Montford Point Marine C. C. Hall: A Lifetime of Service & Leadership

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Mr. C. C. Hall at Fitzgerald’s 2024 Veterans Day Remembrance. Photo Courtesy and © William E. Brown

Charles Cargile “C. C.” Hall was born in Madison, Georgia in 1925. He was drafted in 1943 and enlisted with the Marines at Camp Montford Point in Jacksonville, North Carolina, among the first African-Americans to serve in the Corps. His World War II service included stints at Guam and Hawaii and he was honorably discharged in 1946. After the war, he received a degree from Savannah State and went on to receive a Masters Degree from Columbia University in New York.

He came to Fitzgerald to teach at Monitor High School after completing his education, and he never left. Working a side job at Riggs Funeral Home to supplement his teaching salary, he eventually became a partner. When Mr. Riggs died in 1959, Hall became the sole owner and renamed it Hall’s Funeral Home. The business remains successful today, though at 99 years old Mr. Hall isn’t involved in day to day operations. Throughout the years, he has also been actively involved in civil rights issues.

In 2012 Mr. Hall and other surviving Montford Point Marines received the Congressional Gold Medal from President Obama. He has been a respected businessman in Fitzgerald for over 65 years and has received numerous honors for his service. Part of Monitor Drive was even renamed C. C. Hall Honorary Drive in tribute.

Thanks to my father for getting this photograph.

Gillespie Memorial Hospital, 1937, Cordele

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Dr. Augustus S. Clark, who founded the Gillespie Normal School in 1902, also sought to improve health care for Cordele’s Black community. In 1925, a gift of $1000 helped establish a hospital, named the Charles Helm Hospital for the benefactor. At the time, the nearest Black hospital was located in Americus. Mrs. Eula Burke Johnson, a graduate of Gillespie Normal School, was the first nurse. The hospital was initially located on the second floor of one of the early school buildings and consisted of two beds and an operating room. Local doctors, white and African-American, served on the staff. The hospital also trained nurses.

The present structure, pictured above, was built in 1937. It had 25 beds and was named for William Gillespie, who donated funds for its construction. Nurse Johnson served as the hospital director and held weekly clinics for midwives. The hospital served the community until the integration of Crisp Regional Hospital in the late 1960s or early 1970s.

Gillespie-Selden Historic District, National Register of Historic Places

Dr. Augustus S. Clark House, 1941, Cordele

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This American Foursquare house is located across from the Girls Dormitory of the Gillespie-Selden Institute. It was the home of Dr. Augustus S. Clark (1874-1959) and his wife Anna Clark, visionaries who established the institute, and is also known as the Founder’s Home. Tax records and real estate listings date the house to 1941. This seems a bit late for the style, but variations of American Foursquare are still popular today, so the date may be correct.

Dr. Clark, a native of North Carolina, received his theological training at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania and after teaching for a year at the Haines Institute in Augusta, was sent by the National Board of Missions of the Presbyterian Church to Cordele in 1898 to help revive the struggling congregation of the Portis Presbyterian Church, a Black congregation. A new church was built and named St. Paul Presbyterian.

In 1902, the Clarks established the Gillespie Normal School to improve the educational opportunities of local African-American children. It was named for a Pittsburgh family who gave money for the school. It quickly outgrew the basement of St. Paul, where its first classes were held, and moved into two wooden buildings. By 1904, donations made it possible for the construction of three more buildings. The school continued to grow and attract students from all over the Eastern United States and eventually included a hospital. Though the school closed in 1956 due to consolidation, most of its structures survive to this day, and some have even been restored.

Gillespie-Selden Historic District, National Register of Historic Places

Mt. Calvary Missionary Baptist Church, 1915, Cordele

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Mt. Calvary Baptist Church is one of several historic churches in the Gillespie-Selden Historic District, and one of the most architecturally accomplished. It’s a good example of the two-tower style common in African-American communities from the 1890s-1940s. According to the cornerstone, laid by the Wrath Bon Lodge No. 22 (Knights of Pythias), the church was “rebuilt” in 1915, indicating an earlier structure stood at this location before that date. H. S. Shearer was the pastor, and J. C. Callaway and L. W. Willis served as ministers. J. Bryant was treasurer and W. D. Durham was the clerk. Deacons were Paul Pooler, J. C. Chambus, T. L. Lucas, D. L. Watkins, C. H. Bell, T. C. Clavers, L. McLendon, E. Dyer, J. Ingram, B. F. Folsom, Lem Walker, West Hall, and Joe Humphrey.

Gillespie-Selden Historic District, National Register of Historic Places

Central Hallway Cottage, Cordele

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This simple central hallway cottage is one of numerous residential properties within the Gillespie-Selden Historic District, a traditionally African-American neighborhood in Cordele. The community contains a surprisingly wide variety of early 20th century house types, with this home being among the simplest forms present.


