During the month of February, the country salutes the history of African Americans. Here are some outstanding firsts for African American Laurens Countians.
Dr. B. Judson Simmons, a native of Laurens County, served as Milledgeville, Geogia’s first African-American physician. Dr. Simmons is also known as the first Laurens County person to practice medicine.
Barbara Sanders Thomas, a graduate of Oconee High School in Dublin, completed a successful career at CBS radio, as the network’s Director of Finance and Administration, the first African-American woman to attend the network’s management school and the network’s first African-American woman to serve as a senior vice-president.
Tony Edmond, an East Laurens High School Future Farmers Club student, became the first African American President of the Georgia Future Farmers of America Club with his election in 1984.
Velma Warren, who once worked as a share cropper in the Cook place in Montrose married in 1953 to James Brown, the King of Soul.
Mel Lattany, a former school teacher in Dublin in the late 1980s and early 1990s was the fastest man in the world in 1984, running the 100-meter dash in a time of 9.96 seconds, 0.01 a second below the world record. He was only the second human being ever to be timed below 10 seconds in the 100-meter dash. Lattany was a six-time All-American in track at the University of Georgia, a member of the 1980 and 1984 Olympic teams, an eight-time S.E.C. champion and one-time world record holder in the 300 meter dash, (147) 100 meter Junior dash, and the Sprint Medley Relay.
In 1937, Miss Gallimore, of Laurens County and a daughter of Jonas Gallimore, gave birth to the first known set of African American Siamese Twins ever born.
Trinity Crusader football coach,
Tracy Ham, led his Georgia Southern Eagles to back to back national championships in 1985 and 1986. Drafted by the Los Angeles Rams in 1987. Grey Cup Champion in 1987 (Edmonton) and 1995 (Baltimore.) CFL Most outstanding player 1989, (Edmonton Eskimos, CFL leading rusher, 1990, (Edmonton Eskimos) (193). 1995 MVP Grey Cup, (Baltimore Stallions.) Elected to the Canadian Football League Hall of Fame , the NCAA Football Hall of Fame , and the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame. (197) First CFL quarterback to rush for 1000 yards in a season. Ranks seventh all time in CFL with 40,534 yards passing, tenth in rushing with 8,043 yards,, and stands in second place all time among quarterbacks in rushing.
Dublin’s Douglas Williams was the first African-American student to enroll at Brewton Parker College in Ailey/Mt. Vernon, Ga.
Major Herndon M. Cummings was a bomber pilot in the famed air group, the Tuskegee Airman. Cummings and more than 100 officers were arrested at Freeman Field, Indiania in one of the first major civil rights incidents in the U.S. Army’s history. (425) Cummings and the other Tuskegee Airman were award the Congressional Gold Medal (426) and were the invited to attend and sit on the platform with President Barrack Obama during his first inauguration.
Charles Robinson, Jr., of Dublin, was the first African-American to become certified by American College of Healthcare Administrators and was selected as Georgia’s Health Care Administrator of the year in 1977.
The Rev. George Linder, once a Laurens County slave, was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in 1868 during Reconstruction. Rev. Linder, a local Methodist Minister, and the other 32 African-American legislators were among the first to serve in a state legislature in the United States of America.
Dr. Eleanor Ison Franklin, a native of Dublin, was named a director of a medical department at Howard University Washington, D.C. Dr. Franklin was the first woman to serve in that capacity. Dr. Franklin was also the first woman, black or white, to head a medical department in an American university.
One of the first African-American scientists to work at NASA, Dr.
Robert E. Shurney, a native of Dublin, was one of the agency’s top physicists, receiving honors for his designs of the tires for the lunar rover on the Apollo 15 mission, as well as his training in weightless environments and his innovative designs of the toilet for the Skylab space station in addition to his designs of eating utensils and solar panels for the Skylab. This widely heralded scientist accomplished all of these feats without the benefit of a high school diploma.
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