HELP ME PRESERVE BLACK HISTORY IN ‘TINY TOWN’ GEORGIA.

Hey Everybody! I’m Rahn and I like to say that I’m in Black History Month “season” right now. The recent nationwide MLK DAY celebrations were somewhat of an unofficial kickstart and precursor to National Black History Month which is just around the corner in February. Hard to believe but this is my 23rd year of going back and giving back to my small hometown in Southwest Georgia (Bainbridge) by spearheading a full week of localized Black History Month public events in tiny towns across this part of the state where I grew up and where the roots of local black history run deep into the era of slavery and the fight for civil rights for African-Americans. Each year for the past two decades the local grassroots organization I founded and continue to lead has been continually unearthing local hidden history gems and raising awareness about the importance of preserving the rich local black history throughout this region of Georgia with particular focus on the black history in my childhood hometown of Bainbridge. In past years, our small organization has also accomplished and garnered the attention of and the generous support from the local City Hall in Bainbridge during the weeklong celebration. We’ve also pioneered the city’s first-ever local Juneteenth celebration back in 2021 with the city now poised to become the official sponsor and producer of local Juneteenth festivities this year (2025). And, nearly five years ago now, we were the first local social organization to ever recognize the enormous contributions of Civil Rights Movement legend and close confidant inside of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s inner circle, Hosea Williams, who was born in my hometown county in the little-known bedroom community of Attapulgus, Georgia. Each year we honor and remember him with an annual wreath-laying ceremony that jump starts what we call a “Travelin’ Wreath” ceremony to honor and thank local black veterans for their service in five of the six small cities where local BHM events are held. One of the highlighted goals during this year’s local Black History Month festivities will, hopefully, be yet another first for our organization (Phoenix Affaire Group©️). We’re planning to pilot launch the city’s first-ever local Black History Tour putting a spotlight on the rich local black history stories, prominent black educators and leaders, artists, historic buildings and sites throughout Bainbridge that have never been told in a local guided tour format. While it will be a major undertaking and challenge for our small grassroots organization we stand on the broad shoulders of our ancestors and will lean on the wise words of slave abolitionist Frederick Douglass “without struggle there is no progress”.

With the state of teaching and learning more about the often times overlooked and ignored black history stories, people and places in America at a crossroad, we feel that the continual work we’re doing each year is vitally important now more than ever before. Black history is (American) history and should be regarded as such in classrooms at every level of academia as often and as much as possible.

Your generous GOFUND ME support would help me and others to underwrite and enable another successful year of weeklong local BHM events to inspire. Please consider giving freely and unconditionally if you support our efforts and desire to take control of the narrative so that future generations might have a more accurate picture—and blueprint—of who we are, how we got here, what vast contributions were made by African-Americans and how we, working together, can help uplift an entire local community and perhaps even the nation.