DUBLIN, Ga. — This year, Dudley Funeral Home in Dublin celebrates a century of serving the community.
Back in the day you could find them in the green book, which showed a list of locations Black people could stop safely.
Visionary Herbert "Hub" Dudley provided countless services for African Americans living in a segregated Central Georgia.
Today, family members and staff work to keep his business and his legacy alive.
"This building actually existed back in the 1900s, and started to be built back in 1898," Carl Pearson with Dudley Funeral Home said.
The Story of Herbert "Hub" Dudley began with a grocery store where people could buy on credit. Dudley made it his mission to provide services for Black people in Laurens County.
Carl Pearson is Dudley's grandson and says his grandfather ultimately provided more than just goods and services, "There was also a bank established in order to make sure people had more access to cash."
"So there were dry goods in this building, and the building next door was actually a meat market. So people have been coming for different things here for at least the last 20 years." Pearson said.
There was also a barber shop, bank, café, mattress factory, casket manufacturing company and the Dudley Hotel.
"With the traffic coming on US 80 before I-16 was available, this was a very busy place," Pearson said.
When traveling between Macon and Savannah, the motel served as a safe haven for Black people looking for a place to stop in the green book. Dudley's dream of providing services and safety for African-Americans in a segregated South also led to the fight for equality.
"Then, of course, with the civil rights effort we had people like Martin Luther King and his constituents to come through, but they were coming for planning meetings during the civil rights era in the 60's," Pearson said.
Pearson says folks like Little Richard, James Brown and gospel groups would also stay at the motel.
"A lot of things would not have occurred or would have happened had it not been for Hub Dudley," Julie Driger said.
The Former Dublin City Councilwoman and Interim Mayor says Dudley helped make Dublin the city it is today.
"It is a huge history that Dublin ought not ever forget," Driger said.
Most of the original businesses are long gone, but the Dudley's continue to serve families at their funeral home.
"It makes me very proud to know they put such an effort and committed their lives to making sure every morning the businesses are open, the phones were answered," Driger said.
And Pearson hopes generations to come will be inspired to serve the community for another century.