MONTEZUMA, Ga. — A Macon County non-profit is having an event this weekend to honor black farmers from the 1930s.
In 1939, an all-black school in Montezuma served the families involved in the Flint River Farms Settlement during the Great Depression. Over six decades later, a local nonprofit turned it into a community park where they host "Heritage Day" to honor all the history.
Curtis McDonald founded the Flint River Farms School Preservation Society in 2004.
"Where we came from has a lot to do with where we're going," he said.
He's preserving the school he once attended.
"The basketball court itself was dirt, the dirt floor and everything, no top in it, and the buildings itself, we had the bathrooms separated from the school itself," he said.
Flint River Farms School was built in 1939 to serve African-American families involved in the government's Resettlement Project under President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal.
"Basically what the USDA was trying to do was take a class of black people from sharecropping to land ownership," board member Bob Melvin said.
They worked to turn the property into a park after the school burned down in 1966.
"This place was a dump site. We went to work, cleaned it up, asked local people, churches, they all came out, some guys didn't have any money, but they were out here with their tractors," McDonald said.
There's a lot of features at the site now.
"We have an active, working museum. We have a tree arboretum. We have pavilions, running waters, electricity on this historic site," Melvin said.
They're preparing for their 15th annual Heritage Day at the park, honoring the Flint River Farm families and showing people how they lived.
"We're going to do a procurement of the Hog. We're going to have preserves, and canning items, things of that time that our ancestors did to provide for their families," Melvin said.
McDonald says preservation of the history is important.
"If we don't pass the history on, they're going to forget it. We're trying to leave something behind to tell them, you know, you can do things," McDonald said.
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Heritage Day begins on Saturday at 9 a.m. and goes until 2 p.m. at the Flint River Farms School Community Park.
They'll demonstrate how meat is cut from the hog, and the meat will be sold to raise money for the society.
Flint River Farms School is on the state's historical registry. McDonald says they're working to get it on the national list.
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