Final Serialized Overview/Review of Fantasy Five: An Unforgettable History - The Election of Macon's First Black Councilmembers by Harold Michael Harvey!

  “…It’s been a long time coming, but I know a change is gonna come; yes, it will.” --Sam Cook                                                            

                                                                                

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Had to acknowledge that there is one female Black Councilmember (and one female white member) in that long-awaited event! Even though, she was not to lead any committee chairs where she might be in a controlling position... Yeah, but it's happening Now! Shout out to my favorite Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, who has moved forward in changing our government's role for all Americans! Is it enough?

Black History is Indeed American History!!!

The Old Macon City Hall building, 700 Popular Street, Macon, Georgia

©2024 Harold Michael Harvey

Scratch Off. On December 9, 1975, Judge J. Taylor Phillips, State Court of Bibb County, swore in the new 15-person council, five of whom were Black Maconites of African descent. This swearing-in ceremony marked the first time in the 152-year history of Macon, Georgia that a Black man or woman had sat down and deliberated city business with White lawmakers in an official capacity, nine of whom were White males and one a White woman.

Never in the annals of Macon, Georgia history, was this ever supposed to occur. However, the winds of change were sweeping throughout the southern United States. As prophesied by Bob Dylan, the “Times” were changing, and three-quarters into Aldous Huxley’s “brave new century,” Macon, Georgia, by God, was coming, albeit kicking and screaming, into the 20th century.

The Macon Black community now boasted of 10 Black elected officials. This newfound political power prompted the Macon Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to honor Macon’s Black elected officials at the Community Church of God on Sunday afternoon, December 14, 1975.

The local NAACP President, Robert Sampson, told the Black elected officials in attendance, “And we know adequate representation will be given to us by you.”

Bill Randall, who told Black voters in the last election not to vote for the Rev. Julius C. Hope, the Black mayoral candidate, said to the honorees, “It’s needless to remind you that we have come a long way from the closed voting primaries, but we still have a long way to go.”

Indeed, Bill Randall set Black aspirations to serve the city as a Black mayor back 20 years. It was not until 1995 that C. Jack Ellis, a Black man, ran a successful campaign for mayor of Macon.

During the first council meeting, Black council members Willie C. Hill and Rev. Eddie D. Smith, Sr. made fresh history when they were each elected to chair a council committee. Hill received the Public Property Committee. While Hill did not have any prior experience in government, the former high school government teacher had served as a trustee board member at Bethel Christian Methodist Episcopal Church.

Under the Methodist church structure, the trustee board is responsible for caring for church property. In 1975, Bethel Christian Methodist Episcopal Church had a parsonage, the main church sanctuary, an auxiliary building, and a six-unit apartment complex. Hill had over a decade of experiencing managing the buildings and grounds for his church. In his role as a church trustee, Hill had acquired valuable skills that were beneficial to the city government.

The Public Property Committee entrusted Hill with managing the city’s airport, cemeteries, public buildings, capital improvement, and the Macon Coliseum. Vernon Colbert, his Vinning Circle neighbor, joined Hill on the Public Property Committee and served as the Vice Chair.

Council member Eddie D. Smith received the Employees Development and Compensation Committee chairmanship. The Employees Development and Compensation Committee handles employee matters. Like Hill, Smith did not have any previous government experience. Smith, also like Hill, came with a wealth of experience gained from his church experience.

Julius Vinson was elected vice chair of the Public Safety Committee, which gave him oversight of the police department, which he pledged to reform.

Right off the bat, four Black council members received leadership roles in the new city government.

Only Delores Brooks did not receive a leading committee assignment. Brooks, not known for mincing words, told Grace Crawford, Staff Writer at The Macon News, that she felt an overwhelming pride in being the first Black woman elected to city council, “…And you may be sure that I intend to represent my people, … but above all I want to represent all of the people. (The Macon News, January 6, 1976, P. 12).

Brooks cut her political teeth working in campaigns for various Democratic candidates over a decade before tossing her hat in the ring for a seat that did not have a majority Black population. In 1972, Brooks worked in the successful Bibb County School Board campaign of Delores Cook.

