Augusta, GA

Lucy C. Laney Museum teaching MLK’s ties to Augusta

Published

1 year ago

January 20, 2025

Lucy C. Laney Museum teaching MLK’s ties to Augusta

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – The life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. are once again being celebrated across the nation today.

The civil rights icon is the only non-president with a federal holiday named in his honor.

On Monday, we learned the Lucy Craft Laney Museum is working to teach that history.

King was assassinated in April of 1968 when he was just 39 years old. He would be turning 96 this month.

King’s home congregation was in Atlanta – and just a few hours away, Augusta is full of history and ties to MLK as well.

History – we’re surrounded by it.

“One of the great things about Augusta is that we have a long legacy of civil rights here,” said Corey Rogers, a historian at the Lucy Craft Laney Museum of Black History.

Names like reverend C.S. Hamilton and Lucy Craft Laney. Then there’s one name connected to Augusta in more ways than one.

“His entire family would often come here to Augusta for different Baptist conventions and different conferences that were being held here,” said Rogers.

Growing up, Dr. King and his family would stay at the Bohler House on Phillips Steet.

Far from his last stay here.

“Dr. King came here in 1962 with other civil rights leaders like Wyatt Walker, and they came here to talk about voter registration and voter education,” said Rogers.

Fast forward six years later.

“His return trip was geared around the second march on Washington, which was being framed as the poor people’s march,” said Rogers. “So he was crisscrossing Georgia, rallying people. Rallying the grassroots, getting them ready for this second march on Washington. Unfortunately, about a week and a half after leaving Augusta, he would be assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.”

Times have changed since – but one thing remains constant.

“Connecting people with their civil rights roots, telling them about the richness of Augusta and how the students at Paine College, the preachers in Augusta, the students from Augusta, came together and affected change in our city,” said Rogers.

Ensuring generations to come remember those who came before.

“It’s incumbent upon us to dig a little bit deeper,” said Corey Rogers, a historian at the Lucy Craft Laney Museum of Black History. “Find out those connections between Dr. King and other civil rights leaders in those respective towns and share those stories because everybody, every town, every city has a very unique story to tell as it relates to civil rights and Dr. King.

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Augusta, GA

Augusta government provides update on HCD audit

Published

3 hours ago

January 27, 2026

Press Room

Augusta government provides update on HCD audit

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – Augusta officials say a preliminary response related to an audit of the Housing and Community Development Department was received Tuesday from Cherry Bekaert.

The audit report is not yet complete, according to the city.

After initial review, the city has requested additional information to “ensure clarity and accuracy before the process moves forward.”

“The Augusta government remains committed to transparency and will provide further updates once the requested information is received and the audit is finalized,” the city said in the news release.

In November, Augusta Commission members held a budget workshop session with much discussion about the Housing and Community Development Department.

That’s the department that left the city on the hook to pay back millions in federal grant money.

The city received more than $6 million in grant money during the COVID-19 pandemic, supposedly to help people who were in danger of eviction.

The city never spent the money for that purpose, so the government demanded it back.

The department didn’t have the money on hand, so the city had to repay it, and then some, from the general fund — $6.3 million of the original grant money and $2.1 million in penalties.

The scandal led to the exit of Housing and Community Director Hawthorne Welcher and sparked an audit of the department.

On Oct. 28, commissioners in closed executive session approved the payment of up to $32,237.32 from contingency funds for rental assistance previously approved by the Housing and Community Development Department.

This means leaders agreed to take the money from their emergency fund and use it to help people with their rent as part of a program the department had already put in place.

Mayor Garnett Johnson said at the time this was an effort to address letters that were sent out, falsely leading people to believe they were getting some emergency funds.

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Augusta, GA

Get medical care at several health events in Augusta

Published

15 hours ago

January 27, 2026

Press Room

Get medical care at several health events in Augusta

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – Several health events in Augusta on Tuesday are offering help to those who need medical care.

Department of Public Health mobile clinic

The Department of Public Health mobile clinic will be at Christenberry Fieldhouse on Tuesday.

Officials say the clinic makes it easier to receive care for those who don’t have transportation.

The clinic will be at the 3109 Wrightsboro Road from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

You can receive sports, work and school physicals, diabetes management, WIC referrals, vaccines and more.

The mobile clinic offers private exam rooms, wheelchair-accessible lifts and modern medical equipment.

For more information on the mobile clinic and what stops it will take, visit www.ecphd.com/wego.

Annual Horizon Truckers Clinic

The fourth annual health fair for bus and shuttle driver employees with Horizon Motor Coach will be held on Tuesday at Julian Smith Casino, 2200 Broad Street.

This event will start at 11 a.m.

In partnership with the Augusta Lions Club, the Augusta University’s College of Nursing, Georgia Prevention Institute, College of Allied Health Sciences, the Dental College of Georgia and the Georgia Cancer Center make the event possible.

The health fair is designed to help prevent and identify health issues as well as providing mock DOT exams, dental examinations and nutrition advice.

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