Artist and historian Charmaine Minniefield is bringing her Praise House Project home to South-View Cemetery. The Praise House Project is a replication of the small worship places used by the enslaved and newly freed Africans in the United States. This interpretation of the Praise House will be in commemoration and remembrance of the victims of the 1906 Atlanta Race Massacre. Stoked by the media, white citizens were riled up to commit violence on their fellow citizens based on biased reporting. Sound familiar? White citizens decided the stories were true and took up arms against defenseless citizens living in their separate community. Between September 24th and 26th, 1906, White mobs killed dozens of Black Atlantans, injured scores of citizens, and inflicted considerable damage to property, homes, and even the post office that served the community. Charmaine Minnifield, welcome back to The Local Take.
The Praise House Project Opening Day Events began Sunday, September 21st at 3:30PM and include a historic tour of the cemetery, Musical performances, and much more!
I asked Minniefield to tell us about The Praise House Project. She explains that it began in 2021 at Oakland Cemetery in remembrance of the 800 unmarked graves of the formerly enslaved located in the cemetery’s African-American Burial Grounds.
The Praise House moved from there to Glenn Memorial United Methodist Church at Emory University in remembrance of the Oxford Community and then to Downtown Decatur in remembrance of the Beacon Hill community in 2024.
I asked Minniefield if this was her initial vision for the project or had her vision evolved. She spoke about Southview Cemetery, established in 1886 by nine formerly enslaved families. The institution is being run by a descendant of one of the founding families, Winnie Hemphill. The installation at Southview is in remembrance of those killed and harmed in the 1906 Atlanta Race Riots. She shares that she learned about the massacre from Dr. Candy Tate in the archives of the Auburn Avenue Research Library. The community was called Brownsville. Everyone knows about the Tulsa riot in 1921, and some are familiar with Rosewood in Florida; most couldn’t imagine a race riot in Atlanta, the birthplace of the modern Civil Rights movement.
Minniefield speaks about the Praise House being a safe space where the enslaved and formerly enslaved prayed. It is where the ring shout began. Even though drums were not allowed, worshippers beat the floor, clapped their hands, and moved in unison. In praise.
The 1906 Atlanta Race Massacre Commemoration Events run through September 28th
The Praise House Project Commemoration Events start on Sunday, September 21st and will run through March 2026.