Gillespie-Selden Historic District, National Register of Historic Places

Single-Pen Cottage, Montezuma

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I’m always fascinated by single-pen cottages, and while this one was later expanded by the addition of a second room, the original section, at left, is a great example of this humble form. This home is located in the Duncan’s Bottom neighborhood and appears to have been abandoned for quite some time.

St. Paul Primitive Baptist Church, 1930, Montezuma

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St. Paul Primitive Baptist Church was built in 1930 and is the oldest surviving church structure in the historically African-American Montezuma neighborhood known as Duncan’s Bottom. It is centered around Whiteline Street. The church is located adjacent to Mount Pleasant Cemetery. The Black Primitive Baptists, while not as well known as the Missionary Baptist or the African Methodist Episcopal churches, had similar origins. Most congregations evolved out of white congregations to which members were exposed in the days of slavery.

St. Paul is critically endangered at this time, as the roof has collapsed through the middle of the sanctuary. I’m not sure if the congregation is still active.

Saddlebag Cottage, Talbotton

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This a rear view of this house, identical to the front, which is obscured by privet and other vegetation. Located in the historic Smith Hill neighborhood, at the edge of Talbotton’s main Black cemetery, it is a typical example of the form, which was nearly always used as tenant housing. The top of the central chimney has been capped, but the hearth remains in place. The house is wider than most early 20th century examples I’ve documented, so I would date it to circa 1870s-1890s. It was later used as rental property.

Riley Family Memorial, Talbotton

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Martha Riley; May Lue Riley; Oscar Riley; Robert Riley; and Eucie Riley. Gone But Not Forgotten.

This extraordinary vernacular memorial marks the burial place of members of the Riley family of Talbotton, in Smith Hill Cemetery. Smith Hill is perhaps the oldest municipal Black cemetery in Talbotton, a town which before the Civil War was essentially a network of plantations. As a result, the final resting places of the enslaved who toiled on those plantations are generally unknown. Smith Hill may have had origins as a plantation cemetery but it grew into the de facto burying ground for the Black community. It quickly descends into a ravine and marked graves are scattered in all directions. Varying styles, from plain to Victorian, are present. The earliest marked burial dates to the 1870s, but there are scores of unmarked graves in Smith Hill.

I chose this memorial to represent the cemetery for its obvious artistic merit, but also to illustrate the difficulty which faces genealogists and historians in documenting the lives of a population that was traditionally left out of the broader story of Southern history. The marker, with stenciled names, a marble cross, and folk art flowers, tells us someone cared about these people, but beyond that, there lives are a mystery. James Riley (1923-1955) and Rose Riley (?-1978) are represented by ledger stones nearby, so they were related. Perhaps the names on this memorial were earlier members of their family who wanted to make sure their names were not forgotten.

Elizabeth Evelyn Wright (1872-1906) & Greater Saint Phillip Methodist Church, 1875, Talbotton

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According to Voorhees University: “Elizabeth Evelyn Wright (1872-1906) was an African-American educator, social reformer, and founder of Voorhees College in Denmark, South Carolina. She was born [one of 27 children of a carpenter father and a mother who may have been full-blooded Cherokee] on April 3, 1872, in [the Smith Hill neighborhood] Talbotton, Georgia, during a time of racial segregation and limited educational opportunities for African Americans.

Wright was raised in poverty but was determined to receive an education. At the age of 16, she left home and traveled to Tuskegee, Alabama, where she enrolled at the Tuskegee Institute. She worked as a domestic servant to support herself while pursuing her studies.

Inspired by the educational philosophy of Booker T. Washington, the founder of Tuskegee Institute, Wright believed in the transformative power of education for African Americans. After completing her studies at Tuskegee, she returned to South Carolina and started teaching at the Macedonia School in Denmark.

Realizing the need for higher education opportunities for African Americans in the region, Wright embarked on a mission to establish a college. She started by raising funds and gathering support from local communities, churches, and philanthropists. In 1897, she founded Denmark Industrial School, which later became known as Voorhees Industrial School and eventually Voorhees College.

Voorhees College provided vocational training and academic education to African-American students, focusing on agriculture, carpentry, home economics, and other practical skills. Wright believed that education should not only prepare students for employment but also instill character, discipline, and moral values.

Elizabeth Evelyn Wright’s dedication to education and her tireless efforts to establish Voorhees College played a significant role in expanding educational opportunities for African Americans in South Carolina. She passed away on December 14, 1906, but her legacy lives on through Voorhees College, which continues to educate students to this day.“

The church was originally known as St. Phillips A. M. E. Church, but later changed its affiliation to Methodist. It was organized by freedmen on 15 April 1870. The original building was destroyed by a storm in 1875 but under the guidance of Rev. A. S. Grangin, was rebuilt later that same year. Part of Jefferson Street which runs beside the church, was renamed Elizabeth Wright Avenue in her memory.