

and visit the Chestnut Grove

School. This one-room

school is one of the few that

still exist in Georgia. Just

northwest of the central

business district are two

African American historic

districts. The Reese Street

and West Hancock Avenue

historic districts emerged in

the late 19th century. There

are some shotgun houses on Rocksprings Street that

Historic Hill First Baptist Church, Athens, was created

comprise their own historic

by African Americans in 1867.

district. Community land-

mark buildings in the historic districts include the Athens

High and Industrial School buildings.

Once that part of your tour is complete, go down-

town to see the Morton Theatre, constructed by Monroe

"Pink" Morton and the anchor of Athens' "Hot Corner."

Stop across the street at Wilson's Soul Food for South-

ern cooking before leaving town to head to Macon.

GEDcD

Day 2

Once in Macon, visit the Tubman African American

Museum for an overview of many African Americans who

left a legacy in the city. The Tubman Museum also hosts

traveling exhibits and offers special community programs.

Arriving in Macon's Museum District, the first building

you will encounter is the Douglass Theatre. Charles H.

Douglass founded this theater for African Americans

during segregation. Visit the Georgia Music Hall of Fame

to learn more about Georgia's notable musicians.

Georgia has many legendary sports figures, such as

Hank Aaron, featured in the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame.

Venture out from downtown into the Macon Historic

District and you will see

the J. Walton Building,

a commercial building

that provided office

space for Macon's

African American

physicians and dentists.

Several historic African

American churches are

First Baptist, Holsey

Temple, Christian Meth-

odist Episcopal Church,

and Steward Chapel

A.M.E. Visit the Pleasant

The Tubman African American Museum in Macon

Hill Historic District and

offers an array of exhibitions, programs, and workshops. Linwood Cemetery.

Journey around Thomasville

Day 1

Ephraim J. Rotter / the Thomas County Historical Society

Start your trip with a visit to the Jack Hadley

Black History Museum. The museum is

located at the former site of Douglass

High School, Thomasville's first public high

school for African Americans. The museum

holds more than 2,000 artifacts, which

focus on African American achievers in

Thomasville. One of the museum's exhibits

highlights the military career of Lieutenant

Henry Ossian Flipper, who was the first

African American graduate of West Point in

1877 and later became a Buffalo Soldier. After lunch at Dunbar's Barbeque on

The Thomas County Museum of History in Thomasville has displays related to the county's history from the early 1800s to the mid-1900s.

Smith Avenue, spend the afternoon on the

Step OnStep Off Black Heritage Trail Tour offered through the Jack Hadley Museum. You

will see Bethany Congregational Church, where Reverend Andrew Young began his career,

Day 2

and the one-room Midway County Grade School.

Head south on U.S.

Wrap up the afternoon visiting the Thomas County Museum of History to see exhibits

Highway 319 to Pebble

chronicling the area's vast plantations. You can also view homes in the Stevens Street Historic

Hill Plantation and see

District, where some of Thomasville's early African American doctors lived and worked.

the main house, school

By day's end, you will still want to see more, so stay overnight in the historic district at

building, stables, and out-

Jule Anderson's The Mitchell-Young-Anderson House Bed and Breakfast on Oak Street. Jule

buildings where African

Anderson's ancestors converted this former brothel into a tourist home for African American

Americans worked on this

musicians and travelers who could not stay at Thomasville hotels during segregation.

hunting plantation.

48 African American Heritage Guide