AFRICATOWN conducts another Ribbon Cutting Ceremony
Last year in April 2024, The Mobile County Training School (M.C.T.S.) Alumni Association announced that it had received a $100,000 grant from The Monument Lab Foundation that was matched by a $100,000 grant from Mobile County Commissioner Merceria Ludgood to establish a museum on the campus of M.C.T.S. to tell the story of the first Training School in the state of Alabama.
Led by M.C.T.S. Alumni Anderson Flen and Barbara House, The Alumni Association have been able to transform what used to be the school’s “students shop area” and later a weekly meeting space for community meetings into a museum that gives an accurate account of the valuable purpose the school has played in the growth and development of The Africatown Community and the education of blacks in Mobile County.
Since the discovery of the last American Slave Ship, The Clotilda, was announced in 2019, there have been numerous Ground Breaking (The beginning of a project) and Ribbon Cutting Events (The completion of that project) signaling a dedicated ongoing renovation of this Historic Community. They are:
1. The ground breaking and ribbon cutting ceremonies for The Africatown Heritage House Museum.
2. The ground breaking and ribbon cutting ceremonies for The Africatown Hall.
3. The ground breaking and ribbon cutting ceremonies for two new $200,000 homes.
4. The ribbon cutting ceremony for The Mobile County Training School History Museum.
5. The ground breaking ceremony for five new $200,000 homes
6. The ground breaking ceremony for the construction of the Lewis Landing Fishing Pier to be completed in 2026.
7. The ground breaking ceremony for the construction of the long anticipated Africatown Welcome Center to be completed in 2026 or early 2027.
In addition to the items mentioned above, The Africatown CDC has done home improvement work on about 30 older homes and The Africatown Heritage Preservation Foundation has done home improvement work on about 25 older homes in Africatown.
Dr. Major Joe Womack USMCR(ret)
Executive Director of africatown-chess.org
251-404-9558 & jnwomack1@yahoo.com