Athens-Limestone Community Association to present living history

Published 6:00 pm Saturday, February 17, 2018

By For The News Courier

Kay Burlingame, right, as teacher Mary Emma Perkins, greets former student Daisy Tibbs, played by Janaya Malone. Burlingame and Malone will portray their characters during the Athens-Limestone Community Association’s fifth annual Black History Celebration at 6 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 24, in the Beasley Center of First United Methodist Church. Admission is by donation. Perkins came to Athens in 1889 to teach sewing and to lead Bible classes at Trinity High School. She remained until her death in 1943 when, at her own request, she was cremated and her ashes scattered on campus. Tibbs graduated from Trinity in the year of Perkins’ death. She earned a degree from the University of Washington and spent her career teaching home economics. Shortly after World War II, Tibbs went to Japan with a mission group to help build homes for families displaced by the bombing of Hiroshima. In 2012, when the last of those homes was turned into a museum, Daisy (Tibbs) Dawson was the only African-American to be listed on a plaque recognizing her philanthropic act of more than 50 years ago.

Kay Burlingame, right, as teacher Mary Emma Perkins, greets former student Daisy Tibbs, played by Janaya Malone.

Burlingame and Malone will portray their characters during the Athens-Limestone Community Association’s fifth annual Black History Celebration at 6 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 24, in the Beasley Center of First United Methodist Church. Admission is by donation.

Perkins came to Athens in 1889 to teach sewing and to lead Bible classes at Trinity High School. She remained until her death in 1943 when, at her own request, she was cremated and her ashes scattered on campus.

Tibbs graduated from Trinity in the year of Perkins’ death. She earned a degree from the University of Washington and spent her career teaching home economics. Shortly after World War II, Tibbs went to Japan with a mission group to help build homes for families displaced by the bombing of Hiroshima.

In 2012, when the last of those homes was turned into a museum, Daisy (Tibbs) Dawson was the only African-American to be listed on a plaque recognizing her philanthropic act of more than 50 years ago.

Email newsletter signup

You Might Like