The Legacy of Celia Adams: From Slavery to Freedom

By Jesse J. Hangrove

The preservation of history and slavery in the United States has its legacy connected to the Civil War and the 13th Amendment. This is the same legacy that created great American Literature and gave rise to Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) as an acclaimed writer of Huckleberry Finn and his main characters, Tom Sawyer and companion, Jim. The Legacy of Celia Adams continues to reveal this deeply preserved and long tradition of contemporary discussions. The book reveals the conditions in which Celia Adams, a remarkable Freedom Dweller of her era, endured. It identifies relatives from her lineage and shares stories as told to them from the voice of Celia Adams.

Celia Adams was born before the Civil War, March 12, 1856 until her death on March 21, 1943, during World War II. She had the vantage of living forty-four years in the 1800s and another forty-three years in the 1900s. The Legacy of Celia Adams provides the verisimilitude to assess the conditions of her life under the institution of slavery, the lynching of her husband, and through slaverys generational impact on her off-springs. The majority of the eleven children of Celia Adams lived through the 1960s with the last child living in the 1980s. This book shares many of these rich stories of her legacy as told by her children and grandchildren. The authors grandfather was one of her eleven children. The writer interviewed many of these relatives. In addition, he heard numerous porch stories from his grandfather who moved from Gough, Georgia to Fort Lauderdale, Florida to escape the unyielding conditions and the lingering effects of slavery. This book allows the audience to read and glean many of the family secrets and preserved stories from slavery to freedom.

This book is historic because it reveals the generations and names of the off-springs of Celia Adams, and the story of an almost forgotten legacy of one of this nations freedom fighters of the 1800s. It is timely because it allows the public an opportunity to reflect on the conditions that gave rise to the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. The 13th Amendment provides the nation with cause to reflect on the 150 year jubilee. The abolition of slavery from 18652015 is the Sesquicentennial of the 13th Amendment Jubilee. As Celia Adams said to her children, It was some Jubilee!

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Nov 4, 2014
• ISBN: 9781496949875

Jesse J. Hangrove

Dr. Jesse J. Hargrove is a noted author, neologist, linguist, and distinguished educator, poet, photographer, futurist, and scholar whose groundbreaking book titled Closing the Achievement Gap in America: A National Imperative for a Super Man, a Super Woman, and a Superintendent (2011) changed the way educators think about public education. He says that public education has not kept pace with the new shifts in societal changes, which have been prompted by national and global events. He encourages parents to play their role in educating children about the importance of going to school and getting a good education. His research focuses on a new generation of learners in America, whom he refers to as the Deuce Millennium Generation. His book, The Legacy of Celia Adams, uses ethnography as a research medium to capture a snapshot picture of the culture under study. He was born in rural Gough, Georgia where his great grandmother Celia Adams was an ex-slave and a mid-wife who lived from March 12, 1856 to March 21, 1943. He was born 100 years after the birth of his great grandfather who was born on February 22, 1853. His great grandfather, Solomon Hargrove, was an educator who taught children to read and write, but was tragically lynched in 1893 for organizing his free school at Eden Baptist Church, which his wife, Celia, helped to found in Louisville, Georgia, in 1885. His mother instilled within him a love for education. He developed a love for reading in fourth grade and graduated with honors and was ranked 9th in his Class of 1971 from Dillard High School. Hargrove graduated Magna Cum Laude from Dillard University in New Orleans in 1975 and majored in Spanish Education after earning scholarships to study at two schools in Guadalajara, Mexico, during the summer and a junior year exchange program at the University of California at Berkeley. Arthur Jensen and William Shockley studied him and his peers from Historically Black Colleges and Universities on the IQ genetic inferiority issue of the era. He studied six languages at Cal Berkeley. In 1977, Hargrove was awarded the M.A. degree in Spanish and Spanish American Literature and received the PhD degree in 1983 from the College of Education in Bilingual/Multicultural Education from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Hargrove has taught Spanish in public schools and higher education. He has worked at two colleges in the University of Wisconsin system, the University of Arizona in Tucson, Broward County Public Schools and Philander Smith College in Little Rock, Arkansas. He’s been Interim Vice President for Academic Affairs, Chair of the Division of Education and has served in administration as Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, Associate Dean of Instruction, and Assistant Dean of Instruction at Philander Smith College where he has been employed for the past 15 years. He is civic-minded and from 2004-2009, he served as Chair of the Arkansas Commission on Closing the Achievement Gap. He can be reached at [e-mail].

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2014 Dr. Jesse J. Hargrove. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 11/04/2014

ISBN: 978-1-4969-4986-8 (sc)

           978-1-4969-4987-5 (e)

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

PREFACE

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1. CELIA ADAMS: A VOICE FOR FREEDOM AND EQUALITY

CHAPTER 2. INTRODUCING THE FAMILY OF CELIA ADAMS ADELINE HARGROVE

CHAPTER 3. FAMILY STORIES OF COURAGE AND SURVIVAL

CHAPTER 4. PORTRAITS OF EVERYDAY LIFE OF THE PEOPLE IN BURKE COUNTY

AND JEFFERSON COUNTY

CHAPTER 5. VOTING EQUALITY, EDUCATION, AND FREEDOM IN THE SOUTH

CHAPTER 6. WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

PHOTOGRAPHIC SCENES FROM THE ADAMS-HARGROVE-WILLIAMS FAMILY REUNION

A FAREWELL TRIBUTE TO HERMAN LODGE OF ROGERS V. LODGE

FAMILY GENEALOGY AND CHARTS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Acknowledgement to My Friend, Donovan Dale, Photographer Who Traveled with me on the Legacy of Celia Adams From Slavery to Freedom

