Walk the Walk Growing the impact and importance of African-American historical sites in Columbus

By Frank Etheridge

Perhaps the most jarring example in Columbus of how history is told—by whom and for whom— and changes with time lies in the shadow of the Government Center.

On that beleaguered tower of bureaucracy’s frontward-facing 10th Street side, a series of three historical markers (erected from 1955-57, during Jim Crow’s last gasp) celebrates the site as connected to: Confederate Hospitals (eight buildings, including the original city court house demolished to make way for the Government Center, in 1864 were charged with care of 1,500-plus wounded soldiers), the Ladies Defender (a Confederate cannon cast in Columbus in 1861 with brass furnishings donated by women in the city) and the Red Jacket, a cannon first fired by the Columbus Guards militia to celebrate Georgia’s succession from the Union in 1861.

A few feet over on the Second Avenue side, a historical marker—its shiny finish a contrast to the fade and rust seen on the older signs—erected in 2015 by the Georgia Historical Commission, points to the place where local barber and minister Primus King attempted to vote in the 1944 Democratic primary election. Denied and forcibly removed from the building, King’s long legal battle to win his right to vote changed local and state voting laws and credited here as the first act in Georgia’s Civil Rights Movement.

Primus King’s place in history is one of 26 included in the city’s official Black Heritage Trail, the legacy of late local writer and historian Judith Grant, now maintained by the Parks and Recreation Dept. and promoted by the tourism arm, VisitColumbusGA.     

“I’m a firm believer that if you don’t know where you come from, then you have no sense of who you are,” says Ronzell Buckner, community leader and owner of Skipper’s Seafood on Buena Vista Road. “This history has to be told so young kids will know of the shoulders they’re standing on. Instill pride in them that they can contribute to our city.”

Buckner first worked with Grant as she wrote her play The Columbus Story, which enjoyed a successful run at the (now-closed) Three Arts Theater in 1992. Describing the Black Heritage Trail as “dormant,” he is now at work on a project to expand upon Grant’s historical footprint and boost both cultural awareness and tourism dollars: the Martin Luther King, Jr. Outdoor Learning Trail.

In partnership with professors from Columbus State University and Chattahoochee Valley Community College, and VisitColumbusGA President Peter Bowden, Buckner says the new trail will feature “sculptures and markers at 11 sites of very significant value to our city brought to life.” It starts at the Muscogee County School District (Macon and Rigdon roads), winds through Carver Heights—built during World War II, the city’s first African-American subdivision—before venturing downtown and ending on Bay Avenue. It will be presented as both a printed map and an app.

“Black people want to know their history and are spending money on hotels, restaurants and tour buses to learn it,” says Buckner, who has taken tour groups as large as 145 on his trail. “This pumps revenue into our city. We want this trail to be the catalyst to draw people from other states and cities to see the black history of Columbus, Georgia and how that’s also the history of this country.”   

Take the Tour

Pulled largely from the city’s official Black Heritage Trail, with information from a brochure picked up from the Columbus Visitors Center, as it does not have a website, here’s a condensed tour, easily enjoyed by bike or on foot, that provides a crash course in the city’s rich African-American culture and history.

The Liberty Theatre (823 Eighth Ave.) during the days of segregation was the center of cultural life for African Americans in Columbus as both a movie theater and concert hall that hosted musical legends such as Cab Callaway and Ella Fitzgerald. Built in 1924 with 705 seats, it is only one of two African-American theaters still standing in the state (the Douglas in Macon the other). Now operating as a cultural center but without  much programming or funding, the Liberty is admittedly at “a crossroads,” says executive director Shae Anderson, as its board seeks to find a way to be “sustainable” in today’s economic and cultural climate. Still, the Liberty remains a landmark in the city’s oldest black neighborhood and in January served as the host site for the Dream Lives event over the Martin Luther King, jr. holiday weekend, with the annual leaving as always from the Liberty. “It’s a great way to celebrate the life of Dr. King,” Anderson says of Dream Lives, “and an honor for the Liberty to open its doors to all the community organizations to help do so.”

Start heading towards the river to Sixth Avenue, where you’ll find St. James AME Church at the corner of 10th Street on a plot of land deeded by act of the Reconstruction-era Georgia General Assembly in 1875. The beautiful brick structure is home to one of the city’s most influential congregations and features remarkable hand-carved doors and the state’s second-oldest pipe organ. Tours available by appointment.

Head a block downriver on Sixth Avenue to the Prince Hall Masonic Lodge, home to the local chapter of the world’s oldest and largest masons of  African origin in the world. It was here in July 1958 that Martin Luther King, Jr. made his only public appearance in Columbus. Facing death threats against King and the Klu Klux Klan promising to firebomb any church that hosted him, the Lodge was the only site in the city willing to host King’s speech. The event occurred without incident, though later that night dynamite exploded in the home of a black woman who had moved into a white neighborhood on Fifth Avenue. Citing the corresponding violence as proof of what would happen the Civil Rights Movement leader when came to town, city leaders told King to never return to Columbus. The lodge is not part of the Black Heritage  Trail.

One street over and operated by the city’s Parks and Recreation Dept., the Ma Rainey House and Blues Museum is a treasure trove of artifacts and information related to the “Mother of the Blues.” Her vocal talents discovered as a child in choir at Friendship Baptist Church on Sixth Avenue, Rainey made her professional debut at age 15 with “A Bunch of Blackberries” at the Springer Opera House, where the band was forced to perform from the balcony as blacks were prohibited from the ground floor. As described by Debi Wise, the Parks and Recreation staffer on site, Rainey lived the life of a present-day feminist icon: bi-sexual with a preference for women and hiring only good-looking me, she succeeded tough times in a tough business because of business smarts, choosing to take revenue from concession sales versus just ticket sales. Yet, Wise says the site receives more interest from Europeans than Americans, despite the display of Rainey’s original records, furniture and the piano where she wrote her popular, influential “See See Rider Blues.” Free admission. Open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tues.-Sat.

Head to the 1000 block of First Avenue, where respected local physician Dr. Thomas Brewer kept his office. The founder of the Columbus chapter of the NAACP the 1930s, Brewer was a leading figure in the local Civil Rights Movement, noted for funding the Primus King’s legal battles and lobbying the Muscogee County School Board for equitable funding for black public schools. As racial tensions escalated in the the mid-1950s, Brewer was killed in a strange set of circumstances still debated today. He was shot and killed by Lucio Flowers, who operated a clothing store beneath Brewer’s second-floor office, reportedly after a dispute in front of two police officers over the witnessing of police brutality. Flower’s death one year later was ruled a suicide and some think could point toward a cover-up of Brewer’s death.