Winston Strickland was born in Paulding County, Georgia, moving with his family to Bartow County in 1954. He graduated from Summer Hill High School. In 1961 he attended Brown Barber College on Auburn Avenue in Atlanta, Georgia. Strickland moved to Marietta, Georgia, and started the Eastside Barbershop, which later became Strick's Barbershop. He is also the owner of the restaurant, Strick's Grill. Mr. Strickland has been involved in entrepreneurial activities within the community, including...

Vicki Trammell Cuthbert was born in West Point, Georgia. She graduated from Harrison High School as part of the last class before the school system was integrated. Cuthbert earned a full Ford Foundation academic scholarship and graduated from Morris Brown College in Atlanta. She worked as a research associate for the Atlanta University School of Social Work before attending the University of Georgia Law School. Cuthbert worked for a short time for the Georgia Legal Services in Macon, Georgia,...

Timothy Houston, Sr. is a member of the Acworth Elementary School Council and has served as an alderman for the City of Acworth, Georgia, since 2004. He was born in Acworth and attended the Roberts School. Houston was instrumental in the creation of the Acworth Community Center, which is housed in the former Acworth Rosenwald School building. He is also the Pastor and Founder of the Joshua Gospel Tabernacle in Acworth. Use Restrictions: To request permission to publish, reproduce, publicly...

Thomas R. Carter was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and attended Melrose High School in the Orange Mound community. He joined the U.S. Air Force in 1957, learning to operate electronic accounting machines (EAM). He was the first African American to attend the IBM Corporation school in Miami, Florida. In 1962 Carter joined Olin Mathison Chemical Company in New York City and studied programming at the RCA Institute. He was the first African American programmer at Olin Mathison, as well as the U.S....

Susanne Henry was born and grew up in Mableton, Georgia. Her father was a sharecropper and produce seller and her mother worked at Whittier Cotton Mill. She initially attended Washington Street Elementary School in Austell, Georgia, before the school system was integrated and Harmony-Leland Elementary School afterwards. She has worked at Pebblebrook High School in Mableton, Georgia, since 2003. Henry is the sister of Mary Ward Cater, Gwendolyn Dillard, and Miriam Culver.Use Restrictions: To...

Rev. Walter Moon was born in Marietta and graduated from Lemon Street High School. After serving in the U.S. Navy from 1960 to 1964, Moon joined the U.S. Postal Service as a letter carrier in Marietta. He worked in a variety of positions and locations until he retired as the Manager of Customer Services and Sales for Alabama in 1999. Moon returned to Cobb County, Georgia, in 2002. He accepted a call to the ministry in 1983 and founded the Words of Faith A.M.E. Church in Mableton, Georgia, in...

Dwight Graves was born and grew up in Freeman, West Virginia. He attended Bluestar High School, transferring to Bramwell High School with the integration of the school system. After attending Bluefield State College in Bluefield, West Virginia, Rev. Graves joined the U.S. Air Force. He served in Japan, Thailand, and the Philippines before coming to Dobbins Air Reserve Base. Graves received a Masters degree in Theology and founded Emmanuel Tabernacle Christian Church in Marietta, Georgia, in...

A.L. Zollicoffer was born and grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He attended West Division High School and North Division High School. After graduation, Zollicoffer joined the U.S. Army. Serving for 2 years, he returned to Milwaukee and worked in a steel mill and tannery. In 1989 Rev. Zollicoffer moved to Marietta, Georgia. He attended Carver Bible Institute & College in Atlanta and received a Bachelor's degree in Biblical Education from Beulah Heights University. In 1994 Rev. Zollicoffer...

Reginald Hobert Kemp was born in Acworth, Georgia, and attended a church school in the Red Rock Community. At the age of 8 his family moved to Marietta, Georgia, and Kemp attended the Liberty Hill Baptist Church school and Powder Springs High School. He left school to work, first at the Kelly Motor Company then the Lockheed-Georgia Company. Kemp was inducted into the U.S. Army, returning to Lockheed-Georgia at the end of his service. He was employed at Lockheed-Georgia for 45 years in a...

Reece Grogan was born in New York City and moved with his family to Marietta, Georgia, in 1971 or 1972. He is the youngest son of community activist, Hugh Grogan, Jr., who was the first African American elected to the Marietta City Council. Hugh Grogan represented Ward 5 and won the seat after successfully challenging redistricting in the case, Grogan v. Hunter. At the time of the interview, Reece Grogan lived in Atlanta, Georgia. His brother is Hugh Grogan, III. Use Restrictions: To request...

Randolph Scott was born in Norfolk, Virginia. He received a B.A. in History from Norfolk State University before accepting a teaching position at Central High School in Heathsville, Virginia, which was a predominantly African American school. Dr. Scott was teaching during the integration of the school system and eventually moved to Northumberland High School, which was a predominantly white school. He accepted a position the Job Corps program, working in a variety of locations, and then the...

John C. Woods was born in Austell, Georgia, and attended Lemon Street High School before transferring to South Cobb High School as part of the integration of schools in Cobb County. Woods joined the Air National Guard after graduation. He served on the Austell Police Department for a short time before joining the Atlanta Police Department in 1973. After retiring from the force in 1997, he obtained a Theological degree in 1999 and became the pastor at New Hope United Methodist Church. In 2005...