As Brooks began her term in office, she leaned on the philosophy: “You’re Black, and you’re a woman, so you’ve got to make a good record.” Ibid. “I rode in on Delores C. Brook’s coattails, and you be sure to quote me on that,” the feisty Brooks told Grace Crawford a month into her first term. Ibid. “I’m not erasing the fact that I’m Black,” Brooks told the newspaper following her November 5, 1975 victory. (The Macon Telegraph, Sunday, November 9, 1975, p.25).

Right off the bat, Black council members flexed their collective muscles when they opposed Melton’s appointment of 12-year veteran council member Tom Ivey to the Macon-Bibb County Water Board. The Black council members urged the appointment of a Black person to ensure that Black people had an equal opportunity to receive employment from the joint city and county water board.

On January 13, 1976, the five Black council members led the charge in voting 12 to 3 to reject Melton’s appointment of Ivey. During the debate, Rev. Smith questioned the efficacy of Melton’s decision. The Black council members’ opposition to Ivey’s appointment was so strong that it caused Ivey to agree with those opposing his nomination and vote against his confirmation. (The Macon Telegraph, Wednesday, January 14, 1976, P. 11).

Willie C. Hill, in unambiguous language, stated, “My concern is Black. We grew up with the problem [racism], and we continue to live with the problem.” Ibid.

Julius Vinson tackled the perception that the water board would do right by prospective Black job applicants. He said in a firm voice that the employment of Blacks would not be an issue to consider “If the water board had been so concerned as they say they are now. I am not being racist or radical. It is only fair. I think it should be done.” Ibid.

During the January 15, 1976 council meeting, The Macon Telegraph Staff Writer Linda Wilson reported, “Black alderman Julius Vinson, who termed the water and sewage office ‘the meanest utility’ in town,” told the mayor Wednesday, ‘if you never have a chance to perform you will never have the experience.” (The Macon Telegraph, Thursday, January 16, 1976, P. 11).

Following the meeting, Vinson explained his position. “Our main concern with the authority [water board] is hiring. It is not a Black and White thing. They do not respond to poor communities which have problems with drainage.” Ibid.

“Black alderman Willie Hill told the mayor, ‘segregation is intense,’ at the water board.” Ibid. Black alderwoman Delores Brooks asked the mayor a rhetorical question:

“Are the four Whites down there unable to work with Blacks?”

The discussion over the appointment of Tom Ivey on the Water and Sewage Board prompted White alderwoman Mary Wilder to exclaim:

“I think it is incumbent on our Black council members, who have finally made it to the council, to represent their community.” Ibid.

In the pre-council session before the regular council meeting began, each Black council member said they wanted the record to reflect them as council members, not as a Black council member. When the group of Black council members came out so strong against Tom Ivey’s appointment to the Macon-Bibb County Water and Sewage Board because they believed it was necessary for Black membership on the Water and Sewage Board to combat perceived racism, White council members like Rodney Smith scolded them, “I thought you wanted to be just council members and not Black council members,” Smith said in open council session.

In November 1976, when this reporter was conducting interviews with the Five Black Council members as they approached their first year in office, one question was whether the group planned to form a Black Council Caucus. At that time, Blacks in Congress were forming the Black Congressional Caucus (BCC) to give them leverage in negotiating issues that matter to Black Americans. The BCC was off to a successful start, so I asked each of the five council members this question.

Councilman Julius Vinson said, “We do not call it a Black caucus, but we are informally organized.” (Black Impact Upon Local Government, Harold Michael Harvey, The Macon Courier, Wednesday, December 1, 1976, P. 7). When asked about a Black Council Caucus Councilwoman Delores Brooks said, “We tried to organize one once, but we stopped because we weren’t getting too far with it. Some members felt we did not need it.” Ibid.

Councilman Rev. Eddie D. Smith, responding to the question on a Black Council Caucus, said, “No! Regrettably no! This failure to form a Black Caucus is one of the weaknesses of our group, which causes us to disagree on some issues.” Ibid.

