Athens - Special Supplement: Georgia's African American Heritage

Locals knew it as "the Hot Corner." Here, at the juncture of Washington and Hull streets, was found the center of black business and politics in Athens during the opening years of the 20th century. From 1910 onward, Monroe "Pink" Morton's theater dominated this landscape and added entertainment to the attractions of the corner.

Morton's building, which the Athens Daily Herald described as the "largest of its kind owned exclusively by a colored man in the world," housed more than just his theater. The office of Ida Mae Johnson Hiram, Athens' first licensed black female dentist, and the E.D. Harris Pharmacy, Athens' first black-owned drugstore, shared its space, as did a bakery and a doctor's clinic.

The Morton Theatre, however, was what caught the eye - and the ear; for here played Bessie Smith, Cab Calloway, Sissieretta Jones, Butterbeans and Suzie (and a host of now forgotten, early black vaudeville acts), Blind Willie McTell, and - possibly - Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong.

As Hollywood and movies replaced vaudeville and live performances, the Morton sought to keep in step, becoming a cinema in the 1940s. Then, in 1955, a fire in its projection booth led to the closing of the theater - and to the decline of the Hot Corner.

The ensuing decades witnessed the steady deterioration of the theater that had been Pink Morton's pride and joy. Today, however, the theater's curtain has again been raised, live performances grace its stage, and the restored entertainment house is once again a center of attention.

"The Morton Theatre is alive and well and open after 30 years," says its director, Bob Herman, with evident joy.

"The Morton is more than merely open - it's the centerpiece of a black heritage day-trip to Athens. Visitors have the delight of viewing a restored pre-World War I theater that seated about 800 and had pagoda-style boxes, a horseshoe-shaped balcony, an ornate though not opulent interior, and a bright show curtain, now lost, painted in red, gold and light blue.

Visitors should look for two things in particular. The graffiti scrawled on the backstage dressing room walls provide a vivid documentation of the performers who graced the Morton. Still visible in chalk is the recorded presence of Bob White's Dark Town Swells (April 11 to 19, 1919); in paint, Charles "Fat" Hayden (1923); and in pencil, Joe Johnson's Brown Babies - evidently a success - whose "3 nights" is scratched through and changed to "6 nights." The undated presence of the Rags Honey Troupe, Nora B. Johnson and Eva Reese is also unofficially recorded, as is a very graphic statement concerning smoking regulations.

About an hour from Atlanta, Athens provides day-trippers with more than just the Morton. It's the home of the University of Georgia and thus the site of some great sports events year-round. On campus, the Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall - the university's sports museum - honors Heisman Trophy winner and U.S. Winter Olympian Herschel Walker; Teresa Edwards, thrice a member of the U.S. women's Olympic basketball team (two gold medals and a bronze); and Katrina McClain, who joined Edwards at the last two Olympics, bringing home a gold and a bronze medal.

Look, too, for Wilson's, a prominent no-frills, good-food, black-owned establishment, and Weaver D's Fine Foods, a local black-owned eatery whose motto, Automatic for the People, serves as the title of Athens-born R.E.M.'s latest album.

Athens also has a great music-club scene (R.E.M. is joined in its Athens birth by the B-52s), the state Botanical Garden of Georgia, and the First African Methodist Episcopal Church and Hill First Baptist Church, both formed in the first years of Reconstruction.

For further ideas and details, including information on local tours, call the Athens Convention & Visitors Bureau [(706) 546-1805].

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