Evergreen Congregational and School (Grady County, Ga.)

The Evergreen Congregational Church and School stands as an important landmark in the rural African American community of Beachton in Grady County, southwest Georgia. The church and school served as the center of the Black community in both religious and secular matters, with congregation members donating land and providing construction labor. Founded in 1903, Evergreen built its first frame church in 1904. The original structure was demolished in 1925, and the current concrete-block church was completed in 1928. The interior has been altered since construction. Beyond education, Evergreen served as a community hall for voter registration drives, meetings with county officials, farm and home demonstration agents, 4-H clubs, and Boy Scouts. The school, begun in 1903, was the first church in Beachton to provide education for African American children. It operated in the current building from 1911 to 1938. The structure housed classrooms on the first floor and teacher living quarters upstairs. From 1916 to 1938, the county operated it as the Grady County Training School. The building's interior remains largely unchanged since 1911, with four second-floor bedrooms for teachers. The northwest cornerstone reads: "Grady County/Training School/A.M.A 1911." Evergreen holds special significance as the first pastorate of Andrew Young, later a Civil Rights leader and U.S. Ambassador. Young served here from 1957 to 1959, also pastoring Bethany Congregational Church in nearby Thomasville. Reflecting on his rural church experience, Ambassador Young wrote: "As I look back, my experience in these rural church assignments was the basis for my understanding of racial inequality in the South and my deeply held conviction to do something about it. It prepared me for the long struggle that was to come." Congregationalism, rooted in New England and emphasizing missionary work, came to the South through the American Missionary Association after the Civil War. Evergreen is one of only three Congregational churches built in Georgia during the first half of the 20th century. Both Evergreen and Bethany Congregational are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.