Black History at the Headwaters
It’s Black history month, so we’re asking how the Flint River connects with the history of African-Americans. Perhaps you knew that Ray Charles was born in Albany, Georgia, one of the Flint’s most important cities. You probably didn’t know that the first bridge over the Flint in Albany was designed by the renowned Black architect Horace King, a freed slave who engineered bridges across the south in the 1800s. The covered bridge he built over Flint tributary Red Oak Creek is one of the last of his bridges still in use today.
The Red Oak Creek covered bridge was built in the 1840s. It is the oldest and longest wooden covered bridge in Georgia and the only surviving bridge of Horace King’s design.
Closer to the Flint’s origins, the Flint’s headwaters along Willingham Drive run directly adjacent to a part of East Point that suffered the worst of Jim Crow segregation. This, too, we ought to remember.
In 1912, the East Point city council passed an ordinance that prohibited African-Americans from living anywhere but the “black section” of the city (Shannon-Flagg, 2008). For the most part, this meant the East Washington community, which lies directly to the east of downtown and to the north of the Central of Georgia railroad tracks. Black citizens who lived in other parts of the city were forced to move.
East Washington wasn’t chosen for its wholesomeness. The shotgun shanties that were constructed there sat directly next to East Point’s fertilizer, oil and steel plants, which were the source of noise, pollution, and foul odors. Not only did East Point deprive its African-American citizens of the liberty of choosing where to live, it also forced them to live in the most undesirable location (Shannon-Flagg, 2008).
This 1927 map shows the small, segregated “Junglefoot” neighborhood situated between the railroad tracks, next to the fertilizer plants and along the Flint’s headwaters.
Across the tracks and next to the Flint River lay a small, distinct African-American community along Magnolia Street, Cherry Street, and Willingham Drive. Most people called this neighborhood “Junglefoot” (Shannon-Flagg, 2008). Quite probably this appellation was invented by racist whites as a derogatory name. Nevertheless, both black and white East Pointians used it (Shannon-Flagg, 2008).
One former resident, James Jackson, recalled that the fertilizer plants gave “Junglefoot” a distinct odor. Before the “Junglefoot” name became common, Jackson said that some people called it “Stinktown” (Shannon-Flagg, 2008).
According to Raymond King, who grew up on Magnolia Street, families living in “Junglefoot” in the 1930s and ‘40s included the Tuckers, Reddens, Thrashers, Hudsons, Joneses, Days, Bushes, Westbrooks, Lemons, Fosters, Tolberts and Nixons (Mason, 2001).
Pastor R.N. Martin, seated, center, served as the pastor of Neriah Baptist Church for 56 years. Photo courtesy of East Point Historical Society.
A couple influential Black churches started in “Junglefoot.” In 1923, Neriah Baptist Church was founded in a Methodist church building on the property of the Gate City Cotton Mill, right by the headwaters of the Flint. Neriah Baptist grew to be one of the largest and most influential African American congregations in East Point, and R.N. Martin Street is named for Neriah’s long-serving pastor, Reverend Robert Nathaniel Martin.
In 1971, Holy Trinity Church of God in Christ opened its doors in the “Junglefoot” neighborhood. The ministry soon moved to Fulton Avenue in East Washington, and still meets there under the name Restoration Revival COGIC.
How can a future greenway trail here honor the original African American communities of East Point?
A future greenway along the headwaters of the Flint would pass directly by the former “Junglefoot” community. There are still residences here today. Jim Crow may be off the books, but the neighborhood still suffers from proximity to junkyards, a recycling plant, the passage of freight trains, and general disrepair.
You can learn more Black history in East Point on Friday, February 26 at 6:00 pm at a virtual event sponsored by the city called “From Slavery to Trailblazers: The History of Blacks in East Point.” The program will feature East Point’s first Black mayor, councilmember, attorney, police chief, and others. It will be streamed on YouTube and on the city government’s Facebook page.
Contributor Ben Shivers lives in East Point and advocates for transit and cycling. He is a current member of the East Point Leaders for Equity program led by Partnership for Southern Equity.
Works Cited
Mason, H. "Skip"., 2001. Black America Series: East Point Georgia. Charleston, SC: Arcadia.