AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF)- Do you ever drive down a road or past a building that was named after someone and wonder who it was?
NewsChannel 6’s Kim Vickers does and this month she took a look at two names you will recognize if you drive in downtown Augusta– C.T. Walker and R.A. Dent.
One was a minister and one was a politician. One born into slavery and the other into Jim Crow.
Reverend Charles Thomas Walker and Richard Algernon Dent made a huge impact on Augusta, the state of Georgia, and the world.
Walker was born into slavery near Hephzibah, Georgia in 1858 to Hannah and Tom Walker. His parents were founding members of the Franklin Covenant Church, a black Baptist church that was built before the Civil War. Tragically, Walker never knew his father.
“Unfortunately his father dies before he is born, so he doesn’t have the opportunity to meet his father. But, because he’s a Walker, he is surrounded by a wide circle of very influential black men,” said historian, Joyce Law.