Booker T. Washington and his wife Olivia Davidson are stopping traffic in Athens more than 100 years after their wedding.
Athens City Council members voted to close a portion of West Washington Street, from Shafer Street to Lancaster Street, at yesterday's meeting to dedicate a historical marker to the civil rights leaders' wedding in Athens.
The ceremony will commence at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 18 at 193 W. Washington St., where the two got married on Aug. 11, 1886, according to the ordinance.
Guided tours of the house, now a student rental, will be available and the African-American Studies department will host a mini-exhibit at the Athens County Historical Society and Museum on 65 N. Court St. to commemorate the marker.
Washington, born in 1856 into slavery, was emancipated after the civil war and led the civil rights movement by forming Tuskegee University in Alabama.
Olivia, his wife, attended Albany Enterprise Academy, the first institute for higher learning run by and for African Americans
said Kellee Reisbeck, executive director of the Athens County Historical Society.
A lot of people think that Appalachia was uneducated at the time she said. But that was not the case.
The event, which will be open until 2 p.m., will give students and Athens community members the chance to get acquainted with the area's history, she said.
I think it is very important to honor such a historical person and to bring attention to this story that will hopefully be preserved said Chris Knisely, D-at large, who presented the ordinance.
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Caitlin McGlade
