The American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) congratulates Coffee County Historical Society in association with The Coffee County Memory Project for receiving an Award of Excellence for Overcoming Segregation: A Journey Through Coffee County’s Forgotten Stories. The Award of Excellence is part of the AASLH Leadership in History Awards, the most prestigious recognition for achievement in the preservation of state and local history.
Overcoming Segregation: A Journey Through Coffee County’s Forgotten Stories is a virtual exhibition available to anyone with access to the Internet. Spanning 1965 to 1972, this exhibition chronicles the experiences of those affected by federally mandated school desegregation. Coffee Countians of all backgrounds shared stories of a time that few wanted to remember, but most could not forget. Interviewees detailed memories of specific incidents prompting personal choices. These choices ultimately shaped the trajectory of their lives and their community. This exhibition is a self-guided tour featuring 21 locations crucial to desegregation. Sixty-two short documentaries combine newspaper articles and photographs with eyewitness accounts to offer visitors an intimate view of this transformative period. Since 2016 Coffee County volunteers have worked to make this exhibition a reality. Additional support was provided by Georgia Humanities, Georgia Tech’s Serve, Learn, Sustain Initiative, and Emory University’s Center for Digital Scholarship.
This year, AASLH is proud to confer fifty-one national awards honoring people, projects, and exhibits. The winners represent the best in the field and provide leadership for the future of state and local history.
The AASLH awards program was initiated in 1945 to establish and encourage standards of excellence in the collection, preservation, and interpretation of state and local history throughout the United States. The AASLH Leadership in History Awards not only honor significant achievement in the field of state and local history, but also bring public recognition of the opportunities for small and large organizations, institutions, and programs to make contributions in this arena. For more information about the Leadership in History Awards, contact AASLH at 615-320-3203, or go to www.aaslh.org.
The Coffee County Historical Society joined forces with the Coffee County Memory Project to collect the oral histories of community members who remembered the desegregation of the county’s schools. The Coffee County Historical Society is an all-volunteer organization with a mission to collect, preserve and disseminate Coffee County’s history. The Heritage Museum is home to the Historical Society’s extensive collection and is open to the public three days a week, thanks to dedicated volunteers. The Coffee County Memory Project is an oral history project founded in 2016 with a mission to uncover the past so that we might better understand the present. It continues to collect oral histories.