An Athens landmark went up in flames last week. The old Georgia Theatre on Lumpkin Street in downtown Athens was heavily damaged by fire of an unknown origin. There was an immediate call for efforts to rebuild the old theatre. People were quick to point out the building’s historic value.
It is true that it is a historic building. It has been witness to dramatic changes in Athens and northeast Georgia over the past century. Some of the area’s history was admirable. But there were other parts of the area’s history that many people would prefer to forget.
There are quite a few of us old enough to remember the era of racial segregation. Within our memory, law and custom kept the black and white races strictly separate. Public water fountains and restrooms were clearly labeled, which were for whites and which were for “colored.” The schools were segregated. Athens had two high schools, Athens High was the white school. Burney-Harris was the colored school.
Athens even had separate business districts. The colored business district was centered on the recently restored Morton Theatre. A second theatre, just for movies, was located at the foot of Broad Street near Burney-Harris High School.
The Georgia Theatre contains an architectural reminder of that age. Around the corner, out of site of the main entry and ticket office, is a small set of circular steps. At the top of the steps is a secondary entrance and a small ticket window. Inside that door is a stair well leading to the balcony. This side door was the “colored entrance.” Colored seating was limited to the balcony.
It was not just Athens of course. When Madison County consolidated its schools in 1955, they built two high schools. Madison County High School in Danielsville, and Southside High School on Hwy 72 between Comer and Colbert. Madison County High School was for white students and Southside High for blacks. That was in the transitional “separate but equal” period. The schools were still segregated, but facilities from building to class books were supposedly made equal at each school. As a 1958 graduate of Madison County High School, I was a product of the separate but equal system.
Two years after the schools were opened, the Board of Education decided that modern gyms were needed. So they designed an new gym and built two of them: one at each high school. The two buildings were identical. Subsequent supreme court rulings put an end to the separate but equal plan, and the two school were eventually merged.
Southside High’s campus is still there. It was sold to a private company and is now used as a manufacturing facility. The gym there is now a warehouse and shipping center.
We have come a long way in Georgia in the past half century. Georgians of all colors now work side by side in a friendly manner. It is not unusual to see colored supervisors with whites working under their direction. No one is surprised to see mixed race couples shopping together in local stores. The “white” and “colored” signs are gone. But here and there, signs of that age remain. If you look closely, you can still find them. Georgia Theatre’s side entrance is one of them.
Perhaps it is good that a few clues of that age remain. Those occasional reminders will help us remember the shame of racism and help us to complete the task of ending racism for good.
Frank Gillispie is founder of The Madison County Journal. His e-mail address is frankgillispie671@msn.com. His website can be accessed at http://frankgillispie.tripod.com/
