Meet the Past at the Atlanta History Center

This summer, we invite you to meet the past through characters that bring to life the stories of people who made an impact on the life, art, and culture of Atlanta and Georgia.

Each performance is approximately fifteen minutes. 

Dave Drake

Dave Drake was an enslaved potter who created large clay pots, on which he engraved pieces of short verse. He also signed his name, revealing his literacy at a time in history when it was illegal for a slave to read and write. Dave’s performance looks at the notion of literacy and its impact on our identity as individuals, as well as how resistance to slavery took many forms.

Maude

As you travel through the Metropolitan Frontiers exhibition and learn the history of Atlanta, you will have the opportunity to meet Maude. Maude, a character created from the historic record of slaves who lived in the Atlanta area during the Civil War, shares the personal stories of the struggles and challenges of the enslaved, as well as their contributions to the life of the farms through field work, carpentry, blacksmithing, and foodways. She shares secrets of what life was like at that time and invites the audience to think about what they would have done in various dilemmas that Maude and her family faced everyday.

Adrienne Herndon

Atlanta’s black middle class was thriving at the turn of the twentieth century and Adrienne Herndon, wife of successful businessman Alonzo Herndon, was at the center of it all. She was a friend and colleague of W.E.B. DuBois, and also passed the color line and lived as a white woman in New York City while studying theatre at the National Academy of Dramatic Arts. Adrienne explores the struggles of African American women at the turn of the last century with visitors, leaving them to ask themselves, “What would you do?”