Last year, Scalawag published a biography of Abram Colby (1820-1872), one of Georgia's first Black legislators, whose story had been erased in the community he once served. This April, that same community erected a permanent marker honoring him outside of the county courthouse—the same courthouse where Colby and the county freedmen cast their ballots in defiance of the Ku Klux Klan.

Photo credit: Greer Brigham

Born into slavery, Colby won a seat in the Georgia House soon after the Civil War. His outspoken advocacy for Black political rights as well as his co-establishment of the county's first school for freed children brought him into direct conflict with the KKK. After he refused a bribe to abandon his politics, a mob of Klansmen kidnapped him from his home in a nighttime raid and beat him in the woods until they believed that he was dead. The town doctor, who was a Klansman himself, could not find a pulse. Though the attack left him partially paralyzed and stole the life of his daughter, Colby miraculously survived. He retook his seat in the Georgia House, defeated the father of one of his assailants at the polls to win reelection, and testified about his assault before Congress and President Ulysses Grant. He died on a train headed home. 

County historian T.B. Rice falsely wrote in History of Greene County, Georgia that Colby had lost his final election. He went on to claim that Colby had become a drunkard, insulted "a lady," and was thrown on a train headed out of town, never to be seen again.

Mamie Hillman, founder of the Greene County African American Museum (GCAAM), noted how difficult it was to find any true African American history during her youth in segregated Greene County. After the Scalawag article's publication, Hillman and I led an effort to place a permanent marker honoring Abram Colby outside of the county courthouse. Not only would the downtown Greensboro area be historically significant, but it would also likely be safer. As Hillman noted, historical markers for Jackie Robinson and Emmett Till located in more rural areas have been riddled with bullet holes. 

The Georgia Historical Society approved GCAAM's marker application—one of five new markers in Georgia in 2026, and to date the only historical marker honoring a Black person in Greene County. "After all those years of suffering, we stand in victory today," Hillman said at the unveiling, which included musical performances and speeches over two days of celebration. "Abram Colby will never be forgotten." 

Pam Colby, Abram's great-great-granddaughter, traveled to Georgia to attend the marker unveiling. After his death, the Colbys left the county and eventually moved to Gary, Indiana, where Pam Colby grew up without ever knowing his story. "The record has been corrected," she said at the unveiling. "He is here, and so are we."

Pam Colby, Abram Colby's Great-Great-Granddaughter. Photo courtesy of GCAAM.

Of course, while Colby's marker is designed to be permanent, what he stood for remains fragile. The marker is placed next to a Confederate memorial that was erected in 1898, just two years before the county instituted a "white primary"—disenfranchising a generation of Black voters. The 'Original 33' Black legislators elected in Colby's time were whittled down to zero, and did not return in strength until the Voting Rights Act was signed in 1965. In 2025, 74 Black legislators took seats in the Georgia General Assembly, roughly matching the proportion of Black residents in the state.

Then the Supreme Court offered another reminder of that fragility. Just three days after the unveiling of Colby's marker, the Court ruled 6-3 along partisan lines that a critical part of the Voting Rights Act was unconstitutional. Legislators in states like Georgia can now redraw electoral districts in ways that dilute Black political power once again. 

Pam Colby said that you could draw a throughline from voter suppression in her ancestor's time to the present day. "Same playbook," she said. Mamie Hillman thinks of the "men, women, and children who gave their lives," saying the latest ruling was "like walking on the graves of the dead."

Mamie Hillman (right), with her husband, John Hillman (left). Photo courtesy of GCAAM.

Their work continues. Hillman plans to add more plaques that honor the historical narrative of African Americans in the county, while Pam Colby is in the process of writing a play about her ancestor's life and work. Both described their vision that Abram Colby's colleagues in the Georgia General Assembly (the rest of the 'Original 33') would one day be honored too. 

"The light is real," Pam Colby said, "and the light is ours—all of ours—to pass."

Greer Brigham is a researcher, writer, and consultant whose work focuses on inclusive growth and the green economy. His concern over severe economic inequality in the U.S. brought him to Greene County, Georgia – one of the most unequal places in America and the subject of his upcoming book.