Items

• [Photograph of Ballard Normal School Graduating Class, Macon, Bibb County, Macon, 1928]

  "Macon, 1928. Graduating class of Ballard Normal School, Forest Avenue."--from field notes
• [Photograph of Ballardi Normal School football squad, Macon, Bibb County, Georgia, 1922]

  "Macon, 1922. The Ballardi Normal School football squad poses for a photograph in formation., The photograph was taken by Woodall Studios, which was located at 414 1/2 Second Street, Macon, Georgia, at the time that the photograph was taken."--from field notes
• [Photograph of Ballard Normal School baseball team, Macon, Bibb County, Georgia, 1914]

  "Macon, 1914. Ballard Normal School baseball team. Fourth from right, seated Pope Hatchins; third from left standing: Parks Lane. New Street and Pine Street."--from field notes
• Douglass in Macon does big business : manager praises Billy Chambers Production / by William Smith

  News bulletin for the Douglass Theatre, by William M. Smith, manager of the Douglass Theatre, probably for May, 1925? or 1926?. Smith notes that they had very large attendance for Billy Chambers and his Oh Mandy show on May 26th. He describes the show as featuring eighteen girls and twelve boys from the Ballard Normal School, located in Macon. Smith enthuses that two thousand people attended the performance, which was "billed ... like a circus" by Billy Chambers. He opines that the T.O.B.A. Circuit would be ashamed of their productions if they could see Chambers' production. Smith criticizes the T.O.B.A. shows for being too much alike. He reports that Oh Mandy will show for "white people" at the Grand in June by special request, and that they will have William Benbow's Get Happy for the week of June 1st. Benbow was a producer, owner, and performer in several well-known minstrel and vaudeville shows. Get Happy was produced in 1925 and 1926 with his last known troupe of eighteen men and women, the William Benbow Company. The stars of the 1925 show included Deatta Robinson, Margie Cohen, Odell Irvins, "Rastus" Winfield, "Shorty" Edwards, and Elnora Mantley. The 1926 cast included William Benbow, Ozie Stennis, Henrietta Leggett, Mabel Jones, "Shorty" Edwards, Zue Robinson, and his jazz band. It is possible that this announcement may have been sent to African American newspapers such as the Chicago Defender which had a Southern edition (see dbr054 which mentions a column by Douglass that appeared in the Defender)., Digital image and encoded transcription of an original manuscript, scanned, transcribed and encoded by the Digital Library of Georgia in 2005, as part of Georgia HomePLACE. This project is supported with federal LSTA funds administered by the Institute of Museum and Library Services through the Georgia Public Library Service, a unit of the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia.