Opinion: February reminds us of our responsibility to preserve vestiges of our past
February is generously endowed with events that speak to the human condition: This is the month that affirms our mortality, reassures us that love will bind us together, and reminds us that our history shapes our future.
When General Oglethorpe founded the colony of Georgia in February of 1732, he was a social reformer, hoping to settle the colony with “worthy poor” and one who subsequently granted land to 40 Jewish settlers and made other progressive decisions, including banning slavery and the sale of rum. The fact that Oglethorpe’s anti-slavery policy did not endure past 1751 makes that year a good place to start a discussion of African American history in our state.
When I first arrived in Georgia — fresh out of the U.S. Army and its ostensible policy of racial equality — Macon’s social climate was nothing like it is today. Our city has come a long way, and still has a way to go, so I won’t attempt to catalog the enormity of events that have occurred, but a glance at recent editions of The Telegraph is an eye-opening experience.
Take, for example, the news stories about Macon’s Rosa Parks Square and, even more important, the recent report reminding readers of the extraordinary assets housed in the Washington Library and the ongoing efforts of archivist Muriel Jackson and the Middle Georgia Regional Library’s African American History Committee.
As painful as it is to admit, many of the most-important events in Macon’s history entail the mistreatment of Black residents. Thankfully, Jackson, like a vigilant town crier, is positioned to remind us that every day that passes sees the death of those who lived through the 1960s and 70s, perhaps even playing an active role in the Civil Rights Movement. When they pass away they take with them vital memories, and perhaps even documents and other artifacts. Should we call this loss a tragedy or a crime? The answer is “both.”
It is not only memories that are being lost. Before streetcars came to downtown, the wealthy citizens who lived in the elegant homes along College Street and Orange Street were served by those who lived in the adjacent “shotgun houses.” Alas, those houses — and their reminder of Macon’s history — are rapidly being removed. Although the Historic Macon Foundation’s slogan is “Macon is preservation,” they need to shout louder.
It may be hard to believe, but there are politicians who attempt to minimize the brutality of slavery, suggesting its role as a vocational opportunity. This misguided folk need to meet Erica Woodford, clerk of the Bibb County Superior Court, who recently found close to a thousand hand-written slave records in the basement of the courthouse.
Some of these records have been on display several times, most recently in the Enslaved People Project at Mercer. These records are what historians call “primary sources,” and their significance cannot be overstated. Their power is such that the Tubman Museum should not miss a chance to create an internationally famous permanent exhibit, perhaps along with the former Invisible Hands exhibition.
Macon is rife with countless treasures that must be preserved before time erases them. How many people recall when the historic Douglass Theatre was an abandoned hulk, slated to meet the wrecking ball in a matter of hours?
Although Valentine’s Day creates far more excitement in February than does historic preservation, and most of us are well aware that ashes and dust are in our future, the community’s history is a living and enduring part of our present.
While we are sometimes embarrassed by our past, it is the most powerful tool we have as we face the trials of both today and tomorrow. As the famed Black author James Baldwin explains it, “History is not the past. It is the present. We carry our history with us. We are our history.”
Opportunity is knocking: Muriel Jackson and Erica Woodford are the latest to give our community a gift beyond measure. We must join them. What we do with such gifts will shape our future.
Larry Fennelly is an opinion columnist for The Telegraph and can be reached at larney_f@hotmail.com
