MAKING A REAL DIFFERENCE in macon

Throughout Macon’s history, Black men and women have made substantial contributions to our city, overcoming obstacles and blatant discrimination to achieve. Here’s a look at just a few of them that we’ve chronicled:

  • Article about the Bibb County Superior Court’s Enslaved People Project, which used deed books to document slave ownership in Macon: https://bit.ly/3A5VTgt

  • Article about E.E. Green, a formerly enslaved man who becase a doctor and lived in the Pleasant Hill neighborhood: https://bit.ly/4fsv86e

  • Article about Ruth Hartley Mosley, a successful businesswoman during a time when the odds were squarely against a woman, especially a woman of color: https://bit.ly/46zx5de

  • Article about Bartholomew Duhart, a builder know for his distinctive touches: https://bit.ly/46dJGCz

  • Article about renowned fabric artist Wini McQueen: https://bit.ly/3LRNSi6

  • Article about longtime brick mason Roscoe Ross: https://bit.ly/3YvL4yK

  • Article about the Roxy Theater, a cinema for Black people during segregation: https://bit.ly/3NcZmxW

  • Article about Macon sites in the book and movie “Green Book:” https://bit.ly/3Yvuqz5

African American Heritage Study

The National Trust for Historic Preservation awarded Historic Macon a grant to conduct an African American Heritage Study after the demolition of Tremont Temple and the Douglass House. The loss of these two important structures highlighted the extreme development pressure on the Cotton Avenue Historic District and the need to better document Macon's many African American cultural resources.

Historic Macon held several public meetings that were facilitated by Jeanne Cyriaque of Georgia's Historic Preservation Division. Cyriaque published a report on her findings to help preserve African American resources in Macon.

Cotton Avenue District Walking Tour

In response to the study, the Cotton Avenue district, Macon's historically African American business district, became one of the sites listed in Macon's Fading Five. To draw attention to this historically and culturally significant site, Historic Macon published a walking tour brochure that can be downloaded. Hard copies can be picked up at Historic Macon’s office, 950 Third St., the Macon's Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Tubman Museum, and the Ruth Hartley Mosley Memorial Women's Center.