Now a retired United States Air Force Chief Master Sergeant of 28 years , with experience in flying all around the world from Egypt to Saudi Arabia , to set up communications , Hadley said that he brought his exhibit material back to Thomasville to where he had his first black history exhibit at Providence Missionary Baptist Church in 1986 .
His collection , Hadley said , totaled around 200 items at the time of the exhibit , and afterwards began to build it up even more , seeking out other antiques of black history for display .
“ I began to build up , I began to order pictures , stuff like that to make the exhibit more visible ,” he said .
Then the Thomasville Center of the Arts , the Thomasville Cultural Center at the time , reached out to Hadley and gave him the whole center to use for the whole of Black History Month .
“ We all pooled together and started having programs for the
James “ Jack ” Hadley ’ s first Black history exhibit at Providence Missionary Baptist Church in 1986 . At this time , Hadley ’ s collection totaled around 200 items . As of 2021 , he has collected close to 10,000 items and 4,000 books on African American history . whole month at the Cultural Center ,” he said . “ We did that for about three or four years , and then things changed as times moved forward .”
Moving around in local schools , churches , the local masonic lodge and anywhere that he could get a place to put up his displays , Hadley said that the museum eventually took root at the site of Douglass High School , an all-black city high school in the days of segregation that had been sold to Douglass High School Alumni , a local organization .
“ In 2001 , this complex became available . The board of education declared that Douglass High School surplused their needs , on Douglass Campus . They said they was gonna sell it ,” he said .
Pushing back against the decision , Hadley and other alumni of the school were eventually told by the board that they were willing to sell it to them , as long as they could make use of it .
By 2006 , renovations began on the museum ’ s current space , and the Jack Hadley Black History Museum officially opened on Dec . 3 of that year in a small complex that was originally comprised of the school ’ s band room and workshop .
“ It took me a year to raise . I had to raise $ 92,000 to renovate this whole building and I was able to get that money within a year ,” Hadley said .
Now , currently housing over 5,000 artifacts of African-American history on the walls , with countless more in storage , Daniel Pittman , the executive director of the museum , said that they are working to find a new home at the site of the Imperial Hotel ,
Jack Hadley oversees the hotel sign installation .
a local historical hotel that was one of the few places in the South during segregation that African-American travelers could stay in Thomasville .
Acquired in 2018 , thanks to the support and efforts of Thomasville Landmarks and the Williams Family Foundation , the restoration and renovation of the Imperial Hotel and surrounding properties , including a small shotgun house , will be the beginnings of the Jack Hadley Yard plan .
“ Initially , we purchased the Imperial Hotel back in 2018 with the help of some of the foundations and , through that , the initial plan for the Imperial Hotel and the shotgun house was to turn the Imperial ’ s bottom floor into rotating museum exhibits with the top floor being four AirBnB spaces ,” Pittman said . “ And next door to the Imperial , the shotgun house , that was going to be for larger families and the handicapped since the Imperial didn ’ t have an elevator .”
Having a secondary location , Pittman said , was going to hopefully draw more attention to the museum , which has little visibility and is more of a destination spot .
12 February | March 2023 Thomasville Scene