First Friday event in honor of Ruth Hartley Mosley

A young visual artist named Daniel Montoute is helping to raise funds for the Ruth Hartley Mosley Women’s Center by way of his talent as a visual artist. Montoute has teamed up with the center and Visionary Communications to produce an opening reception for the exhibit titled “Spring 626: Visions of Hope.”

Currently, the center, located at 626 Spring St., has been struggling to stay afloat. It is very important to keep the legacy of people like Ruth Hartley Mosley alive. Many of her contributions to society are untold. However, her life as a businesswoman, a community activist, an embalmer and a nurse have left a mark on the community. Although Mosley was a native of Savannah, she settled in Macon for most of her adult life. She was born in 1886 and lived until 1975.

Mosley was a civic-minded, professional woman who engaged the community in every step of her life. She donated money and time to help establish the Booker T. Washington Center when it was located on Cotton Avenue, was active with Steward Chapel AME Church, with the local and state divisions of the National Association of the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and was co-owner of Central City Funeral Home with her first husband.

Mosley also set up a trust that made her home accessible to the community as a learning center and banquet facility. In addition, her trust set aside money for a scholarship fund for women and a perpetual care fund for her family’s burial site in Linwood Cemetery in the historic Pleasant Hill neighborhood, where she is interred.

The Ruth Hartley Mosley Women’s Center will host the opening reception for the “Spring 626: Visions of Hope” exhibit from 6-8 p.m. Friday. Montoute’s artwork will be on display and for sale at the center through the end of March.

This First Friday collaborative effort will consist of a silent auction and live entertainment from Dean Brown of Dub Shak and Blak Pearl. Refreshments will be served and all attendees will be given a tour of the center. Admission is $5. For more information, call 478-742-6409.

This story was originally published February 1, 2017 at 7:00 AM with the headline "First Friday event in honor of Ruth Hartley Mosley."