2023 24 Black Pages FINAL 2 - Flipbook - Page 114
Black Businesses a Notable Contributor to Macon’s Two Hundred Years of
Success
By Clarence W. Thomas, Jr.
Foundations of Black Macon Businesses
While it’s not as recognized and acknowledged as it should be, the fact of the matter
is Black businesses of the past and present are notable contributors to Macon’s success
since its establishment in 1823. The history of local Black businesses ownership and its role
in shaping this community and economy is best qualified to reward research on this.
Up until the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 and the subsequent
release of slaves following it, Black people, including those in Macon-Bibb County had been
relegated to free servitude. But with the ability to create independent communities of color,
former slaves went for self here and created early entrepreneurs.
Information provided by Middle Georgia Regional Library Genealogical & Historical
Room head Muriel M. Jackson reflects Blacks doing big things in Macon during the mid to
late 1800’s. Solomon Humphries, who also owned a great deal of real estate, opened a
general merchandise store in 1824 and was a cotton factor on the Main Road from Clinton
to Macon.
Virgina native Edward Woodliff arrived in Macon in 1832. He operated a barber
shop, first in the Floyd House then in the Lanier House. In addition, Woodliff opened the first
school after the Civil War.
Reconstruction era congressman Jefferson Long came to Macon before the Civil
War. His owner set him up in the tailoring business and by the end of the war Long owned
the shop and had taught himself how to read and write.
By the end of the 19th century the Freedman’s Bank and the city’s first public library
in Georgia opened at Lewis High/Ballard Normal affording the Black community of MaconBibb the opportunity to bank with itself and to become more literate.
As the Black community was fortifying itself fiscally and educationally, professional
growth boomed. The Helping Hand, published in 1881 by Reverend Stanley E. Lathorp of
the Congregational Church, notes Black professionals in Macon at the time being: bakers,
barbers, bricklayers, carpenters, clerks, dentist, firemen, gardeners, machinists, painters,
pressmen, police, tailors, shoemakers, and upholsters to name a few.
The Black community even had places to put their loved ones away owned and
operated by those that looked like them. Hutchings and Hubbard, Emery and Company, and
Central City Funeral Home like other Black owned businesses, were born out of what
Jackson described as a necessity. “We were giving services to the entire Black community.
It’s part of what made African American businesses successful,” Jackson added.
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