Second Baptist Church in Columbus, where in May 2022 Roxanne Stallworth, left, and Paulette Roberts unveiled a marker honoring Black suffragists Lizzie Hubbard and Fannie Davis, is among the stops on Saturday’s Black Heritage Trail bus tour.
Republic file photo
Pain and pride will co-mingle from noon to 2 p.m. Saturday when the first Black Heritage Trail Free Bus Tour for Black History Month rolls through Columbus.
The journey will include 26 sites, ranging from the Crump Theatre balcony, where Blacks once were forced to sit, to successful and thriving Black-owned businesses such as the Harmon Group.
There also will be time for question-and-answer sessions.
Several vehicles, from a school bus to vans, will be available to those interested in the tour that originates from the Columbus Learning Center at 4555 Central Ave., according to organizers. Plus, people can follow the tour in their own car, since the tour narration will be provided by a pre-recorded track of local historian Paulette Roberts, accessible via a QR code.
Organizers are requesting that people register for the event, especially if special accommodations are needed, but registration is not strictly required.
Most stops will include a three- to five-minute historical overview, according to Roberts. Some will also include disembarking from a bus or van and seeing various details up close. Much of the focus will be on history from the late 1800s to the early 1900s — a period that Roberts mentioned as a significant one for Black-owned businesses.
“A lot of people just don’t realize how long Black-owned businesses have been here,” Roberts said.
New Columbus resident Felicia Garr, working with Roberts on the tour, emphasized that the excursion ideally is for everyone, including non-Black residents, because history affects everyone of all ethnicities. In fact, organizers of nearly every local Black History Month event have made the point repeatedly during the month.
“Some people will say ‘Why do I need to take this tour and know this history, because it doesn’t impact me.’ But it does impact you, because your students go to school with my children.
“It does because I’m a coworker of yours. It does because I’m a community member of yours, and the word ‘community’ is two words combined — common unity. It does because it impacts you financially, physically, and, if you’ve got any kind of morals and values, it impacts you spiritually.”
Garr added another thought connecting to the impact of such an event.
“The more that you know about a culture and its people, the more likely you are to accept them for who they are versus just tolerating them,” Garr said.
Register for the tour
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScYsKXoM_7dJwUBWliMWK_gmSPWDxtWLc2n5m8OISr6XoltsA/viewform.
More online
For more on local Black History Month events, visit blackhistorycolumbus.com.
