COLONY, Ala. – The town of Colony on Saturday, Feb. 27 concluded Black History Month with a celebration at its educational complex, inviting members of the community to bring photos and other artifacts to create a temporary museum, tell their families’ stories and commemorate African-American historical achievements.
Event coordinator and Colony Councilwoman Ethel Alexander declared, “The museum was a success. We had Ms. Barbra Moody sing and recite the poem ‘Still I Rise’ by Maya Angelou, along with Ernestine Bell singing ‘I Ain’t Going to Let Nobody Turn Me Around’ and Ms. Linda Bradford singing ‘Hold On.’ Ms. Pat Ponder presented a video of Mr. George M. Flanigan making a straw seat for a cane chair and 1884 Homestead Certificate of her relative Robert Sapp.”
The event included displays featuring:
- Black dolls
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
- President Barack Obama
- Harriett Tubman
- Cooking pots belonging to Ms. Precious Fitts’ great-grandmother
- “Must-read” books of famous African-Americans
- Church hats from Ms. Katherine Minnett and Precious Harris
- Colony’s Alabama 200 Bicentennial Murals and bronze plaque
- African-Americans- born slaves and died freed- contributed by the Birmingham African American Genealogy Group, Inc.
- Retired Councilman and military veteran Melvin Hammond’s Quilt of Valor, hats and banner
Colony was settled by freed slaves following their emancipation at the end of the Civil War and remains today Cullman County’s only majority African-American community. Over the years, the town sported several businesses, a Masonic lodge hall and its own school, built by members of the community. The building that housed the lodge and a mercantile store is no longer in use but remains standing today, and Colony’s school was consolidated into the Hanceville system in 1965. The community was incorporated as a town in 1981.
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