Tag: TheMergingLanesProject

(Photos) Preservation of a Site Related to Georgia Midwife, Beatrice Borders

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Preservationists in early stages to preserve Georgia Williams Nursing home and historic site related to the legacy of Georgia midwife, Beatrice Borders

Post originally appeared on Ethos Preservation Instagram page:

Preservation in action! Today this group kicked off a Preservation Plan for the Georgia B. Williams Nursing Home in Camilla, Georgia! Here, Beatrice Borders, a third generation African-American midwife, operated a nursing home from 1941 to 1971, delivering over 6,000 babies! Providing an essential service through segregation and the Jim Crow era, Beatrice provided a safe place for expectant mothers, and “birthed a city.” #thisplacematters#PreservingHope @thegeorgiatrust#preservationplanning @visitblackhistory#grassroots #kickoff

(Photos) Ray Charles and American Independence Day

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Ray Charles Plaza located in Albany, Georgia

In a 2017 article for The Undefeated, Roy Peter Clark imagines Ray Charles is the man ”to ease the antagonism surrounding the national anthem controversy.” Referring to Colin Kaepernick and his ”taking a knee stance.” ⁣
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Clark affirmed that throughout Ray Charles’s career, the artist used his powers for ”healing and reconciliation.” And that all professional sports teams like the NFL and MLB should play Ray Charles rendition of America The Beautiful at halftime. ⁣
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In A Black Theology of America The Beautiful, writer Luke Hill shares that ⁣
Ray Charles once said, “I never sing anything I don’t want to sing. Never sing anything I don’t mean.” Hill affirms that Ray Charles’s version of America The Beautiful is different from the one Katherine Lee Bates wrote. ⁣

Ray Charles Plaza. Albany, Georgia

America celebrated its independence on July 4. NPR recently published an intriguing film work featuring decedents of Frederick Douglass. Together they take part in ”What to the Slave Is The Fourth of July?: Descendants Read Frederick Douglass’ Speech.” worth checking out ⁣

Flint River Walk in Albany, Georgia

(Photos) Emancipation Day Celebrated in Georgia since 1866

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A road sign in Thomaston, Georgia identifying Home of Emancipation Proclamation Celebration Road

⁣⁣I saw this road sign as I passed through Thomaston, Georgia a couple Sundays ago. According to a gas station attendant, the Georgia town has celebrated their Emancipation Day annually since 1866 and continue to do so, today.

On May 29,1865, enslaved persons in Thomaston, Georgia, learned of the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. According to the paper, they were free. What would immediately ensue is a century and a half of social conditions that would leave many to contemplate what it means to be free in America? ⁣⁣

Thomaston, Georgia has celebrated Emancipation Day on May 29th since 1866. Georgia House Resolution 859 was passed in 1996, naming May 29th Emancipation Day in Upson County, Georgia.

Georgia House legislation naming May 29th Emancipation Day in Thomaston, Georgia

Ronda Racha Penrice wrote a story on it. Emancipation Day and Juneteenth celebrations aren’t new published in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. ⁣⁣


This post is dedicated to #Justiceforbreonnataylor ⁣

The Green Book Documentary Now Streaming on Smithsonian Channel App

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Filmmaker, Yoruba Richen’s documentary The Green Book: Guide to Freedom premiered on the Smithsonian Channel last night. Watch for FREE, on the Smithsonian Channel Plus app with a 7-day trial. $4.99 per month there after.

According to Colorlines.org this film “catalogs the history of Victor Hugo Green’s project, which has been distorted and ignored by pop culture.”

Dr. James Eaton – FAMU Black Archives

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Story published July 15, 1993 in the Atlanta Constitution “A Man and His Museum”

In 1971 legislation was passed in Florida that mandated the creation of a repository to “serve the state by collecting and preserving source material on and about African Americans from ancient to present times.” Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University became home to that repository.

Dr. James N. Eaton was a history professor at FAMU and embarked on the task of collecting black memorabilia and artifacts.

The pictures news article states that Eaton is standing at a podium once used by Booker T. Washington and other well known African American orators. “Eaton was cruising interstate 95 in Georgia…he was in a truck stop when he saw near the Rebel flags and ceramic Jesus statues a ‘Jolly N****r Bank’…a relic of Jim Crow times.”

The Southeastern Regional Black Archives Research Center and Museum was renamed Meek- Eaton Black Archives after Dr. James N. Eaton’s passing in 2004 🕊

[source: FAMU & Kenan Research Center]