On January 28, 1976, Rev. Smith stood alone again as the only council member not to vote for a Wisconsin man to become the city administrator for $26,500 annually, a city-issued car, and a pension plan. Smith argued, "I thought we were supposed to be in an austerity program.” (The Macon Telegraph, Wednesday, January 28, 1976, P. 13).

Three months into his first term as an elected city council member, Willie C. Hill became frustrated with treatment from Mayor Buckner “Buck” Melton, and he blasted Melton’s proposed $5 million street paving bond issue in a March 23, 1975, city council meeting. Hill campaigned on only paving streets with homes and requiring homeowners to pay for the paving on their roads.

Hill called the Melton administration’s bond proposal “a farce” and claimed the administration did not put forth much effort to collect back taxes under existing city ordinance that could go towards a street paving program.

Melton understood that requiring Black homeowners to pay for the street paving program was equivalent to a political “kiss of death” and contended that authorizing the city to seek a bond to pay for the street paving was the most practical way to resolve the city’s street paving issue. Additionally, Melton, a lawyer, knew the enormous benefit of bond issues to bond attorneys interested in doing business with the City of Macon.

The mayor took issue with Hill blasting him in a public council meeting without talking with him about their differences, telling The Macon News, “I have never at any time failed to meet with any councilman on any issue.” (The Macon News, Wednesday, May 24, 1976, p. 2).

In the mid-1970s, the Unionville Improvement Association, Inc., co-chaired by Frank Johnson and Gerald Harvey, held monthly meetings on the first Saturday of each month. The Unionville Improvement Association consistently drew between 75-100 people from across Macon at each monthly meeting. Hill usually spoke at these meetings.

The minutes reflect Hill speaking in support of paving streets but did not discuss his proposal to pay for the paving. Also, Hill lived at 1968 Vinning Circle, a small middle-class neighborhood in the heart of Unionville bounded between Anthony Road and Dempsey Avenue (Mercer University Boulevard).

Vinning Circle had paved streets, at least as far back as 1960, and predated Hill’s home purchase in the small horseshoe neighborhood built by a White woman named Louise Harrell in 1950, albeit covered in gravel and not asphalt. If Hill’s proposal passed, he would not be taxed to pay for the city’s paving project. At the same time, the bulk of the dirt streets were in proud yet impoverished neighborhoods.

Requiring residents of Unionville, for instance, who lived on May Street, Pansy, Daffodil, or Cedar Avenues to pay would unduly burden them with an extra tax that would take financial resources out of their households.

Neither the January, February, nor March 1976 records of the Unionville Improvement Association reflect that Hill discussed with community activists his proposal to charge homeowners for paving the 90 miles of dirt roads within the city limits. Hill’s proposal to pave the dirt streets on the backs of Black homeowners did not gain support from Black homeowners.

Nevertheless, Councilman Hill expended enormous energy in fighting Mayor Melton over his proposal to tax homeowners to do something the city should have done for the Black community decades before 1976.

When the City of Macon sought to expand its tax base in 1960, it moved to annex Unionville into the city limits, which, in 1960, ended at Dempsey Avenue (Mercer University Boulevard) and Pio Nono Avenue.

