By Dr. Doris Davenport
Miss Emma and Mr. Robert Williams, known variously as “Mr. Doc, Doc, and Papa Doc,” lived in Cornelia until his death at age 101. He and Miss Emma raised one of the largest families in the community, and thus, numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Many of them still live in the area including Marion Smith, their grandson, and a founding RAAM Board member. According to Marion, his (maternal) grandparents re-located here from Washington, GA because Mr. Doc worked on the railroads.
This article, one of four, is based on materials from the 20 exhibition panels of the Regional African American Museum [RAAM] and from the recent publication by the Habersham Historical Society [HCHS], Habersham200: New Thoughts of Old Things (A Brief History 1818-2018). The information is from Section III, “African American Communities of Habersham County.” Used with permission.
The Museum’s history is one of imagination, perseverance, communal determination and commitment; stubbornness, trials and tribulations, and triumph. And, amazingly, the Regional African American Museum (RAAM) of Northeast Georgia, Inc celebrates its 10th Anniversary this year.
In 2008 Andrea Harper, Better Hometown Manager for the City of Cornelia, announced a program for a Black History Month Exhibit in the historic train depot. Mrs. Betty Gober, a long-standing member of Shady Grove Baptist Church, a community pillar, organizer and volunteer, was enthusiastic about the Exhibit as “something never done before.”
In 2009, Mrs. Gober and a local minister, Rev. Vanessa Burns, were chosen to endorse the exhibit. This launched a full-out, “search & seizure” effort to get donations, to borrow or collect cherished artifacts, photographs and written articles of local culture and history, especially in Habersham County. Rather than generic or national, Black History Month now had an authentic local face, of known community leaders and neighbors. The donations eventually covered almost 50 years.
In 2010, the exhibit was prepared solely by African American volunteers for the first time. The intrepid Black History Committee (BHC) members were Mrs. Betty Gober, Dr. Audrey Rosser Milo, community leader and historian; Rev. Ann Anderson Nicely and Mr. Marion Smith, two outstanding alumni of Cornelia Regional [Colored] High School and Audrey Davenport, visionary artist and eventually the RAAM President & Curator and HCHS Executive Director.
The exhibit doubled in size and the display was extremely popular among local residents. In addition to generational family lineages, school desegregation memoirs, community organizations, and religious landmarks, it included accomplishments in medicine, law enforcement, government, business and industry, sports, fine arts, and military service. Although with limited exhibit hours (one month, Saturday and Sunday afternoons only, from 1-5 p.m.), attendance more than tripled that of the previous two years.
As the exhibit grew, contributors suggested that the former Cornelia Regional (Colored) High School (CRHS) building would make an excellent museum. If that could happen, the exhibit could be constantly available, rather than just one (short) month of the year.
The Regional African American Museum shares a space with the Habersham County Historical Society, Inc. at the J.P. Ballard Center at 353 Chattahoochee Street in Cornelia. The Museum will be open every Saturday in February from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and we currently need volunteers interested in becoming board members. If you’re interested in keeping this effort alive, please consider volunteering as a board member. For details, call Audrey Davenport, 404-271-2468.