Macon Magazine

August/September 2024 | maconmagazine.com 41 the markers are a tangible result of the Macon200 bicentennial committee working with Wesleyan College's Equity Center, which had been participating in the Crafting Democratic Futures (CDF) inittiative. CDF is a national network of nine colleges and universities selected through Center for Social Solutions at the University of Michigan to work with their local communities on what racial reparations projects could look like, funded by the Mellon Foundation. Alongside the bicentennial committee, local businesspeople, educators, researchers, preservationists, and cultural advocates, many of whom were part of CDF, joined Macon200's project. When the Macon200 arts working group appointed a subcommittee on historic markers, they didn't have to look far for unparalleled expertise. Appointees included Muriel McDowell Jackson, head of the Middle Georgia Regional Library Genealogical and Historical Room, who wrote the text displayed on the plaques. Local advocate George Fadil Muhammad was part of the subcommittee's research and development. Muhammad views the markers as milestones in Macon's history and a necessary component of the bicentennial celebration. "They have narratives that may be uncomfortable for some, but necessary if we are truly going to be a progressive city," he suggests. Jackson says she's proud to have been a part of bridging the divide between Macon's underreported past and its present and future. "I'm lucky to be living in a time when people are encouraging each other to acknowledge and discuss this part of our history," she expressed. "To have the markers is so powerful," she continued, noting that to read or write about the markers is one thing, "but having them to visit is another." Installation, too, relied on local experts. Traffic Safety Manager Weston Stroud served on the subcommittee to assist in a smooth implementation, and safe road placement, between the county government and the grassroots working group. The Black-owned contractor Assembly Brothers, headed by Sherman Kind and based in the Pleasant Hill neighborhood, was chosen to place the markers, now located on Pine, Poplar, and Mulberry Streets. The marker at the top of what was once Historic Cotton Avenue, which stretched up to what is now called Forsyth Street, commemorates this once-thriving African-American business district. The marker, located near the intersection of Pine and Forsyth in the median beside Atrium Health Levine Children's Beverly Knight Olson Children's Hospital, reveals that several of the district's historic buildings have been torn down, including the Douglass Mansion and the former Tremont Temple Baptist Church building, now a Dunkin' Donuts that sits adjacent to the marker. The marker on Poplar Street recognizes the enslaved who suffered at an auction site once located there, where human beings were sold. The third marker will be located on Mulberry Street near the site of the old Bibb County Courthouse, which is also an unrecognized auction site of the enslaved. An anonymous donor has pledged towards the making of two future markers, and interested civic groups now seek to raise funds for more. Working on the installation of the newest marker recently in the hot July sun, Kind pointed out one of the names listed on it: Solomon Humphries. "I know him! He was buried up in Fort Hill." Humphries was known as "Free Sol" for the fact that he was a rare free Black man in the 1830's, around the time of Macon's founding. He owned Macon's first Black owned business, a grocery, and purchased the freedom of others. The marker explains that even a freedman like Humphries couldn't escape the reality of enslavement in everyday life, with a record of enslaved peoples being used as collateral for a loan transaction involving Humphries. "I'm just glad I have a chance to give back some of this history to the community," Kind explained. All placed within walking distance of each other in the heart of the urban core, they provide context and enrich the downtown experience for locals and visitors. As new businesses thrive and revitalization surges, the past remains. For a richer experience, viewers can download the Black History Trail app created by Visit Macon for a guided virtual walking tour. Colorful aluminum signs with Visit Macon branding will bear a QR code, beckoning passersby to download the app with the text, "Black history happened here!" Kind places the top on a marker on a busy afternoon on Mulberry Street. "I'm lucky to be living in a time when people are encouraging each other to acknowledge and discuss this part of our history."

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