Bev Jackson’s connection to Marietta began long before she made it her permanent home in the late 1990s.
Growing up in Detroit, Jackson and her family would make the annual drive south to spend each summer with relatives in Marietta.
“I’m a part of the Grogan family which is a long-standing family in Marietta, we go back more than 100 years,” Jackson said. “Our family home still stands on Grogan Street, the home where my mother grew up.”
A distinct member of the family includes Hugh Grogan Jr., who became Marietta’s first Black council member in 1977.
Amid the happy memories of childhood adventures, Jackson also experienced the harsh realities of segregation, like having to enter the side door of the Strand Theatre and sit on the balcony, away from white patrons.
She also recalls stories from her aunt about the Ku Klux Klan meeting in the woods behind their house.
“I have seen the good, the bad and the ugly of Cobb County,” Jackson said.
Throughout her time in Cobb, Jackson has been actively involved in efforts to acknowledge and confront the area’s troubled history, engaging with community projects and historical initiatives.