The saying “Rome wasn’t built in a day” is literally true. It took the Romans thousands of years to build their culture.

The Egyptians took more than 3,500 years to build a culture of pharaohs and pyramids. The Japanese and Chinese took almost 4,000 years respectively to create two outstanding cultures.

In the United States it took African-Americans only a bit more than 100 years to create a culture that continues to have an impact on the world. I am not trying to compare African-Americans to those ancient civilizations, but I am impressed with the culture they have been able to forge.

In 1865, at the end of the Civil War, ex-slaves roamed the roads of America, homeless and poor. They were a raggedy, pitiful people with no place to go.

Fast forward 105 years to 1970 and those slaves and their descendants had built 100 magnificent colleges, invented groundbreaking products (the traffic light and gas mask), pioneered groundbreaking medical procedures and created genres of music (jazz, blues and rap) still admired in all corners of the world.

In Limestone County, it all started with education. The story of white Northern missionaries coming here in 1865 to build Trinity is well-known. What is less known is that in the same year, African-Americans, less than five months removed from slavery and with meager resources and hardly enough food to eat or clothing to wear, came together and built “The Church School” in the Little Elk community.

The school was used to educate hundreds of people in the community. By the turn of the century, less than 35 years after enslavement, black people had built five schools in Limestone County. That number would eventually grow to 32 by the time they were closed in 1970 after desegregation. During the period from 1865 to 1970, the schools educated hundreds of ministers, quite a few educators and even doctors, lawyers, judges, farmers and military officers.

With the quest for education as a cultural anchor, blacks built houses of worship and placed schools within them. There was Oak Grove Church and school on Cowford Road in the Oak Grove community, Saint Paul Church and school on Snake Road in the Little Elk community and Little Zion Church and school on Lucas Ferry Road in the Little Zion community.

In the late 1800s, with fully established churches in each community, parishioners from 20 churches came together and established the Round Island Creek Missionary Association. The association, according to its constitution, was established to “spread the gospel and the advancement of Christian education.”

Although the schools were removed, as a result of the desegregation order, the churches continue to spread the gospel. The Round Island Creek Missionary Association, which recently celebrated 129 years, continues with its constitutional mission of advancing “Christian Education.” Recently the number of participating churches has increased to 24 and a Bible college has been added.

On Easy Street, uptown in Athens across from Trinity Schools, blacks built five thriving businesses to service the community. When the school was relocated to old Fort Henderson in 1909, Brownsferry Street became the local “Black Wall Street” as businesses were built all along its length and breadth.

One of the first businesses on Brownsferry was a grocery store built by Dillard Collier in 1910. A succession of businesses followed, including Masons and Oaks funeral homes, Tats Sandwich Shop, Simmons Coal Company, Aunt Daught’s Café, Mrs. Lottie’s Café and Boot Browns Service Station. Today, businesses as disparate as Royal Funeral Home, Redus’s Barber Shop and Houston’s Detail shop are continuing to serve the community.

Farming is and has always been the economic lifeblood of Limestone County. After slavery blacks began farming and working the land as sharecroppers. The backbreaking dawn-to-dusk work was accompanied by dreams of one day owning their own piece of land.

After saving their pennies, they started purchasing small farms — 5 to 10 acres here and there. Through the years, a number of black farmers — including the Weavers in Little Elk, Walkers in Little Ezekiel and Orrs in the Orr community of southwestern Limestone County — were able to create large, thriving, farm operations. In Buehland, the Bridgeforth family created a massive farming operation that is still making an impact on the global farm community.

Patti Malone, the world-renowned Fisk Jubilee singer, was probably Limestone County’s first black superstar. She sang with the group in several places in the United States and all over Europe. She left a musical legacy that was advanced by Alice Lacour Vassar, a Trinity student, who followed her to Fisk in the 1880s.

In the mid-20th century the Athens Community Choir continued to build upon this legacy and it— like the Jubilee Singers — sang gospel songs in several places in the United States. Today, Bryan Malone and the Southside Committed A cappella Chorus continues this rich musical tradition.

Whether in Athens or worldwide, African-Americans have created a culture that has contributed mightily to the human family in the space of a few years.

— Walker, a retired lieutenant colonel, is the JROTC instructor at Austin High School in Decatur. He can be reached at James.Walker@dcs.edu.