ATLANTA — Jack Hadley and the Jack Hadley Black History Museum were honored recently in the Georgia House of Representatives by House Resolution 235.

The Jack Hadley Black History Museum was honored and commended for its historical collection and preservation of local, state and national African-American history and culture. The museum boasts a collection of more than 4,751 pieces of African-American artifacts and 529 members.

Since opening the museum in its present location in 2006, on the grounds of the former Douglass High School, more than 18,700 visitors have toured the museum, including 397 schools, churches, and youth groups, and more than 73,000 visitors have visited the museum’s website. The museum’s labor of love for collecting and preserving African-American heritage has culminated in a traveling exhibit of approximately 650 artifacts that have been on exhibit at local schools in Southwest Georgia and North Florida.

The museum has been the recipient of two federal grants. In 2012, the Institution of Museum and Library awarded $32,400 to hire a museum registrar and in 2016 awarded $115,904 to hire a consultant/museum educator to develop an educational pilot program of African-American history and culture for the area’s middle schools, with plans to expand to other schools in three years. 

In 2014, a major donor, Perra S. Bell, professor at Towson State University in the 1970s, bequeathed her collection of 3,000 African American books to the museum to be developed into a public and community research library called Bell’s African American Library. The museum has been the recipient of several awards, including the Outstanding Achievement Award by Thomasville Landmarks, Inc., in 2007 and the Georgia Association of Museums and Galleries Honorable Mention for the Institution Award in 2010.