YOUR GUIDE TO THE CAPTURING THE SPIRIT OF OAKLAND 2020 FILM

Produced by Historic Oakland Foundation

THE RESIDENTS Mary Bohnefeld Benjamin Blanton 1845-1915. Block 161, Lot 11 1845-1927. Block 59, Lot 2, Grave 5 Matron Mary Bohnefeld was born in Heidelberg, Germany Benjamin Blanton was born into slavery in Oglethorpe on July 27, 1845. At age 20, she immigrated alone to the County, Georgia around 1845. His parents were Anthony United States, moving first to New York City, where she and Celia Blanton, and Benjamin was one of ten children. supported herself through sewing. In 1866, she married He moved to by 1875 and worked as a gardener and fellow German immigrant and Union soldier, Dietreich farmer until 1877 when he joined the Oakland Cemetery Emwald, with whom she had two children. Following the staff as a gardener and gravedigger. end of his military career, the family moved to Atlanta, While the records are unclear, Benjamin Blanton appears where Dietreich died in 1873. In 1880, Mary married to have been married three times, outliving all of his wives Charles Bohnefeld, a carpenter and undertaker in Atlanta. and most of his children. Benjamin’s life was marked by The marriage was not a happy one, and the couple divorced many personal tragedies but remained close to his sup- in 1892. After working her way up from cook to nurse at portive family. Benjamin lived out his final years in a home Grady Hospital and occasionally providing medical support he shared with his brother, John, on what was then called to the Atlanta Police Department, Mary accepted the official Hunter Street, located just outside of Oakland’s main gate. position of Prison Matron in 1901. She advocated for the women under her charge and even risked her career to challenge impropriety shown by the police captain towards Thomas Nixon female inmates. Mary died in 1915 from injuries sustained 1842-1924. Lot 151, Grave 5 in a wagon accident months earlier. Thomas Nixon was born in County Clare Ireland in 1842. He immigrated to Atlanta in 1866, reuniting with relatives Minnie Askew Davis who had lived in the city for several years and who had 1869-1934. Block 36, Lot 3, Grave 6 found financial success as liquor dealers, financial investors, and booksellers. Despite his family’s prosperity, Thomas Minnie Askew Davis was one of Atlanta’s most prominent acquired working-class employment as a gravedigger at dressmakers in the early twentieth century. She was born Oakland Cemetery, where he worked for almost 40 years. in Atlanta in 1869 to Thomas and Mary Askew. Her father Thomas Nixon never married or had children. He retired was one of the first Black photographers in Atlanta, and his from the cemetery in 1916 and lived with his cousin Mary, work was exhibited internationally at the 1900 Paris Expo- who had immigrated with him fifty years prior, in her house sition. In 1892, Minnie married James “Robert” Davis, a at 180 Grant Street. Thomas passed away from stomach can- bright and promising young lawyer who tragically passed cer in 1924 and is buried in his cousins’ lot in the Original away from pneumonia only three years into their marriage. Six Acres. The young couple had one daughter, Georgia, and Minnie began working as a seamstress to support her small family. The popularity of her dress designs led Minnie to become James Garfield Eichberg one of the most sought-after dressmakers in the city. Her 1881-1984. Block 270, Lot 133, Grave 5 work remained popular until her untimely death from men- Author and actor James Garfield Eichberg was the ninth ingitis at the age of 58. child born to German immigrant parents. He was diag- nosed with degenerative tunnel vision at a very young age. With a passion for acting, James dropped out of school to an early fellowship that would later be absorbed into Big to pursue a career on Broadway. When the United States Bethel A.M.E., the oldest African American congregation in entered World War I in 1917, James joined the United States Atlanta. Guilford passed away in 1867, living long enough Army Air Service and earned the rank of sergeant major. He to witness Emancipation. was honorably discharged two years later due to his failing vision. In 1930, James moved his family to Hollywood to Julia Collier Harris again pursue a career in the performing arts. He worked as 1875-1967. Block 30, Lot 3, Grave 1, Rawson Mausoleum a freelance radio host, wrote scripts, and acted in over 2,000 radio soap operas. After going completely blind in 1940, he Georgia Woman of Achievement Julia Collier Harris was a received his first seeing eye dog. In 1947, James created a journalist and author who wrote with passion and convic- new radio program, A Blind Man Looks at You, for station tion on the issues of education, racial inequality, and the KGFJ in Los Angeles, which ran for over 20 years and ad- arts. She was born in 1875 as the eldest child of wealthy and vocated for the rights of people with visual impairments. In prominent parents. Julia wanted to pursue a career in the 1957, he wrote his critically-acclaimed children’s book, Fol- arts, but the untimely deaths of her parents just three years low My Leader. He returned to Georgia after celebrating his apart tabled that dream and left Julia responsible for six 100th birthday to be near his daughter, Carolyn. He lived younger siblings. In 1897, Julia married Julian Harris, the independently with his final guide dog, Coral, until age 102. son of author . Their romance spanned James Garfield Eichberg passed away a year later in 1984. 65 years, during which they worked together to fight in- justice and support progressive reform. The couple owned and operated the Columbus Enquirer-Sun, in which Julia’s Dr. James Scott Todd courageous editorials exposed corruption and unmasked 1847-1914. Lot 573, Grave 2 perpetrators of racial violence. Her outspoken journalism James Scott Todd was born in 1847 in Chambers County, drew the ire of the . The newspaper’s printing Alabama. At age 17, towards the end of the Civil War, press was frequently sabotaged, and the couple regularly James entered the Georgia Cadet Battalion, Company A. received death threats, some of which were credible. In Before his 18th birthday, he had been wounded or shot 1926, the paper’s editorials won the Enquirer-Sun the Pu- nine different times, including one wound that resulted in litzer Prize for Meritorious Public Service, the first Pulitzer the amputation of his right arm. After the close of the war, awarded to a Georgia newspaper. Julia Collier Harris was an he married his childhood sweetheart, Julia Heard Beall, early member of the and served as and became a physician. He moved to Atlanta in 1875 a mentor to young journalists in her later years. She passed to practice medicine. Shortly after his arrival, James was away in 1967 at the age of 91 and is interred in her mother’s named president of the Atlanta Academy of Medicine. family’s mausoleum. Known for his dark sense of humor, James often made jokes during autopsies and while giving medical testimonies. He was called upon multiple times to serve as an expert witness DINNER DEAL: for the trials and subsequent autopsy of the notorious 20% off dine-in / take-out at Firepit Pizza murderer and child predator Edward Flanagan. Tavern through October 31. Mention Capturing the Spirit. Guilford Ezzard OFFICIAL BEER OF CAPTURING THE SPIRIT OF OAKLAND: Eventide 1797-1867. Disinterred from Slave Square (Blocks 334-345), Brewing’s Capturing the Spirit Red IPA. Purchase at believed to be reinterred in Potter’s Field Eventide’s website: http://bit.ly/CSObeer.

Guilford Ezzard was born in 1797 and enslaved by Judge THANK YOU CAPTURING THE SPIRIT OF OAKLAND SPONSORS: William Ezzard, also an Oakland resident. Guilford was a trained barber who managed a barbershop at the southwest corner of Decatur and Pryor Streets. Like some other highly skilled enslaved workers in the urban slave system, Guilford lived independently from his enslaver, though he would not have been allowed to keep any profits from his work. Guil- ford Ezzard was also a talented violinist, and he was often rented out by Judge Ezzard to play music at parties. Many historic Black congregations originated as “hush harbors,” secret religious and social gatherings that took place during the time of slavery. Guilford Ezzard belonged