Discovery

Bishop Richard Allen

1760 -1831

Richard Allen was a success. Born into slavery in Philadelphia in 1760, he died in 1831 not only free but influential, a founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and its first bishop. Allen's rise has much of the classic American success story about it, but he bears a larger significance: Allen, as one of the first African-Americans to be emancipated during the Revolutionary Era, had to forge an identity for his people as well as for himself.

DIRECT DESCENDANTS: Yvonne Burnley Studevan and mother:Members of First A.M.E. Church

View Family Legacy. . .

Dr. Clayton D. Wilkerson

Bishop Wm. H. Heard

1879 - 1937

Born in Elbert County / Elected to South Carolina legislature for 2 years / 1876 Founded school in Pierce Chapel / 1879 co-founded the Athens Blade paper and was converted to Methodism /assigned to Mother Bethel in Philadelphia / appointed Bishop 1908 for 29 years. (Source: A Story Untold, Michael Thurmond, 1978)

Dr. Ida M. Johnson Hiram

1896 - 1979

In June 1901, a 19-year-old woman by the name of Ida Mae Johnson became the bride of Dr. Lace Hiram. Hiram was one of the first black dentists in Athens, and he encouraged his bride to further her education.

Ida Mae Hiram graduated from the Knox Institute in 1905, and received her Doctor of Dentistry Degree from Meharry Medical College in 1910. She became the first black woman to pass the Georgia Dental Board exam, at a time when there were only seven black dentists in the state.

In 1918, Lace and Ida Mae Hiram began renting the house on Hancock from Harris. Ida Mae and her husband practiced dentistry in their house on Hancock, as well as in the Morton building. The marriage did not last, although they had a daughter, Alice, who would remain in the home with her mother after her parents' separation.

In 1934, Ida Mae Hiram purchased the home from Harris. Alice was trained as a dental assistant and worked alongside her mother both at home and at church. Ida Mae and Alice attended the First African Methodist Episcopal Church, where they sang in the choir. Alice was even known to give classes in the home for the children of the community.

Dr. Ida Mae Hiram resided at 635 W. Hancock until her death in 1979 at the age of 83. The home then passed to her daughter, Alice Hiram Wimberly. A stained-glass window portraying a dove was placed in their church to memorialize Ida Mae Hiram after her death.

Hiram House: A lesson in local history - Online Athens 2000

HERE AND NOW: In 1985, the First A.M.E. Church purchased the home from the estate of Alice Hiram Wimberly. The church has since created Project Renew Inc., a non-profit organization which will oversee the Hiram house.

Project Renew Inc. plans a major restoration and improvement of the building, which will include removal of the shingle siding to expose the original wood siding underneath.

A ground-breaking ceremony for the project was held at the home last Friday. Patricia Harrison of Project Renew said, ''The home will be used as a rental property. It will be available as an affordable home for the elderly. Our hope is to aide the elderly of Athens-Clarke County, while allowing the house itself to continue the pattern of service set by its former residents.''

Dr. William H. Harris

1868 - 1940

Dr. William H. Harris' list of accomplishments would be very impressive by today's standards, but considering the time he managed these achievements, his success is staggering.

He graduated Valedictorian of his class from Meharry Medical College of Nashville in 1893, before practicing medicine on Clayton Street in Athens.

Dr. Harris then sought to further enrich his skills by studying surgery at Harvard's Post-Graduate Medical School. Subsequent to completing that program, he also took part in advanced surgical training at the New York School of Clinical Medicine in Bellevue Hospital, as well as at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

Also in 1893, Harris co-founded the Georgia State Medical Association in Augusta. He would be elected vice president of the association in 1910, as well as being the chairman of the Committee on Constitution and Bylaws. He was elected president of the medical section in 1911.

Harris founded the Improved Order of Samaritans in Athens in 1897. The purpose of the Samaritans was to provide assistance with funeral expenses for indigent black citizens.

In 1913, a group of prominent Athenians gave Harris a silver cup to commemorate his then-20 years of service as citizen and physician. He went on to become the largest stockholder in the first black-owned drugstore in Athens -- the E.D. Harris Drug Company.

Active in politics, Harris held great influence in the national Republican Party. In 1932, at the 20th national Republican convention, Harris was asked to serve on the committee whose purpose was to inform President Herbert Hoover of his official nomination for the presidency.

Harris was truly a pioneer in furthering the role of blacks in the medical community. In 1893, when he began his practice, there were only 27 black doctors in Georgia. By 1930, there were 193.
(Source 2000: Athens Newspapers)



Bishop Lucius H. Holsey	Louis Hudson Persley
1842 - 1920
Born a slave in Athens / 1857 Converted to Methodism in Athens by Bis. Henry Mcneal Turner/ 1868 appointed senior preacher in the Hancock County circuit / 1873 at age 30, appointed bishop of Colored Methodist Episcopal Church / 1883 founded Paine College. (Source: A Story Untold, Michael Thurmond, 1978)


Hall Johnson	Ms. Juliette Derricotte
1888 - 1970	1897 - 1931
Francis Hall Johnson was born in Athens, Georgia, on 12 March 1888. His father, William Decker Johnson was a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal church (First A.M.E. Church included) and a college president (Allen University). He graduated from Knox Institute in Athens at age 15, attended Atlanta University then finishing at Allen University. Johnson's early musical influence is credited to his grandmother, a former slave who exposed him to spirituals. He attended Atlanta University and graduated from Allen University, then he continued his studies at the University of Pennsylvania, the Juilliard School and the University of Southern California.(Source: Afrovoices.com / A Story Untold, Michael. Thurmond, 1978)	American educator Juliette Aline Derricotte (1897-1931) was the first female trustee at Talladega College and a member of the general committee of the World Student Christian Federation. Feeling a specialcall to participate in black education in the South, Derricotte accepted a position at Fisk University as its dean of women in 1929. Her promising career was cut short by a fatal automobile accident at the age of 34. Juliette Aline Derricotte was born on April 1, 1897, in Athens, Georgia. She was the fifth of nine children of Isaac Derricotte, a cobbler, and Laura (Hardwick) Derricotte, a seamstress. Her parents managed to provide a home that was warm, affectionate, and secure. The lively and sensitive Derricotte, growing up in Athens, soon became aware of the racial mores of a small southern town in the early 1900s. For example, she learned that her family would always be the last to be waited on in a store. Her desire to attend the Lucy Cobb Institute, located in a section of Athens with spacious homes and tree-lined streets, was dashed when her mother told her that it would be impossible because of her color. The recognition of that limitation was traumatic for Derricotte but critical in forging her determination to do whatever she could to fight discrimination.