The latest population breakdowns for Habersham County show the Hispanic population at 38% in Cornelia. However, Habersham 200, the latest history published in 2019 about Habersham County makes no mention of the county’s Hispanic residents. The lack of recognition of the county’s cultural diversity is something Emily Pahuamba and Audrey Davenport hope to change through Hispanic Heritage Month in September.
High school student Pahuamba serves as president of the Habersham Central High School student organization Hispanic Organization Promoting Education (HoPE). Davenport serves as the executive director of the Habersham County Historical Society. Both want to help the Hispanic population of Habersham County to be seen and appreciated. Sadly, the contributions of the Hispanic community often remain below the radar and are not clearly recognized.
Pahuama is proud of her Mexican-American heritage and would like for Habersham residents to get to know the county’s Hispanic population. “I’d like to help educate people about who we are so they’ll know that we are not a threat,” Pahuamba explains.
When Davenport came on staff at the Habersham County Historical Society, she was surprised to find there was no reference to Hispanics in the current written history of the county. As she leads the Historical Society toward its 50th anniversary in the spring, Davenport wants to recognize what Hispanics have accomplished in the county. “We’ve got an opportunity, a window, for Hispanics to be seen, so they’ll no longer be in the background,” she states.
First-of-its kind event
Silvia Corwin serves on the planning committee for the major focus of Hispanic Heritage Month – a street festival on September 24th. Corwin, originally from Lima, Peru, first came to the United States to study. She stayed on afterwards, working with community members as a Magnate Advocate Teacher at both Baldwin and Cornelia Elementary Schools. Corwin is excited for her culture to be seen and enjoyed by others through the celebration.
Corwin emphasizes that not only is the Hispanic community more than a third of Cornelia’s population, it represents multiple Hispanic countries. “We have people from Mexico as well as Venezuela, Guatemala, Panama, Peru, Columbia, and other Latin America countries,” she says. “The festival will give representation for the first time to all these groups.”
One way those different cultures will be represented is through the food that will be served at the celebration.
“We’ll have different kinds of food from different Hispanic countries,” Corwin states. “All Hispanic food is not Mexican, and we’re excited to introduce those foods to the community.” The festival will also offer local Hispanic crafts and music.
The event will be held at the Skate Park in conjunction with Cornelia’s Big Red Apple Festival on September 24th. The Skate Park is located next door to the Historical Society office on Chattahoochee Street, behind the Cornelia Library. Chattahoochee Street will mostly be closed to vehicle traffic to open the way for pedestrian traffic. The event runs from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Over a quarter century of Hispanic history
Suany Latty has been in Northeast Georgia for 30 years, coming originally from Panama.
“In 1996, the first graduating class with Hispanic students had 6 graduates,” Latty recalls. She points out that later graduations with those referred to as second generations had many more Hispanic students involved.
“Those graduates received more scholarships and have found more upper level jobs. Many of them began their own business and bought homes.”
The majority of this group which is called “The New Americans” have not stayed in this area after graduating. Instead, they’ve sought greater opportunities outside of the county. Still, Latty emphasizes, “These graduates have always been an asset to the community.”
Stewart Swanson’s family began the Habersham County Historical Society and he remains active in the work of the organization. He’s also passionate about creating inclusion of all groups within the Habersham community. Swanson spent six years working in Latin America, building cellular networks. He was amazed at his personal experiences there. “We were always welcomed,” he says, “and the people there worked together well with us.” The result of Swanson’s work there has been significant. “They were given the chance to move up in society,” he says. “They became more efficient, and were more able to communicate with others.”
Swanson’s dream is that the internationals who come into this region will be received as openly as he was and will be allowed to add to the culture here as well.
Davenport’s goal is to begin to record the history of the people in these ethnic groups who have lived in the area for more than 30 years. She has worked with Story Corps to begin capturing those histories and personal stories digitally. Story Corps will not be bringing its Airstream Trailer on-site but the Historical Society will be utilizing their app to record stories on their devices and upload them so that they end up with the Library of Congress.
The Historical Society
The Historical Society houses two historical collections. The Standard Telephone Company Museum preserves the history of telephone service that came into both Cornelia and Clarkesville in 1904. The museum houses artifacts that trace the progress made in the communications industry through the telephone.
The Regional African American Museum of Northeast Georgia, Inc., preserves the history of “the cultural heritage of communities who attended the Cornelia Regional [Colored] School (CRCS); an “equalization” school built and maintained by Boards of Education in Banks, Habersham, Rabun, and White counties from 1955-1966. The school was built to avoid integration of the high schools of Banks, Rabun and White counties. Students from these counties were bused to Cornelia Regional [Colored] School, when entering high school.”
Both museums are open on Saturdays from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m., or by setting up an appointment. Museum guide Olga Vyrjikovskaia says only about 100 people visit the museums each year. Debby Satterfield, who serves on the society’s board of directors, hopes the festival will also introduce people to the Historical Society. “We are trying hard for our city and county to know about the work of the Historical Society,” she says.
“We’ve had five decades of the Historical Society in operation,” Swanson says. “But the community and the population make up has changed. People don’t have as much extra time to volunteer, so we struggle to get volunteers to help save our history.”
While the organization needs more funding as well as more volunteers, progress has been made. The University of Georgia is digitizing the History of the Standard Telephone Company, preserving that history for the future. Davenport notes that the African American materials needs work for preservation as well. She also hopes to offer programming and speakers to support the Society’s work.
This article has been updated
