As part of the Quest for Freedom workshop examining the Long Civil Rights movement with a focus on landmarks in Thomasville and the Red Hills region of southern Georgia and northern Florida, the Thomasville History Center has digitized portions of its collections and also drawn on other related published sources.  We want to encourage teachers, scholars, journalists, and the general public to explore the rich history of Thomasville and the resources of the Thomasville History Center along with those of the Jack Hadley Black History Museum. This material is only a small fraction of the holdings of both of these institutions.

In using these documents bear in mind that they reflect sentiments that may be troubling, especially with regard to discrimination and violence. Striving to capture the Black voice is often problematic. For instance, through much of Thomasville’s history there existed no African American newspaper for the period before 1954.  Fortunately, Black newspapers in other parts of Georgia and nationally sometimes carried news regarding Thomasville. We also often have to rely on letters, diaries, and newspaper accounts of white residents, all together these documents underscore the resilience of the African American community from the end of the Civil War in 1865 to the U.S. Supreme Court issuing the Brown vs. Board of Education decision in 1954.

• G. Kurt Piehler, Editor
• Livia Ducmetiere-Monod, Stella Contente, Aaron Contente, Editorial Assistants
• The Quest for Freedom: The African American Community and the Aftermath of Slavery, 1865-1954.
• Gregory Mixon & G. Kurt Piehler, Co-Directors
• Anne McCudden, Executive Director, Thomasville History Center, Grants Administrator

We want to express our appreciation to Ephraim Rotter, Archivist at the Thomasville History Center for his assistance.

This documentary reader was funded in part with a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy Demands Wisdom.