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The path to freedom has been long. However, the journey to freedom has been longer. Travel with us as my friend Donovan Dale and I chronicle the legacy of my great grandmother Celia Adams. Don and I had the opportunity to meet the last living relatives and friends who knew both the path and journey that Celia Adams took from slavery to freedom. We took more than 300 photographs to share with the world. This book is dedicated to the students of the Deuce Millennium Generation (DMG), and the family of Celia Adams. The legacy of Celia Adams reminds me of the statue on the campus at the University of Illinois which states, To thy happy children of the future, those of the past send greetings. The newest generation of learners is the DMG who started their journey to Pre-kindergarten in 2001. Their journey through 12th grade culminates with a high school diploma in 2015 and a bachelor’s in 2019. Their paths will lead them to college and career choices. Their journey may not be easy, but they will enjoy the freedom of their choices. The freedom to live in a society where there are choices is the legacy that Celia Adams prayed for and labored in the fields to secure for her family and others. The reward of their journey is to fit in this new society and to feel a sense of belonging to contribute.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This book acknowledges the many individuals who helped to tell stories and place into perspective the context of the Legacy of Celia Adams and her journey from slavery to freedom. The author wishes to acknowledge the family members, friends, and informants who shared family secrets and information as well as personal family pictures, news clippings and obituaries about key family members. Thanks to the community of citizens in the various cities who inspired and encouraged the family to continue the dream for future generations to be the best and to be the keepers of the American Dream. Thanks to those who educated the author and gave their time and resources; the local, state, and federal leaders who issued proclamations on behalf of Celia Adams Day. It is with hope that these people of good-will will keep the public school dream of the founders of this nation alive, and that the Deuce Millennium Generation (DMG) will rise to the majestic height of learning, and that they will be blessed with Highly Qualified Teachers in P-12 schools. Thanks to the parents of the Deuce Millennium Generation who committed to assist their children to develop good learning habits in the home, community, and school environment; and thanks to the public who must continue to form partnerships with the learners’ school, home and community. The Legacy of Celia Adams brought a connection that must continue beyond the project. Thanks to those who provided the numerous interviews.

Thanks to my loving daughter, AnDrea Simone Hargrove, whom Celia Adams would be proud to know as her great-great granddaughter; and thanks to my mother, the late Carrie Coulthrust who introduced me to numerous people in my birth place, Gough, Georgia; and my family including brothers and sisters (Ernestine, Carolyn, Malcolm, Anthony, Saverlyn); May my brother, Charles Hargrove, rest in peace and the work that he did in helping to organize the first Adams-Hargrove-Williams Family Reunion in 1977 will always be remembered. Alex Haley was on point with the idea of Roots and bringing families together for the next generation. Thanks for allowing me to dedicate the past two decades and more to research the project and the Deuce Millennium Generation book.

The author acknowledges the DMG and the wonderful students and employees of Philander Smith College for their encouragement and support, and to the Dillard University Family for instilling within me an appreciation of African American experiences while studying in college. The experiences gained at the universities in which I have served are acknowledged at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University of Wisconsin at Whitewater, the University of Wisconsin at Parkside, and the University of Arizona in Tucson. Thanks to Dr. James D. Anderson (UIUC), Dr. Rudolph C. Troike, Dr. Elaine Johnson Copeland (President, Clinton Junior College), Dr. Stafford Hood (UIUC), Dr. Terry Denny, and a personal thanks to the late Dr. John Hope Franklin for his personal conversations of support on this project and the DMG book, and his writings that continue to inspire the new generation of thinkers who use history to change future conditions for the betterment of society and the world. Special thanks to Broward County Public Schools where I taught, and to Berkeley High School and J. S. Clark High School where I received teacher training, as well as the University of California at Berkeley, the University of San Francisco, and the University of Washington where I studied during my junior year exchange program under the Crown Zellerbach Foundation and summer programs in Guadalajara, Mexico at Escuela de Artes Plásticas and Instituto Cultural Guadalajara.

PREFACE

Let the Drum Sound is a poem that was inspired by the words echoed by Celia Adams in one of her early speeches during the onset of freedom. These words were passed on to her off-springs to remind them that freedom is a journey in life that must be travelled. The author hopes that his poem will inspire others to keep the dream alive for future generations. His poem speaks to the hearts of Americans in profound words:

Pound! Pound! Pound!

Let the Drum sound!

Pound! Pound! Pound!

Listen to the sound!

I sound the drum

For the World to hear!

I sound the drum

For Peace throughout the year.

The interviews from Celia Adams’ family, informants, and friends are intended to provide a comprehensive sketch of family and community life during her era. Many of the conversations detail a healing and revealing look at the historic events, conditions, the scenes and facts of the time period from the advent of freedom until now. The book was authorized by the family to be written by the author to capture the family history for future generations so that they know and appreciate their legacy and heritage. These family sketches are seen through the eyes of Celia Adams, her children, grandchildren, and other informants.

The early origin of the family of Celia Adams finds itself located within the midst of planters whose descendants were from the settlers of Burke County, Jefferson County, Richmond County, and Baldwin County. These counties were rich in Georgia history and part of the Georgia aristocracy, particularly after the American