Herman and Anna Lodge oral history interview, September 6, 2002

Interviewed by Cliff Kuhn. Among topics discussed: Birth and growing up in Waynesboro, Burke County, Georgia; attended school at Fort Valley State University, majored in physical therapy; drafted into the army; Fort Knox, Kentucky; stationed overseas in France and Germany; teaching school in Greensboro, Georgia; work at V.A. Hospital; working and making money in Waynesboro; episode at Piggly Wiggly; creation of Burke County Improvement Association; mistreatment and arrest of black boy at Piggly Wiggly by white cashier and police; help of Georgia Legal Services; Miss Black Burke County beauty pageant, winners received scholarships; coalition of organizations in Burke County; successful organizing; NAACP; obstacles to black voter registration; courthouse registration; Mrs. Lodge's memory of registering to vote; misspelling Lodge's occupation on voter registration; role of fear and intimidation in 1950s and 1960s; night patrols; Holmes girl incident; freedom of choice law in choosing schools; black family terrorized for choosing to attend Waynesboro High School; Bill Holmes; Gilbert Howard; high-school age boy arrested for disrespecting white cashier at Piggly Wiggly; formation of Burke County Improvement Association after the Piggly Wiggly incident; Rev. John Ellis, Presbyterian, first president; initial members: George Ezra Robinson, Herman Lodge, Anna Lodge, Nana Fickland; description of the one black working at courthouse; blacks on juries; Burke County Improvement Association initiated voter registration; meeting at Harveys Supermarket; initiation of Head Start by Burke County Improvement Association at Blakely School, then Boggs Academy; OEO; Community Action; Davis Park; Central Savannah River Authority (CSRA); help of Georgia Legal Services; early days with Bob Cullen; location of Legal Services' Waynesboro office; bus of blacks go to Supreme Court in voting rights case; David Worley; changes in Burke County, importance to Lodge; change in attitude of people in Burke County; Mrs. Lodge's memories of voting for the first time; votes cast in locked box; insecurity when voting for first time; injustice to black race; Mrs. Lodge reading Supreme Court's description of Burke County; Rogers v. Lodge; Judge Anthony Alaimo; Augusta; Rev. J.J. Smith; Valdosta; Lodges' acquisition of "blacks only" water fountain, now in church; story of "Aunt Creasy" recorded at courthouse; respect shown to and by people; different things taught in school now; new schools being built and recreation facilities upgraded; John Cromartie; Ronald Reagan administration; Perry, Georgia.