Malia Thomas | The Valdosta Daily TimesProtesters walk along Troup Street shouting 'No Justice. No Peace. No more racist streets.'

VALDOSTA – “Down with Troup Street” rang along the aforementioned street Saturday afternoon.

Valdosta State University’s A Chance to Initiate Opportunities Now club was escorted by Valdosta Police Officers Latasha Richard and Jordan Green down North Troup Street, leading them to Vallotton Park where a stage for a final call-to-action awaited them.

The purpose of the rally was to curry support for renaming Troup Street to Mary Turner Street.

In May 1918, the murder of Brooks County plantation owner Hampton Smith sparked outrage across the South Georgia region. A series of lynchings resulted from the ongoing tension, culminating in the murder of Hazel “Hayes” Turner after his arrest in Valdosta.

His wife, Mary Turner, who was eight months pregnant at the time, publicly denounced her husband’s killers and threatened legal recourse. She was then kidnapped and taken to the Brooks County line, where the mob proceeded to lynch her, cut her unborn baby out of her womb and stomped it to death, before Mary Turner was killed.

D.J. Davis, the rally’s organizer and ACTION club vice president, led the crowd with cheers such as “No Justice. No Peace. No more racist streets.” He said it is time for city residents to start acknowledging Valdosta’s “less than pretty” past.

“The reason for this rally is simple; to spark a dialogue,” he said. “We can preach peace and unity and love all day but it’s time to wake up and have that difficult conversation.”

Among the speakers at the call-to-action were Thomas Aiello, VSU professor of African-American studies, and Lewis Cureton, former secretary of 100 Black Men of Valdosta, who expressed similar sentiments about commemorating history.

Aiello in particular spent much of his speech debunking various claims that are in opposition to renaming the street, such as a claim that “we should throw away everything prior to 1860 since it is rooted in slavery.”

He brought up the lack of contributions made to Valdosta and society as a whole by George Troup, the 32nd governor of Georgia (1823-27). Troup Street is named for him. Other monuments commemorate something other than “that person’s ties to slavery” but Troup had no such accomplishments outside of his fanaticism, Aiello added.

“George Troup did not have any virtues that went along with his vices. He was a) not from here, never lived here and never a part of the community and b) he was a plantation owner, slave owner and only became governor on a platform with one issue: kill and remove Indians,” Aiello said.

“He spent his last years advocating for state’s rights and slavery. He provided nothing useful to the world. He was a person in history only represented by bigotry.”

Cureton said the issue is bigger than just changing the name of a street but it is about symbols of change being an inspiration for the community.

“Changing the name of a road doesn’t always look like it matters. After all, who cares about the name of a road, right? But there’s something in a name: remembrance. Cause as you drive down, you’re going to say, ‘Who’s Mary Turner? What’s that story? Why did they name it after her?’” he said.

Cureton said it is not about naming and shaming but to open people’s eyes and see what actually happened.

“As I finish up,” he added, “I hope all of us in attendance grab someone young, and speak and spread the knowledge. Because history repeats unless we learn from it.”