Macon Magazine

38 maconmagazine.com | October/November 2025 photographs you see in that exhibit were taken with [my] phone, walking around the woods. We did everything ourselves, and it turned out really good. We also did an exhibit with the Superior Court when they found all those records of slave transactions, "The Enslaved People's Project." We exhibited some of that material, and then that led to a project with Mercer [University] about people who were self-emancipating at the same time, which was called "Freedom Seekers." So you have the story of enslaved people in Macon from the beginning up through the Civil War, people emancipating themselves, and free people of color. All of these things were researched and created here in-house. That makes this institution special. How does the Tubman Museum help the community move forward? Nowadays, in 2025, any minority institution is subject to scrutiny or attack. We live in a time where basically any stories that don't center – and center heroically – on white people are considered divisive. We're an African American museum. We tell stories about Black people in Macon, middle Georgia, and the state. That's our subject, and that used to be a perfectly valid subject to have. But nowadays, it's a controversial subject. I think it's our responsibility, and our obligation, to stick to that mission and not bow to pressure to change stories. There's what we call truth. By that, I mean facts. Observable, repeatable, testable, third-party verifi able facts. We are living in a time when what we want to be true has more power than what's true. Unfortunately, what people want to be true is a, pardon the pun, whitewashed version of history. It's important for institutions like this one to continue to exist, to not be pushed off the mission by those powers that want to change what stories are told, and how they're told. What does being a hero mean to you? It's easy to be heroic when it doesn't cost you anything. It's hard to be heroic when the consequence is real and right there. It's not what you say, it's what you do. Anybody can say anything. It's acting when acting has consequences that's heroic. Who are your heroes? My mom and my dad. I don't have external heroes. They shaped who I am. There are lots of admirable people out there, don't get me wrong, but I'm kind of a curmudgeonly guy. I'm not impressed with celebrity or status. Nonprofi t institutions are always struggling for support. You look for patronage – that means rich and famous people. I'm not good at that. I tell people, thank God I'm not in charge of this [place], because I wouldn't do the things required to court donors. What's your favorite tidbit to share with visitors? Here's something people don't know: right before Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis in 1968, his last major speech before he went there was here in Macon. We have that documented in our local history exhibit. There are images of him here with William Randall, [Ralph] Abernathy, and others. That puts Macon right in the center of that civil rights movement journey. Obviously the whole Ellen and William Cra story, which visitors learn here, is amazing. Then for me, just how integrated Macon was and is with a very hugely important and creative time in American popular music. Little Richard, Otis Redding, Pearly Brown, James Brown, WIBB—all of that. How hugely consequential Macon has been with the evolution of popular music was new to me. Now that I've been here for 20 plus years, I'm able to take pride in that history and culture. What can people do to support the Tubman Museum? They can become members. Every nonprofi t struggles for support. For a minority institution, you have the added challenge of reaching out of the minority community into the larger community. Membership goes a long way, and there are all these levels starting at $25. It helps directly with revenue, but it also shows we have the support of the community when we're trying to get other kinds of money. Membership is an investment in what the institution stands for, which is about diversity. All the things that we're not supposed to be about now, diversity, inclusion, equity, and justice, all of those things that are "bad." That's all us. That membership is a sign that you are in opposition to that. Become a member today and support the Tubman by visiting tubmanmuseum.org Je holds up a piece that was part of the Afrofuturism exhibit at the Tubman Museum.

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