Mary Ellen Peters Black (known throughout her life as “Nellie”) personified the early club woman movement in the South. Black dedicated her life to organizing women for the purposes of benevolence, self-improvement, and social and civic reform. Nellie Peters was born in Atlanta on February 9, 1851, the eldest of nine children. Her father, Richard Peters, emerged from the Civil War (1861-65) to become a financial and civic leader in postwar Atlanta.

Charlie D. Tillman (photo taken ca. 1930), who called Atlanta home for most of his career, was a pioneer composer, performer, and publisher of southern gospel music. During the almost sixty years that he was involved in the music business, he wrote some one hundred songs and published twenty-two songbooks. ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7qLHOq56imZWjsLqvy6innpyZlnuwvsZoq6iomZjAcL7EpaCgoZ%2BqwHA%3D

The W. H. Reynolds Memorial Nature Preserve is named for Judge William Reynolds, who donated 130 acres of wetlands to Clayton County in 1976. In 1997 the preserve obtained an additonal sixteen acres adjacent to the original property, including primarily hardwood forests, as well as ponds, wetlands, streams, designated picnic areas, and four miles of well-defined footpaths. The preserve promotes environmental education and is open to the public. Courtesy of UGA Archway Partnership

Richmond Hill, situated on the Ogeechee River fifteen miles south of Savannah, is the largest municipality in Bryan County (although Pembroke is the county seat). According to the 2020 U.S. census, the population is 16,633. It is best known as the winter residence of the automotive pioneer Henry Ford during the 1930s and 1940s. The history of the area goes back to the earliest days of the Georgia colony, when General James Oglethorpe built Fort Argyle near the juncture of the Ogeechee and Canoochee rivers.

RuPaul Andre Charles was born to Ernestine “Toni” Fontenette and Irving Charles in San Diego, California, on November 17, 1960. His parents, who relocated from the South during the Great Migration, named him after the Creole cooking ingredient “roux.” When he was fifteen RuPaul moved with his sister Renetta to Atlanta. There he attended Northside School of Performing Arts and worked with his brother-in-law transporting and restoring luxury automobiles before pursuing a career in showbusiness.