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BLACK HISTORYMONTH
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As we continue our Journey forward into the new year, putting one month into the archives of history, let us not forget those African Americans who, as part of the Peach County Community,
have paved the way and left a legacy of contribution to this great county, as we here at The Leader-Tribune take time to observe Black History Month in Peach County.
Gamma Pi Omega Chapter Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc
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Members of Gamma Pi Omega Graduate Chapter and Alpha Beta Undergraduate
Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc
On Saturday, March 24 at 10
a.m., the ladies of Gamma Pi
Omega Chapter will celebrate
their 70th Anniversary. The his
torical celebration will be held
at the Pettigrew Center on the
campus of the Fort Valley State
University. The following Black
History Highlight was written
by Lillie M. Adkins, a charter
member of Gamma Pi Omega
A. T. Walden (1885-1965), Fort Valley Native & Civil Rights Leader
Fort Valley native A. T.
Walden was a noted attorney,
civil rights leader, and one of
the New South’s first black
political power brokers. His life
spanned nearly 80 turbulent
years of southern history, when
racial segregation and restric¬
tions on black voter participa¬
tion were common practices.
One of the few black lawyers
in Georgia during the civil
rights era, Walden litigated civil
rights cases to help equalize pay
for black teachers in Georgia.
Having won the lawsuits that
helped to desegregate the
Atlanta public schools and the
University of Georgia Walden
earned a national reputation as
a civil rights lawyer.
Austin Thomas Walden was
bom in Fort Valley on April 12,
1885, to former slaves Jennie
Tomlin and Jeff Walden. He
attended Fort Valley High and
Industrial School and was the
lone graduate of the class of
1902. He received a bachelor’s
degree from Atlanta University
(now Clark-Atlanta) in 1907
and a law degree from the
University of Michigan Law
School in 1911.
Walden began practicing law
in Macon in 1912. In June 1917
he joined the army and during
World War 1 served as a captain
and assistant judge advocate. On
May 18, 1918, he married Mary
Ellen Denney of Baltimore,
Maryland. They had two daugh¬
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♦FEBRUARY 22,2012
Chapter. She shared these facts
during a Founder’s Month pre
sentation at the March 6, 1998
sorority meeting in the Georgia
Room of the Fort Valley State
College Food Service,
‘Today we are members of
Gamma Pi Omega Chapter of
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority,
Our anniversary date is March
21,1942. This means that at that
ters, Jenelsie and Austella. He
received an honorable discharge
from the military in February
1919 and that same year moved
his law practice to Atlanta,
In 1948 Walden founded and
was president of the Gate City
Bar Association for African
American lawyers in Atlanta,
He was also a member of the
Atlanta and American Bar asso
ciations and litigated cases in
all levels of the court system of
Georgia as well as in the U.S.
Supreme Court. He also served
as legal counsel for Citizens
Trust Company, Mutual Federal
Savings and Loan Association,
and the National Baptist
Convention. U.S.A.
In addition to his legal work,
Walden assumed leadership
roles in a number of commu
nity organizations. He served
as chair of the executive boards
of Butler Street YMCA and the
Atlanta Urban League and was
president of both the Atlanta
University Alumni Association
and the Atlanta Branch of the
(NAACP). He also held post
tions as the cochair of the
Summit leadership Conference
in Atlanta, the national vice pres
idem of the NAACP, a member
of the NAACP’s national legal
committee, and the chair of the
trustees of Wheat Street Baptist
Church.
Walden began his political
life as a Republican, serving as
chair of the Republican Party
time, the national organization
itself was only 34 years old.
