WTOC, Savannah, Georgia, news, weather and sports | Museum Volunteers Receive Document Donation
Member Center:
After seeing WTOC's reports of discoveries made during renovation efforts at the Ralph Mark Gilbert Civil Rights Museum (click here), someone quietly donated a number of very old documents, some almost a hundred years old, to volunteers who've been helping at the museum.
The documents detail life at the old Mather Industrial School in Beaufort, South Carolina, where African American students were educated for many years, starting in 1868.
Many of the documents relate to William Fleming Harvey of Augusta, who graduated from Mather in 1916, but it's hoped discoveries like these will spark a greater general interest in black history and genealogy.
"What we're doing is trying to enlighten the black community as to their genealogical past, and let them be aware of what they can do to get there," said volunteer Shirley Dominy with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
Members of the church are planning an African American genealogy program on February 27 in Savannah. We'll have many more details closer to the date of the event.
Reported by: Sonny Dixon, sonnyd@wtoc.com
