Category Archives: Black History

-Georgia, Black History, Cemeteries, Vernacular Headstones

Randolph Cemetery-Baldwin County, Georgia

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Portal to Randolph Cemetery in Baldwin County

Located on a side street on the outskirts of Milledgeville is one of the most impressive folk funerary monuments I’ve had the opportunity to document. The arched entryway for the Randolph Cemetery honors the Knights of the Pythias, Lodge 47. I would assume, minimally, they helped build this arch, but they likely had a hand in the start of this cemetery

The first Black KoP lodge was started in 1880 in Mississippi. I have not located much history about the Black history of KoP lodges in Georgia.

“He watches over me.”

The shield on the right represents the Knights of the Pythias. The F, C, and B stands for friendship, charity, and benevolence. They are often flanked by swords, battle axes, or a spear to represent the weapons they used to fight their enemies.

Cora Wright Randolph, 1874-1926. Notice the handprint on the headstone.

-Georgia, Abandoned, Black History, Cemeteries, Churches and Temples

Antioch Baptist Church-Crawfordville, Georgia

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Taliaferro County

Built in 1899 by local craftspeople, Antioch Baptist Church was founded by freedmen and women in 1886. The Gothic Revival church sits just off the road in southern Taliaferro County.

There are efforts to stabilize the church, which water has damaged over the years. Former congregation members still return to the church once a year for homecoming.

There is a small graveyard adjacent to the church with burials ranging from 1899 to 2000.

Black History, Cemeteries, National Register of Historic Places, Rosenwald Schools, Schools

T. J. Elder High and Industrial School, Georgia

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Located in Sandersville, Georgia, the T. J. Elder High and Industrial School is a Rosenwald School built in 1927 for $18,600. The six-teacher type school was expanded behind the building over the years. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981.

Named for Thomas Jefferson Elder, Elder was an important educator who opened his first school in 1889. He and his wife, Lucy Lillian Phinizy, are buried in front of the school.

-Georgia, Black History, Schools

Rose Hill School, Georgia

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Porterdale, Newton County

Built in 1937 by the Bibb Manufacturing Company, the school was built to educate the school children of the local mill workers. Rose Hill was the segregated Black community in the northern part of Porterdale. It was placed on the 2020 Places in Peril list by the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation because of it’s lack of use and upkeep.

-Tennessee, Black History, National Register of Historic Places, Rosenwald Schools, Schools

Free Hills Rosenwald School-Free Hills, Tennessee

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Free Hills (also known as Free Hill), Tennessee was a antebellum Black community. It was founded in 1816 by the newly freed men and women once enslaved by Virginia Hill and her wealthy planter family. Hill purchased the hilltop land and turned it over to them to create a community.

The Free Hills Rosenwald School was built in 1929 and served the community until 1949. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.

-Kentucky, Black History, Cemeteries, Famous People, National Register of Historic Places

Muhammad Ali at Cave Hill Cemetery, Kentucky

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Louisville, Jefferson County
1942-2016