Macon Magazine

August/September 2024 | maconmagazine.com 45 life if they depend solely on what you're giving them. About 20 years ago, we had a young man that came in. He had very little information about his birth mother. He had gone to DFCS and they had given him just a little bit. What I suggested was that since his mother was raised here in Macon … that he goes through the high school yearbooks to look to see if he saw anybody with features like him. I think he had initials for a name and so forth, a rough idea of how old she was. And he researched. Then we asked him, "No DFCS holes [in] the adoption records? Maybe there's something left behind." And for some reason, his mother's best friend's name was not redacted or something. About two months later, he runs in, grabs and hugs me, and says, "Thank you." And I'm like, "Who are you?" – because you see so many people. He had found his birth mother. When you get tired or frustrated, you just think back to those who really appreciated what you did. What is it about the genealogy division and room that just keeps you coming back in there? When I started in 1990, I was quite often the only person of color coming in to use the department. Because traditionally, genealogy departments are the domains of little blue haired white ladies researching their family and so forth. Watching the diversity that has emerged over the years of everyone being interested, in being able to do family history, you have to be grateful for the organization that started this department, the Daughters of the American Revolution. You are charged with answering a lot of questions not just about family history, but also Macon's history. What is that like? I always say in my family, I was fortunate to be the oldest of five children. I got to experience both my grandmothers before they died, and to hear about different things my dad and his friends talked about from when they went to school. It's just little bits and pieces being absorbed, because when I was in school, they didn't teach Georgia history, really. There was no Macon history course, either. It's a love of reading. My mother always made sure we had a library card. She just read the newspaper. She wasn't really into books a whole lot, but she made sure we had library cards. That's what we've got to get parents to do, to get their children interested in reading at a young age. Those skills will help them throughout life, not just school. What do you hope your legacy will be? She treated everyone the same. She left a legacy that someone else can build upon. She stood, and whoever comes behind her can stand on her shoulders to lift the department up even higher ... Success is never overnight. It's important that it took something to build it up. That's one of the reasons I use my maiden name in the middle ... When people realize, I knew your father, it's a trust factor. I'm not just somebody coming in from Podunk USA, from Atlanta, trying to take over or something. They realize I have a local connection. What is the weight and the value and the power of the historic markers endeavor? Visit Macon had an article they put on there that we were talking about – the markers – that put Macon on the map again. [This is in reference to the CNN article "Macon, Georgia goes from 'ghost town' to 'popping'"] Did you see that? Even though I wrote this marker… seeing it there cast in bronze with the words on it to last forever. It's so powerful. You can write it and put in a book, which is good, but they can hide a book. But a big marker like that? Someone was so impressed, we actually got the money to do two more markers. So they are making a difference. Yes. I didn't know. I expected we'd have to have a public debate or something. Or [people would ask] where did you get this information? Because I was always trying to make sure I could document every single statement that was put on those markers. Are these considered educational resources not just for us here in Macon, but for the entire globe? Yes. Eventually those markers are going to have QR codes, which will lead to more information. We recently looked at the Black history tours of Savannah. Macon has the information, and the African-American community, but we've never documented physically where it was. Until we share with the wider Macon-Bibb community the history that we know, it will be lost, and no one will be around to appreciate it. The next one of the two markers I really want to do, and we're all in agreement, is that we want to document the Georgia Academy for the Blind Colored, is what they used to call it. It was also the location for the first African-American library, Amelia Hutchings Library. And it just so happens, Green Street School was on that site as well. Do you feel like the markers' time has come – especially in Macon? They're being done at a time when people are receptive. Everyone acknowledged that it happened. This is what we know about it. It was in the paper. People talked about it. It's not something we're erasing. "Until we share with the wider Macon-Bibb community the history that we know, it will be lost, and no one will be around to appreciate it. " Come to the genealogical and historical room at Washington Memorial Library to investigate your lingering questions anytime Mon. 9 a.m. - 8 p.m. and Tues.–Sat. 9 a.m. - 6 p.m.

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