The Dollar Dog Days of Summer Are Back!

The Augusta Museum of History is pleased to announce the return of Dollar Dog Days of Summer. During the entire month of August, Museum admission is only $1 per person!

Nancy Glaser, Executive Director of the Augusta Museum of History said, “We are thrilled to be able to once again offer the families and residents of the CSRA special reduced admission rates during the entire month of August. Discounted admission will ensure everyone in the community has the opportunity to visit their History Museum. Last year’s Dollar Dog Days was so successful, we are grateful to be able to once again provide discounted admission rates during these economically challenging times.”

Exhibitions on display during the month of August include The Godfather of Soul, Mr. James Brown, the first major exhibition celebrating the life and legacy of the renowned artist, and From Ty to Cal: A Century of Baseball in Augusta, tracing the history of professional baseball in Augusta over the past century, during which the “Garden City” has hosted over a dozen baseball teams. Also included is the A Community That Heals funded by University Heath Care System, chronicles medicine in the CSRA.

Programs available to visitors during the month of August include Hunt for History, a self-guided journey through time for ages 4 – 13 and on Saturday, August 8, museums visitors can view a performance from the museum theatre series – Voices of the Past. A Petersburg Boat Pilot will be performed by an actor in the Museum’s galleries at 11:30 am, 12:30 pm, and 1:30 pm.

Museum admission during the month of August also includes a viewing of Augusta Remembers, a documentary which through the use of images, video, and personal memories, looks at the history of Augusta during the first half of the 20th century – from 1900 to World War II, including the floods and fires that devastated downtown Augusta.

Brown Bag History Series Lecture to explore the growth of segregation in a Jim Crow South

As part of its continuing Brown Bag History Series, the Museum will present The Strange Career of Jim Crow in Augusta, a lecture given by Dr. Lee Ann Caldwell on Wednesday, July 1, 2009 at 12:30 p.m.

The lecture will explore the growth of segregation in the region, comparing the early possibilities of Reconstruction with the developments in race relations in the late nineteenth century. Using census materials, newspapers, city directories, memoirs, maps and other primary sources, this research seeks to understand the internal and external forces that coalesced to cause Jim Crowism to emerge in a place where more fluid race relations had existed.

Dr. Lee Ann Caldwell, a native of Augusta, is the Director of the Center for the Study of Georgia History at Augusta State University. She served as a History Professor at Paine College from 1980-1991, Augusta State University from 1991-2002, and as Professor of History and Chair of the Department of History, Geography and Philosophy at Georgia College & State University from 2002- 2008. She returned to Augusta in summer of 2008 to carry on the work of the late historian, Dr. Edward Cashin. She has authored essays and articles, presented many papers at scholarly conferences, and served on the boards of professional organizations. She is currently the co-editor of the Journal of the Georgia Association of Historians and the executive secretary of the Georgia History Consortium. Her current research includes a textbook on Georgia history for public schools to be published by Clairmont Press, an additional chapter covering the years 1980-2010 for Dr. Cashin’s Story of Augusta (which will be reprinted), and a book on family and race in late nineteenth century Augusta and Summerville.

The Brown Bag History Series is an educational lecture series provided monthly by the Augusta Museum of History, and is an ideal lunch-time break for downtown professionals, retirees, and students. The lectures are free to Museum members and $3 for non-members. Participants should bring a lunch and the Museum provides beverages and dessert. Refreshments are served beginning at 11:30 a.m.; the lecture runs from 12:30 – 1:00 p.m.

Learn the lost art of dots and dashes....

This Saturday, our Family Fun Day Series continues when families are invited to learn about the Morse Code.

What: Morse Code Family Fun Day
When: Saturday June 20, 2009, 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Who: Families are invited to learn the lost language of dots and dashes and try their hand at communicating without words.
How Much?: Free with regular Museum admission and for Museum members!

(Regular admission: $4 Adults, $3 Seniors, $2 Children 6 - 18, Free for Children Age 5 and under)

Museum to host former MLB Pitcher for Book Signing

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ira Berkow brings together unforgettable memories of a hero's life in The Corporal Was a Pitcher: The Courage of Lou Brissie, telling the story of a man who overcame incredible odds from a war injury to realize his dream of pitching in the major leagues. On Saturday, June 20, 2009 from 1:00 to 3:00 pm, the Augusta Museum of History is pleased to host Mr. Lou Brisise for a book signing.

The Corporal Was a Pitcher is the riveting, true account of Brissie who – after being left for dead in a ditch on the battlefields of northern Italy on December 7, 1944, while fighting the retreating Nazis – became a member of the 1949 American League All-Star team as a strikeout ace, hurling his heat past the likes of Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams. When war surgeons told Brissie he would die if they didn’t cut off his leg, Brissie refused amputation and fought through twenty-three operations to return to baseball.“Brissie's story should be recommended reading for every major-leaguer,” wrote the Daily (Ill.) Herald’s Mike Imrem on February 21, 2009. “Brissie just wanted to play baseball, and returned home with a damaged leg - and played in seven major-league seasons and the 1949 All-Star Game!”

