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100 maconmagazine.com | APRIL/MAY 2022 Former Bibb County School District Deputy Superintendent Sylvia McGee chairs the center's board. She and four other members oversee the trust established by Mosley. They are additionally responsible for promoting programs, preserving Mosley's legacy and maintaining the house as a safe haven for the community. McGee said the presence of the home today is as important as ever. "This house has critical significance and symbolism. To have left this is an indication of Mrs. Mosley's foresight. She was always on the cusp of social justice issues and saw herself as a standard bearer of African-American progress," McGee said. "It's a treasure that needs to be reclaimed by all of Macon as a source of pride and greatness." The center hit a rough patch in the last year, struggling to maintain its financial footing, but is recovering nicely, according to McGee. Currently, the center has limited accessibility to the public, but residents are welcomed and encouraged to visit or use it by appointment. HISTORIC BLACK CHURCHES ABOUND INTOWN A few yards away from Mosley's home is Steward Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church at 887 Forsyth St. Mosley attended it — along with a plethora of people of importance from her time until now — and served as its secretary. It's one of the original, five large InTown churches historically founded and/or attended by Macon's Black community. Steward Chapel was established following Emancipation in the mid-1860s and is majestic. Marked by an impressive steeple, messages of hope and inspiration in its stained-glass windows and two-tier sanctuary, Steward Chapel is named after author, educator, U.S. Army Chaplin and Buffalo Soldier Theophilus Gould Steward. Aside from Mosley, notable membership over time has included United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia Judge Louis Sands; former Bibb County School District board member Wanda West; Macon-Bibb Commissioner Elaine Lucas and her husband, Ga. Sen. David Lucas; prominent dentist DT Walton Sr.; and Patricia Miller, the city's first Black teacher to preside over white students. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous speech, "A Realistic Look at Progress in the Area of Race Relations" from the pulpit of Steward Chapel. The Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton also appeared at the church. Levornia Franklin Jr. presides today as Steward Chapel's first Macon-born pastor. He said the church and its InTown companions, First Baptist Church, Washington Avenue Presbyterian Church, Holsey Temple Christian Methodist Episcopal Church and the original Tremont Temple Baptist Church — which was located across the street from Steward Chapel until moving to Bloomfield Road — all hold special places in history as repositories of stories related to Black Macon's resilience and rise. LEVORNIA FRANKLIN JR. IS THE PASTOR OF STEWARD CHAPEL AME CHURCH.