Miriam Ward Culver attended the Wiliam J. Scott Elementary School in northwest Atlanta and graduated from Archer High School in 1962. She worked for a time as a PBX receptionist before accepting a position as a phlebotomist at Crawford Long Hospital in Atlanta. Mrs. Culver worked as a phlebotomist for 30 years. She is the sister of Susanne Henry, Mary Ward Cater, and Gwendolyn Dillard.Use Restrictions: To request permission to publish, reproduce, publicly display, broadcast, or distribute...

Mary Ward Cater was born in the Scott's Crossing area in Northwest Atlanta and grew up in Mableton, Georgia. Her father was a sharecropper and produce seller and her mother worked at Whittier Cotton Mills. Mrs. Cater attended Washington Street Elementary School in Austell, Georgia, and integrated Lindley Middle School in Mableton, Georgia, in 1969. She attended Pebblebrook High School and graduated from Frederick Douglass High School in Atlanta. Mrs. Cater worked in the mortgage department of...

Janet Prince was born in Mims, Florida. She attended Albany State College and worked as a correctional office for the Brevard County Sheriff's Office before moving to Smyrna, Georgia, in 1990. Since that time she has worked in the Cobb County Sheriff's Office.Use Restrictions: To request permission to publish, reproduce, publicly display, broadcast, or distribute this material in any format, you must contact the Archives, Rare Books and Records Management.

James G. Bodiford moved to Powder Springs, Georgia, at the age of 5, when his father accepted a position with the Lockheed-Georgia Company in 1954. He attended Powder McEachern High School and graduated from Gordon Military High School in Barnesville, Georgia. Bodiford received a Bachelor's degree from Mercer University and a J.D. from John Marshall Law School. He went into private practice in Marietta, Georgia, and worked as a trial lawyer for the Cobb County District Attorney's Office....

Adele Grubbs was born in the East End of London and attended law school in England. She moved to Cobb County, Georgia, in the mid-1960s with her husband, who accepted a position as an aerospace engineer with the Lockheed-Georgia Company. Grubbs went into private practice in Cobb County before serving as the first female District Attorney. In 1995 she was appointed by Judge Dorothy Robinson to serve on the Juvenlie Court. Judge Grubb was elected to the Superior Court in 2000. Use Restrictions:...

Josetta Oates Walker was born in Barton, Alabama, attending a Rosenwald elementary school and Cherokee High School. She graduated with a Bachelor's degree from Tuskegee University in 1966 and joined her husband, Louis, in Marietta, Georgia. Mrs. Walker taught in a variety of schools in Cobb County and City of Marietta schools. She received an Education Specialist degree from the University of West Georgia. In 1988 she was made an Assistant Principal of Marietta High School and was the first...

John W. Hammond was born in Atlanta, Georgia, and moved to New Orleans, Louisiana. After graduating from Louisiana State University with a Bachelor's degree in Policital Science, he worked for Congressman Hale Boggs and the Whitney Bank. In 1973 Mr. Hammond graduated from Washington and Lee Law School and moved to Marietta, Georgia. In addition to practicing law, he represented Ward 5 as a member of the Marietta City Council from 1981 to 1990. Hammond also served in the Georgia General...

James E. Gober grew up in the Baptist Town area of Marietta, Georgia, and graduated from Lemon Street High School. He attended Allen University in Columbia, South Carolina, and Daniel Payne Junior College in Birmingham, Alabama. While Mr. Gober was in Birmingham he participated in the civil rights movement. His arrest for protesting segregation was reversed by the U.S. Supreme Court in the case Gober v. City of Birmingham in 1963. He returned to Marietta and has worked in the City of Marietta...

Ida Belle Frezzell Minnie was born in Cedar Hill, Tennessee, and grew up in Monessen, Pennsyvania. She attended the Art Institute of Pittsburgh and received a B.A. in English and a Master's degree in Education. Ms. Minnie taught school for many years in the Ringgold School District in Washington County, Pennsylvania, before moving to Georgia in 2004. She has been active in advocating for civil rights and attended in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963. Ms. Minnie...

Hugh L. Gordon was born in Norfolk, Virginia. He joined the Army Air Corps after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, flying a Northrup P-61. During fifteen months of combat duty, Gordon earned several decorations, including the Distinguished Flying Cross. On discharge from the Army, he entered Virginia Polytechnic Institute and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering in 1950 and a Master of Science degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1951. Gordon joined...

Hugh Grogan III was born in New York City and moved with his family to Marietta, Georgia, in 1971 or 1972. He is the oldest son of community activist, Hugh Grogan, Jr., who was the first African American elected to the Marietta City Council. Hugh Grogan, Jr. represented Ward 5 and won the seat after successfully challenging redistricting in the case, Grogan v. Hunter. Hugh Grogan III graduated from Marietta High School. Before receiving a Bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice from the...

Helen Hill grew in in Acworth, Georgia. She attended the Roberts School and Lemon Street High School. After graduation, Hill attended the Apex Beauty College on Auburn Avenue in Atlanta. Her mother, Leonora Harden, owned Harden's Cafe in Acworth and the concession stand at George Washington Carver beach, a swimming area for Afican Americans. Mrs. Hill is a member of Bethel A.M.E. Church in Acworth, Georgia. Use Restrictions: To request permission to publish, reproduce, publicly display,...

Gwendolyn Dillard grew up in both Mableton, Georgia, and Scott's Crossing in northwest Atlanta. Although her father's farm was in Mableton, there were no African American schools in the area. Mrs. Dillard spent the school year in Scott's Crossing attending the William J. Scott Elementary School and the summer in Mableton. She was the eldest of 14 children and began assisting with childcare at an early age. Both parents worked at Whittier Cotton Mill as sweepers. At the age of 18 Mrs. Dillard...