Jackie Robinson marker vandalized at Grady County birthplace

Feb. 24—CAIRO — The Jackie Robinson historical marker in rural Grady County is one of two such markers riddled by gunfire in Southwest Georgia.

The vandalism was reported to the Grady County Sheriff's Office on Feb. 17 by an employee of the Georgia Historical Society, a Cairo resident.

The marker — on Hadley Ferry Road near Meridian Road — was hit on both sides by shotgun blasts. A shotgun slug is stuck in the sign, a sheriff's office incident report states.

A strand of barbed wire securing the site was cut; a gate was damaged. Fresh footprints showed someone climbed over the fence, the report states.

The incident was reported Tuesday by the Georgia Historical Society (GHS).

Robinson was the first Black baseball player to play in the major leagues.

The marker, "The Birthplace of Jackie Robinson," was erected in 2001 by GHS and the Jackie Robinson Cairo Memorial Institute Inc. The marker is part of the GHS Civil Rights Trail and represents a troubling uptick in vandalism directed at Georgia's roadside historical markers, according to GHS.

Patttye Meagher, GHS director of communications, said the organization is in the process of arranging for repairs. The marker will be repaired or replaced in partnership with the Jackie Robinson Cairo Memorial Institute.

Atlanta-based GHS will pay for repairs or replacement.

"There's no endowment at this time," Meagher said. "We would have to raise money."

Many variables are involved in repairs or replacement, she said.

"I was distressed to learn about the desecration of the Jackie Robinson marker, just as I was saddened last summer when I learned about the repeated vandalism of the marker recognizing the lynching of Mary Turner," said GHS Board member Erroll B. Davis Jr., former chancellor of the University System of Georgia and president of the African-American Heritage House at Chautauqua. "Jackie Robinson was a pioneer in the integration of Major League Baseball and someone whose accomplishments should bring pride to all Americans. This is a shameful act of vandalism that unfortunately has been carried out against several other markers that commemorate civil rights figures in Georgia and beyond."

Said Dr. W. Todd Groce, GHS president and CEO, "Jackie Robinson is one of Georgia's most famous native sons and is justly lauded not only for breaking baseball's color barrier, opening the door for others like Henry Aaron to follow, but also for his civil rights activism beyond the baseball field. This act of destruction underscores the need for an endowment for the GHS historical marker program that will help us replace this marker and others like it and ensure that our commitment to telling all of Georgia's history will not be subject to other senseless acts of destruction."

The Mary Turner marker is in Lowndes County. The vandalized "Flat Rock African Methodist Episcopal Church" marker is in Fayette County.

A marker in Savannah marking the terminus of Gen. William T. Sherman's March to the Sea and a Civil War-related marker in Fulton County were defaced, marking an increase in vandalism of historical markers relating to African-American history, the Civil War, Reconstruction and the end of slavery, Meagher said.

Senior reporter Patti Dozier can be reached at (229) 226-2400, ext. 1820