Macon, Georgia

By Jeanne Herring Ed.S.

In this engaging new visual history showcasing Macon s African Americans, vintage photographs illuminate the contributions and achievements of black citizens who have lived and worked in the heart of Georgia for more than one hundred and fifty years. Local landmarks, such as the Douglass Theater and the Harriet Tubman Museum, and unique African-American communities, such as Summerfield and Pleasant Hill, are testament to the indelible mark left on Macon by its enterprising black residents.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Release date: Aug 28, 2000
• ISBN: 9781439627709

Jeanne Herring Ed.S.

Author Jeanne Herring is a former teacher at Miller High School in Macon, and now lives and teaches in Columbus, Georgia. An advocate for the preservation of all history, Herring provides insight into Macon�s past, and through this work, reminds readers that �we are all standing on the shoulders of a previous generation. It is time to look back and value what they did.�

Book preview

CITY HALL. This building, erected in the 1930s, symbolizes the seat of Macon’s government and power. Many African-American craftsmen helped to complete this structure, working as diggers of the foundation, carpenters, plasterers, painters, brick masons, and roofers. The building is in the Greek Revival style that is so prevalent in the South.

Macon, Georgia

Jeanne Herring

Copyright © 2000 by Jeanne C. Herring, Ed.S.

9781439627709

Published by Arcadia Publishing

Charleston, South Carolina

Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 00-104882

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This book is dedicated to the memory

of my maternal great-grandfather, George Washington Howard,

who I’ve never met but heard inspiring family stories about all of my life.

He left a legacy of vision, sacrifice, hard work, and entrepreneurship

for his descendants to emulate.

MACON CITY HALL. This picture shows a frontal view of city hall. Today, African-American leadership is headed by Mayor C. Jack Ellis. He was elected to office in 1999.

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

INTRODUCTION

PASSAGES TO PONDER

One - FOUNDING A CITY

Two - PLEASANT HILL AND SUMMERFIELD

Three - EDUCATION : COMMUNAL, PUBLIC, AND PRIVATE

Four - EDUCATION: MILITARY, VOCATIONAL, AND CRAFTSMEN

Five - RELIGION AND POLITICS: HOW THEY WORKED TOGETHER

Six - CELEBRITY AND THE ARTS : OUR STARS

MACON’S NOTABLE ACCOMPLISHMENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

BIBLIOGRAPHY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

GEORGE WASHINGTON HOWARD. George Washington Howard was born at the end of the Civil War, in April of 1865. His father had been a slave on a plantation in Forsythe, GA. George and his brother Isaac made their way to Bibb County, where George became a farmer and landowner. He and his wife, Susie Styles Howard, were the parents of 12 children. He accumulated approximately 775 acres in what is now North Macon. He died at the age of 71 in 1936. (Courtesy of Lois H. Miller and Lorena H. Latham.)

INTRODUCTION

Several years ago my husband and I pulled up our Macon roots and moved approximately 100 miles away. We came to settle in a place called Columbus, GA, which is bordered to the extreme west by the Chattahoochee River. It is a city of some 200,000 citizens. Portions of the city have a military flavor as the Fort Benning Army Base is situated to the south of the city. The reason behind the move was that my husband had accepted a position to pastor a local church. I was a secondary school teacher at the time, and was confident that I would quickly secure a position in the local system. Our children were pretty good about the change; they took it in stride.

The idea of leaving my hometown, family, friends, and acquaintances was quite disturbing to me, even though I was far from being a kid. Nevertheless, that is how I felt, like a kid leaving home for the first time. It has been stated, home is where the heart is. And the first few years in Columbus, my heart was most definitely in Macon. There are many words that come to mind when I think about the word home—foundation, roots, base, refuge, relaxing environment, safety zone, love, happiness, and family ties. When the term home is heard in a song, or read in a poem, or verbalized in an expression, for many of us, it conjures up scenes that have taken place in one’s family life. Sometimes the scenarios are so vivid that one might even hear sounds and smell fragrances from the home place. For example, in Macon, if you drive down Cotton Avenue, you will smell the wonderful aroma of hot dogs, chili, and onions coming from the Nu Way Weiner Shop. They really make the best hot dogs in the world. If you are fortunate enough to receive an invitation to my mother’s home for dinner, on any given Sunday, you might smell the aroma of baked hen and cornbread dressing radiating from the kitchen window. That is what saying the word Macon does for me. Home is Macon and Macon is home.

Located in central Georgia, Macon was a pleasant place to grow up, even during the age of segregation. I was born in the late 1940s and grew up in the 1950s and 1960s. In Macon, segregation was completely and totally enforced, and the lives of blacks and whites seldom crossed socially. Georgia is a state that historically embraced the philosophy of the Deep South, and the race relation message was immensely clear. But, for a little black girl like me, the ugliness of the system was not as profound until much later. There were separate schools, hospitals, recreation areas, grocery stores, beauty and barbershops, restaurants, churches, and neighborhoods. One of the largest and most completely segregated