After receiving opposition to annexation from the Unionville community, a deal brokered by Rev. James Lorenzo Key, Pastor of the Bethel Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, and the City of Macon, said that if the Unionville area backed annexation and the measure passed, the city would pave the streets in Unionville.

~~~

I've seen and heard enough during the last 10 years to have not been surprised by what took place there in Macon Georgia... What I didn't expect, though, was that prejudice would still be going on, and getting worse rather than continuing to improve! God Help Us All!

I think I'm an average American... Most of us have spent their early years just trying to establish who we are, where we belong, and then, as I did, moving into a career, hoping to continue to move upward in the bureaucracy of any type of organization. Had I known what I know now, I would have become much more conscious of the political environment here in America. From what I've seen, Black Americans have not had that luxury of just being... Perhaps it was because I lived in the north and had known Black neighbors for the majority of that time--but I don't even know that for sure... What I do know is that the president's DEI activities...is...just...wrong!

In the book Fantasy Five, even the title was extraordinarily telling, don't you think... Hundreds of years had gone by and even in the year I was graduating, Black people in Macon, Georgia, and probably most of the south and even further across the nation, were continuing to fight against the bias of white people! The next chapter, after the election was over and Black Councilmembers were finally elected into office, we, for the first time ever, can see just how underhanded people can be. Even at the same time, they talk the talk that implies that they want to work together with "all" people. Frankly I was proud of the new Black councilmembers, who, when given their first chance, did exactly what they had been fighting for--work for fair representation!

The issue of paved roads, might, for some, seem trivial because while my memory might take me back to when not all backroads may have been paved, it was not seen as a form of bias against Black people. Yet, in the 1970s, that was the case in Macon, Georgia. And that one issue continued to be unresolved... What does that say about the political environment when white men are in the majority? And everybody else understands there is a constant struggle for the freedom that the nation's constitution guarantees all of us! When does this nonsense stop?! 

But not all white men are like that, thankfully.... Within a very short time when President Biden took Office, he succeeded in garnering support for a major Infrastructure Bill to pass and be signed into law!

 

How did we get to the point where those who have made millions based upon the sweat of OUR brows now have control of our government! Money is their only reason to act against others... The soul of America is indeed being fought over! I have faith that God is still in control and Truth will once again reign here in America! God's Truth! No Lies!

My purpose in exploring sections of this one book was mainly to allow readers to realize just how long our Black neighbors have been forced to fight for everything! History must not go backward! I have purposely compared this historical presentation based in just one location--Macon, Georgia. But, now, it is rampant across the nation! ALL OF US must read of America's history, including what has been done to those who were once bought and sold as slaves! And how some have retained that hate through generations... And, I have to stop and remind those who try to claim that America is for the white man... that Jesus was...not...white! Closing with one more excerpt...

“We stand with our ancestors in tribute because they still stand with us in the spiritual realm.”  --African Proverb

Scratch Off.  We have the record of the first year of service by the Fantasy Five, who beat the odds and were elected to serve on the Macon city council for the first time in the city's history. Not even during a very active reconstruction period in Middle Georgia did any Black person hold a city office. Black representation in city government was a no-no from the start, shunned and rejected as an unholy alliance between White and Black people. The fight over the Schofield House poignantly points out the reason why.

Once Black people get involved in the political process, another analysis occurs. You have to consider the worldview of Black people who do not view events and are not affected by events in the same manner as Whites. These differences are precisely what made diverse government a good thing. The best of all world views receive an airing on the issues.

Before the City of Macon cashed in their chips and elected Five Black citizens to the city council, they had two different cash options in the first five years of the 1970s. The citizens of Macon declined the cash options each time. But it is essential to note the political climate and to appreciate how Blacks became so successful and such a threat that the power behind the scenes merged the city with the county to dilute the voting strength of the Black vote in Macon, Georgia.

First, in June 1970, Rev. Julius C. Hope visited Macon to give the Baccalaureate Address for Ballard-Hudson High School. Hope’s tall stature and glib tongue made him an instant hit in Macon. On June 19, 1970, Rev. Hope, in his capacity as President of the State Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, returned to Macon to give the keynote address at the Macon Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People annual banquet. By all accounts, Hope hit another home run in Macon.

Then, on August 7, 1970, First Baptist Church on New Street announced that Rev. Hope received a call to lead the church. At the time, Hope had pastored the Zion Baptist Church in Brunswick, Georgia, for over a decade. He was actively involved in Brunswick's civic affairs, served on that city’s Board of Directors for the Council of Human Relations, and was an avid member of the Chamber of Commerce.

Hope delivered his first sermon at First Baptist on Sunday, August 9, 1970. His installation occurred on November 22, 1970, at an evening service featuring former Macon pastor Rev. C. M. Alexander, Antioch Baptist Church, and his brother-in-law Rev. Howard W. Creecy, Mt. Moriah Baptist Church of Atlanta. His father, Rev. Robert Hope of Mobile, Alabama, delivered the sermon for church services that day.

