About Our
collection

About the Collection

Preserving the Story of Black America

The Jack Hadley Black History Museum began as one man’s personal effort to save and share the history of Black Americans—and has grown into a nationally recognized collection of over 4,600 artifacts. These items document African American life from slavery through the present, telling a powerful story of struggle, achievement, and resilience.

The museum’s materials include:

• Historic photographs,
• paintings, and prints
• Newspapers, magazines, and books
• Posters, memorabilia, and original documents
• Artifacts such as 1847 slave shackles and a bronze Buffalo Soldier statue by sculptor Eddie Dixon

The collection covers a wide range of themes—civil rights, politics, sports, literature, military service, life on plantations, the role of Black women, and local Black achievers from Thomasville and Thomas County.

Jack Hadley’s exhibits have been displayed in schools, libraries, churches, colleges, and cultural centers across Georgia and beyond. The organization also loans materials to teachers and students for research and classroom projects.

One of the museum’s landmark projects is “African-American Life on the Southern Hunting Plantation (1900–1940)”, a photo and oral history collaboration with the Thomas County Museum of History and Florida A&M University. The project, co-authored by Jack Hadley and Dr. Titus Brown, was published in 2000 and reprinted in 2005.

The organization also developed the Thomasville Black Heritage Trail Tour, which highlights 68 historic African American sites across the city. The two-hour guided tour provides a deeper understanding of Thomasville’s Black heritage and has become one of Georgia’s most distinctive cultural experiences.

In 2006, Jack Hadley and his organization renovated a 5,600-square-foot building to permanently house the collection—the city’s first African American history museum. Today, the Jack Hadley Black History Museum continues to grow, educate, and inspire, preserving the stories of Black Americans for generations to come.