Lou Brissie is a part of our nation's ‘greatest generation,’ and his life from his time serving in World War II to playing professional baseball for the Philadelphia A's to visiting wounded veterans throughout his life make him a role model for all. The Corporal Was a Pitcher is a must-read not only for baseball fans, but also for anyone looking to find inspiration from a man who never quit despite the odds being stacked so highly against him.Lou Brissie will sign books from 1:00 – 3:00 pm on Saturday, June 20 at the Augusta Museum of History (706-722-8454) in the exhibit From Ty to Cal: A Century of Baseball in Augusta, which features from Brissie’s career with the Philadelphia A’s. Books will be available for purchase in the Museum Shop ($20.00 Paperback).

June lunchtime lecture on historic black cemetery - Cedar Grove

As part of its continuing Brown Bag History Series, the Museum will present Cedar Grove Cemetery, a lecture given by Mr. Arthur Holmes on Wednesday, June 3, 2009 at 12:30 p.m.

A historic black cemetery located in downtown Augusta, Cedar Grove was constructed in 1820, when the City of Augusta allotted 40 acres of land for slaves to be laid to rest. These simple, unmarked graves now rest beside some of Augusta’s most prominent black business owners and educators, including R.A. Dent, the first black from Augusta elected to the Legislature, Rev. W. P. Russell who opened the Free African School at Ellis and Ninth Streets in 1865, and Mrs. Amanda Dickson Toomer, the richest black woman in the United STates, following the death of her father, and plantation owner, David Dickson.

Mr. Arthur (Audie) Holmes is an Assistant Professor of History at Paine College, where he teaches history and geography in the Division of Social Sciences. Holmes also taught for Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice for a number of years. During his lecture, he will speak of how the cemetery was first constructed and designated for slaves (free and unfree alike) by the City and some of the famous and not-so-famous individuals buried at Cedar Grove.

The Brown Bag History Series is an educational lecture series provided monthly by the Augusta Museum of History, and is an ideal lunch-time break for downtown professionals, retirees, and students. The lectures are free to Museum members and $3 for non-members. Participants should bring a lunch and the Museum provides beverages and dessert. Refreshments are served beginning at 11:30 a.m.; the lecture runs from 12:30 – 1:00 p.m.

Museum digs up the past with annual Archeology Day

In recognition of Georgia Archeology Month, the Augusta Museum of History and the Augusta Archeological Society will present Archeology Day on Saturday, May 23, 2009 from 10 am - 4 pm at the 1797 Ezekiel Harris House. Archaeologists will be on hand to identify and classify prehistoric and historic artifacts and artifact collections; Paleo-Indian and Dalton period projectile points will be formally recorded; and artifacts from local historic sites will be on
display, including artifacts from the Ezekiel Harris House. Children will enjoy flint knapping and primitive weapon demonstrations and all visitors will have the opportunity to take a guided tour of the 1797 Ezekiel Harris House.

Admission for this 1797 Ezekiel Harris House event is FREE. The 1797 Ezekiel Harris House is located at 1822 Broad Street in the Harrisburg neighborhood. In case of rain, Archaeology Day will be held at the Augusta Museum of History.

Museum to host lecture on anniversary of 1970 Augusta Riots

Thirty-nine years ago, the residents of Augusta, Georgia experienced three days of race riots that shocked the region, state, and nation as a whole. With the national eye on the city of Augusta, what started as a peaceful protest of the killing of 16 year old black teenager, Charles Oatman, in the Richmond County jail surged to a 700-person riot in Augusta neighborhoods fully populated by black residents.

Nearly four decades later, the Augusta Museum of History is pleased to present a lecture, Augusta is Burning given by Mr. William R. (Bill) Coleman, Jr. , on the thirty-ninth anniversary of the Augusta Riots, Monday, May 11, 2009, 6:30 pm at the Museum. Mr. Coleman will cover certain conditions and attitudes that existed in the nation, the state, and the local community at the time to have made such a riot possible.

The catalyst for the May riot was an approved march on Augusta's city hall to protest the killing of Oatman, a mentally-disabled teenager, in the county jail on May 9, 1970. Oatman had been beaten to death in his cell two days before, and authorities charged his two black cellmates with murder. Black residents held police responsible for the killing. But what was intended to be a peaceful rally on May 11, 1970, turned ugly as the crowd of 300 demonstrators descended upon the marble-faced county building in downtown Augusta. They ripped the Georgia state flag from its standard and burned it. Then they marched the two blocks to Broad Street, the city's main shopping district, and began surging in and out of stores, jostling counters and picking up merchandise. Until the crowd reached the downtown black neighborhoods, amassed to 700 and were completely out of control.

Mr. William Coleman presents a unique perspective on the race riots that erupted in Augusta, Georgia on May 11, 1970. His talk will include actual news film footage of the riots and he will explain the role he played as an attorney representing some of those arrested for their participation in the riots. As a young lawyer at the time, Coleman was appointed by the Chief Superior Court Judge to represent the persons arrested for the riots who wished to have a lawyer. In addition, the Honorable Grady Abrams, a city councilman at the time will be attending and taking part in the discussion.

“As a young lawyer at the time, it was both scary and a privilege to be part of this remarkable time in Augusta’s history. I look forward to this opportunity to share my point of view and role during these events”, commented Mr. Coleman.

Augusta is Burning will be held in the Museum Theater of the Augusta Museum of History and is free of charge to the general public. Galleries will be closed during the lecture.