Georgia Magazine - February 2020 - 30

Around GEORGIA

AMBER LANIER NAGLE

of Bartow County's black community from the early 1900s to the
present.
"I'm particularly fond of the Depression glass pitcher set
from 1934. It was donated by the Smith family," says Valerie
Coleman, the museum curator, whose great-great-grandfather,
Webster Wheeler, was the chief contractor of the school's construction in 1923. "We also have an entire wall dedicated to Dr.
Susie Wheeler, an early graduate of the school."
The school is one of many stops along Bartow County's
African American Heritage Trail.
n Pin Point Heritage Museum, Savannah
chsgeorgia.org/phm, (912) 355-0064
The museum tells the cultural story of the Gullah Geechee
community founded in the late 1800s
by freedmen, many of whom were from
Ossabaw and Skidaway islands. The
former A.S. Varn & Son Oyster and Crab
Factory has been transformed into an
educational center for visitors to learn
about the Gullah Geechee daily life,
religion, language and food directly
from residents who grew up in the small,
close-knit community.

n Morton Theatre, Athens
mortontheatre.com, (706) 613-3770
Built in 1910 by businessman and
entrepreneur Monroe Bowers "Pink" Morton, the Morton Theatre is one of the first
and oldest surviving vaudeville theaters in
the United States and was owned and operated by an African American. The Morton Building housed the theater-which
hosted early acts such as Butterbeans and
Susie, Blind Willie McTell, Curley Weaver,
Cab Calloway and Bessie Smith-as well
as the offices of many of Athens' black
doctors, dentists and pharmacists.

COURTESY PIN POINT HERITAGE MUSEUM

Noble Hill-Wheeler Memorial Center curator
Valerie Coleman, left, and former curator
Marian Coleman pose near an original
chalkboard from Noble Hill Rosenwald School,
which was formed to educate black children
in Cassville.

n Ralph Mark Gilbert Civil Rights
Museum, Savannah
rmgilbertcivilrightsmuseum.com,
(912) 777-6099
The three-floor museum chronicles
the civil rights struggle of Georgia's oldest African American community from
slavery to the present through a documentary, historic photos and interactive
exhibits.

As part of educational programming at the
Pin Point Heritage Museum in Savannah,
n Roland Hayes Museum, Calhoun
n National Center for Civil and Human
Hanif Haynes talks about crabbing and
harrisartscenter.com/roland-hayes,
Rights, Atlanta
other aspects of life for the Gullah Geechee
(706) 629-2599
civilandhumanrights.org, (678) 999-8990
community of coastal Georgia.
The small museum in the
Established in 2007, the
Harris Arts Center honors the life of
42,000-square-foot center connects the
black opera tenor and composer Roland Hayes, who was born
American civil rights movement to today's struggle for global
in the small Northwest Georgia community of Curryville in 1887
human rights through original works of art, music, videos,
and became a world-renowned tenor despite the racial tensions
artifacts and interactive displays.
and discriminatory practices of the early 20th century.
Hayes, who sang in seven languages, performed at
n Noble Hill-Wheeler Memorial Center, Cassville
Carnegie Hall in New York, Symphony Hall in Boston and great
noblehillwheeler.org, (770) 382-3392
concert houses and royal palaces throughout the world. The
The site showcases Noble Hill Rosenwald School, the first
space includes photographs, correspondence, sheet music and
school in Northwest Georgia to be constructed with Rosenwald
recordings of Hayes as well as a grand piano on which Hayes
funds. These funds came from a charitable foundation estabpracticed during visits to relatives in Curryville.
lished by Sears, Roebuck and Co. co-founder Julius Rosenwald
Amber Lanier Nagle is a freelance writer who lives in
and were earmarked to help educate black children. Pictures,
Adairsville.
replicas and displays help visitors envision the lives of members

Georgia Magazine

February 2020

http://www.chsgeorgia.org/phm http://www.mortontheatre.com http://rmgilbertcivilrightsmuseum.com http://www.harrisartscenter.com/roland-hayes http://www.civilandhumanrights.org http://www.noblehillwheeler.org

Georgia Magazine - February 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Georgia Magazine - February 2020