Historic Athens is holding the Richardson-Davis Park Signature Ceremony on Friday. The event is part of the organization’s official Juneteenth celebration. The park is the green space next to the Costa Building. Executive Director Tommy Valentine says the naming is in honor of the first two Black elected officials in Athens, Alfred Richardson and Madison Davis.
“Those two individuals, despite their historic significance and service to Athens, have nothing named for them anywhere in the community,” according to Valentine. “There’s not a brick, there’s not a street, there’s not a driveway. And that felt like something that needed correcting, and so for the better part of two years we’ve been working to increase awareness about Alf Richardson and Madison Davis.”
Historic Athens established a petition requiring 1,000 signatures for the naming. As part of the ceremony, all living Black elected officials, including Michael Thurmond, are invited to add the last signatures.
“We asked these honored guests to serve as our ceremonial final signatures on the petition, putting us over the thousand signatures required to name the park Richardson Davis Park. Upon completion of that process, those signatures will be formally handed over to Athens-Clarke County where they’ll begin the process of formally naming the park for Alf Richardson and Madison Davis.”
Historic Athens spent two years working to get the name approved. The event starts at 1 pm on Friday.