Now 34 is not very old for a
person, and for an organization
it is almost embryonic Also the
College itself was barely three
years old, evolving from a junior
college to a four-year institu¬
tion and making the transition
from a church-related to a state
-operated institution. Placed
executive committee from the
5th Congressional District
Georgia. In 1940 he switched
to the Democratic Party and
remained active with that party
for the next 25 years. In recogni
tion of the importance of voter
participation and the need to
increase black registration, he
became a founder and cochair
of the nonpartisan Atlanta
Negro Voters League and leader
of the All-Citizens Registration
Committee. With these visible
political positions, Walden was
able to exercise great political
influence on behalf of black
Atlantans. As the rate of black
voting increased in the late
1940s, significant progress
was made in the black com
munity, such as street and sewer
improvements and the hiring
of black policemen in African
American neighborhoods,
Walden’s political savvy
brought him an appointment to
Atlanta’s city executive com
mittee in 1953. Ten years later,
he was one of the first two
blacks to serve as members of
the state Democratic executive
committee. U.S. president John
F. Kennedy appointed Walden
as a member of the American
Battle Monuments Commission
in 1963, and he was a delegate
to the Democratic National
Convention in 1964, the first year
in which blacks were included
in the Georgia delegation. For
several years he served as presi-
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in such a setting was a young
faculty that had been recruited
by Dr. Horace Mann Bond, first
president of Fort Valley State
College, from black colleges
throughout the country.
“Among that group there
were five Alpha Kappa Alpha
women highly motivated and
interested in bringing to this
location the attributes of what
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dent of the Georgia Association
of Citizens Democratic Clubs.
In 1963 Walden retired and
opened a nonprofit community
counseling office. The follow
ing year. Mayor Ivan Allen
Jr. appointed him to serve as
Keep the c Df? munity 7 formed of your announcements Email us at
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they had found in college. They
were humbly conscious of a
privileged position as college
trained members of a minor¬
ity and were correspondingly
determined that their college
experience should be as mean¬
ingful and as productive as pos¬
sible. The five women respon¬
sible for the chartering brought
to this effort a variety of expe¬
riences gained from various
black colleges that they repre¬
sented.
“Mary Clay, a business major
from Tennessee State, a highly
energetic person who would
handle the piles of correspon¬
dence necessary was the “go
between" to the president who
at first did not think too highly
of introducing fraternal organi¬
zations into this rural setting.
"Kathleen Cook, a very
congenial and pleasant person
who provided her home, on
the now Carver Drive, then
Scuppertown Road, for various
activities. She was a graduate
of Talladega College.
“Aquillia Jones Thompson
was from Macon and provid¬
ed whatever music that was
needed. I don’t remember her
alma mater.
"Myrtle O’Shields was the
Coach’s wife and was agreeable
to whatever came along.
“I, Lillie Merriweather
Adkins, a graduate of Clark
College, received my Library
Science degree at Hampton
Institute. 1 provided all needed
research,
“It is always difficult when
time has passed to identify
accurately the forces which
have motivated an action. Often
judge of the Atlanta Municipal
Court, making Walden the
first black judge in Georgia
since Reconstruction Waklen,
the “dean" of black lawyers in
Georgia, died on July 2,1965.
a a a a a a m a a a a
SUPPORT WE
BLACK HISTORY MONTH
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118 Main Street • Fort Valley
( 478 ) 8274)234
THE LEADER-TRIBUNE
such elements are not recog¬
nized by contemporary observ¬
ers or even by the participants
in the action.
“From the time of its estab¬
lishments the chapter has
grown rapidly and consistently
— the reason for its establish¬
ment. It is obviously an effec¬
tive channel for meaningful
efforts and rewarding activities
and it is a friendly association
which fosters constructive and
unequal personal relationships.
We represent one of those posi¬
tive life forces in our society
with which individuals con¬
sciously or unconsciously con¬
tinually seek to be identified.
“in 1993 we have passed
a half century of service and
leadership. Now our attention
should be centered upon a thor¬
ough self examination which
will serve as the basis for an
objective determination of
our best and most significant
course of action in the second
half of this century.
"We are well aware and proud
of the role we have played as
a traiiblazer and a pioneer in
new directions for organiza¬
tional service and social action
among fraternal groups. From
our being, three chapters have
sprung.
“There is not only pride
and satisfaction at an anniver¬
sary, there is recognition that
the heritage of the past is of
small worth unless that heri¬
tage becomes a well-spring to
nourish the seeds that wifi bear
the blossoms of the achieve¬
ments of tomorrow.”
Adapted from "The New
Georgia Encyclopedia,” O
2004-2012 by the Georgia
Humanities Council and the
University of Georgia Press.
All rights reserved.