TIFTON, Ga. (WALB) - A Tifton native is working to make sure local Black history is not forgotten, using archives, research, and storytelling to highlight contributions she says have long gone overlooked.

Dr. Courtney J. Smith, an associate professor at Clark Atlanta University and founder of SparkIT Inc., has returned to her hometown with a mission to preserve local history while also investing in future generations. Smith founded SparkIT nearly a decade ago as a computing camp for students, and the organization has since expanded into projects focused on education, community development, and historical preservation.

During Black History Month, Smith says she has been digging through records at the Georgia Archives to uncover stories of early Black families and community leaders who helped shape Tifton and Tift County. During her research, she says she was surprised by what she found.

“They’ve been opening this location since 2003,” Smith said. “What I found is that when I went to get Tift County’s Digest, because I can go into a research room, take pictures, they were still in plastic. And so the archivist said, that’s interesting. Nobody from that county has ever asked to see these things.”

Using those records, Smith says she was able to trace historical details about local families, including her own, learning exactly when Black families migrated into Tift County and how communities grew during the Jim Crow era. She says the records also showed how few Black landowners were documented at the time and helped identify early leaders, including one of the county’s first Black doctors, educators, and business owners whose stories she now shares through her work.

Her research also led her to The History of Tift County, where she noticed limited representation of African-American history.

In this book, you’ll find roughly 500 pages of Tift County history, and six of those pages are dedicated to the African-American community. Where can you find those pages? In the miscellaneous section in the back.

Smith says that finding reinforced her determination to spotlight local voices and stories that don’t always make it into history books.

“A lot of times, people think that the only people we can spotlight are Martin King,” Smith said. “And by far, they help with the movement. But it’s some local history that’s here that I think we need to appreciate and celebrate, especially in the times in which we are living, where everything’s tempted to be erased. But that won’t happen. Not on my watch. And so I will continue to connect the dots.”

Among the stories she has uncovered are connections to Greenwood Cemetery, the historic Black cemetery across from J.T. Reddick School, including the grave of Philip Rowe, a World War One soldier killed in action whose legacy many residents may not realize exists in their own community.

Smith says she is now working to digitally map Greenwood Cemetery so families from across the country can locate loved ones and preserve their history for future generations.

For Smith, preserving local history is about making sure younger generations understand where they come from and why those stories matter.

“So my mission, before I close my eyes, I’m going to make sure that our stories are told,” Smith said.

Dr. Smith shared a touching African proverb, When the elder dies, a whole library burns to the ground with them.

You can watch episode 1 of SparkIT here.

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