Rev. Hope came to First Baptist Church with big plans for developing the church's outreach, including providing a recreational facility. Having a recreational facility for church members was a novel idea for Macon churches. It was new to the older membership of First Baptist Church, who could not see the necessity of providing an outlet for its members' recreation activities.

The main problem confronting any attempt to expand the physical capacity of First Baptist Church lay in the fact that the church, erected around 1845, is landlocked on the corner of First and New Street. Historically, First Baptist Church stood down the street from 511 High Place, where the White First Baptist Church stood. The Black membership of the First Baptist Church on New Street could trace their origins from worshiping in the balcony and vestibule of the White First Baptist Church during the days of enslavement.

Hope proposed selling the church property and building a new modern facility elsewhere. This idea did not set well with the more senior members of the First Baptist Church. The congregation shot Hope’s building plan down, but not without a lengthy court battle.

Then, on June 24, 1971, Jimmy Lee White, a city of Macon employee, was fatally shot by Officer John R. Beck of the Macon Police Department. The Black community strongly believed that Beck unjustly killed Mr. White. White’s fatal encounter with law enforcement began when he learned his brother had drunk too much alcohol and was disturbing the peace. Neighbors called the police, and Officer Beck responded as Jimmy Lee White attempted to calm his brother down.

When a crowd of Black people appeared in the street, Beck became frightened. Drawing his weapon, Beck fired on the unarmed Jimmy Lee White. All Black members of the city’s bi-racial committee convened to discuss the police shooting and unanimously supported suspending Beck pending the outcome of a judicial trial. Mayor Ronnie Thompson instead transferred Beck to the police identification bureau. This move angered Macon’s Black community. (The Macon Telegraph, Macon, Georgia, Friday, July 9, 1971, P. 6).

“As clear as I can recall it,” long-time community activist Herbert Dennard posited, “Ronnie Thompson said, ‘The Black folks called him [officer Beck] to the Black community He was there to put down trouble, and we should give him a medal.”

Rev. Hope called a meeting at First Baptist Church to organize a march on city hall. According to Dennard, approximately 200 people gathered in First Baptist Church for this meeting. Dennard is unsure, but rumor had it that some community activist or activists contacted Hosea Williams of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and asked him to come down and help them organize. Dennard believes it was either Harris Randall, Billy Randall, or both. Hope proposed a march to city hall for the following week at the meeting. Hope explained the additional time would allow demonstrators to acquire the necessary march permit and handle other logistics. Initially, those gathered in the church supported the organizational plan proposed by Hope and voted to delay the march until the following week. Then out of nowhere, Hosea William appeared in the pulpit and told those assembled:

“Leaders, lead; the police have killed an unarmed man, and you all want to debate when to march. I’m going down to city hall right now and let them know that I don’t particularly appreciate how they treat Black folk around here. Those who want to debate how and when to march can stay in the church with Hope, but those who want to march, follow me.”

According to Dennard, about 150 people walked out of the church and followed Hosea Williams to city hall, where an impromptu march took place with Williams leading the crowd in freedom songs. The police did not come out and disperse the crowd. Despite not having a permit to march, no one received a citation, and no one went to jail. Hosea Williams had a way of speaking truth to power. Usually, it led to the police beating him like the beating he took in Perry, Georgia, during a March Against Oppression Williams led from Albany State College to the Atlanta capitol steps in April 1970. But this time, Ronnie Thompson did not want to tangle with Williams. He was content to allow Williams to hold his rally and return to Atlanta as soon as possible.

A week later, all hell broke loose. An alleged firebombing at Forest Service Company caused Mayor Thompson to panic. Without any prior warning or discussion with members of the Board of Aldermen, Thompson clamped an 8:30 p. m. to dawn curfew on the city. Additionally, the Byron Rock Festival, a prelude to Woodstock the following week, was closing out. Thompson requested the Georgia State Patrol and the Bibb County Sheriff to close down Interstates 75 and 16. Thompson was quoted by The Macon Telegraph as saying, “Don’t let them come through Macon.” (The Macon Telegraph, Saturday, July 3, 1971, P. 1).

Not since General William T. Sherman had encircled Macon in 1865 with Black United States Of America soldiers dressed in Confederate uniforms, with a Union belt buckle and cap, had Macon, Georgia, been sealed off in this manner. (Sgt. Lonnie Davis, Georgia African American Brigade: Slave to Solider).

Meanwhile, Rev. Hope issued a press advisory chastising the criminal element in the Black community who resorted to lawless acts to make their point. Hope said, “We want it clearly understood that we do not condone acts of burning down buildings, destroying property, or violence in achieving the goals of the N.A.A.C.P.” Ibid.

Hope attempted to assure the White community that they did not have anything to fear, “We just want a piece of the pie,” he told Grant Jackson of The Macon Telegraph on July 12, 1971. (The Macon Telegraph, Tuesday, July 13, 1971, P. 3).

“There has become a great need in the community for a thrust for the rights of Black people. We have discrimination in every walk of life. It is high time we, as citizens, became not only concerned but also moved to do something,” Hope said. Ibid.

“We don’t want any favors, we want justice… We got to have it all. We’ve been taking the crumbs too long. We want some bread,” Hope explained. The Black community felt powerless in the face of this exercise of the police powers of the state...

~~~

It was the horrible death of Eric Garner on video by a standby individual that shocked me to realize just what was happening, still, in America...From that time on, I've been alert to know exactly what is happening to Black people in today's world! Nobody should accept what is being done, at least if they care about all God's children! I decided to include two videos which are not able to be shared because of content. The murder of Garner was earlier able to be viewed but things change, I guess. The other one is also worthy of your consideration with an extra click over to YouTube. Sometimes, we all must actually see what man does to man, so that we can continue to work to change for the good of all mankind.

Folks, I don't know about you, but I'd rather watch any BLM protest, hopefully without violence, than watching white kids do drugs as occurred during that Byron Rock Festival and which continues in many white neighborhoods, including a town very near my home which is completely taken over with drugs... Where is the outcry by white citizens about the proliferation of street drugs?

Yes, I'm upset with what is happening in America. Nobody can convince me that drugs could not be eradicated with proper police action. Yet we know that the rich "use" drugs to pull in young girls and boys with lies of success in some performance venue... We have heard about those older men who use sex as part of their control pleasure... When I heard that a supreme court judge just overrules other judges and gave Trump the right to hold off payments that had been authorized by Congress, we all must face that corruption is in control of our government.

Our Black neighbors have been fighting, it seems forever, to just have the basic human rights that we, as white people, have held since the beginning of our country. We learned also about what white people did to the Indigenous people who had lived in America for generations before being invaded from Europe... What makes white men, mostly, believe they are better than anybody else? What I do know is that knowing the history of what white men have done to others should have prevented where we are today! Apparently, however, it has gotten worse for nearly half of the country... 

Readers of all races, we need to wake up and look to what has been steadfastly done to our younger generations! They are seduced by lies, promises that never come to fruition, given drugs to not worry about anything... Yeah, history and current events constantly point out these failures within America! Remember that is was republican politicians decided to start allowing people to call "BAN" of books that related to being "Woke"? Give me a break! First, white people decided to confiscate the word "dope" that was used by Blacks in a different way... Now, I proclaim I am indeed Woke--only because some white man in Florida decided to try to be elected president by making a mockery of what history is really all about! We were meant to continue to move forward... White men who bought the first slaves have chosen money and power over common decency toward others...

I recognize that this is more an opinion piece than a review... Having seen for yourself over the serialization of the book, I hope you have determined that this book is indeed worth buying and adding to your home library for your use and for generations to come... We must never, never go backward!

God Help Us All

Gabby