Roswell Black historian reflects on personal history

By DELANEY TARR delaney@appenmedia.com

ROSWELL, Ga. — Charles Grogan has spent the past 40 years working on a comprehensive book of his family’s history. The massive binder is packed with pages of research and documents on his family and the Black community in Roswell, stretching back to the 1800s.

Grogan is Roswell’s “Black Historian,” but he doesn’t see himself that way.

“More so this is my lived experience, this is the story of my life,” Grogan said.

He has worked with the Roswell Historical Society since 2001 and is on the board of the Pleasant Hill Cemetery Committee, a committee dedicated to preserving the historically Black cemetery.

Grogan is not credentialed, but he’s dedicated years of his life to learning Roswell’s Black history. He sees himself as more of a “living historian.”

The work paid off. Grogan has found long-lost information about his family. He learned his great-grandmother owned property in 1896, a rarity for the time. She is now buried in the Pleasant Hill Cemetery.

Grogan also found a lot of informa- tion about his own life. He was born in the late 1940s and his mother was unmarried. In 1948, his mother’s father encouraged her to give Grogan up. His aunt on his father’s side came and took him to her house one day, and Grogan said, “that was it, she kept me.”

In his research, Grogan found his name in the 1950 census. It was the first mention of him in any official document. He was listed as adopted by his aunt.

Grogan was close with his mother growing up, and with the rest of his fa- ther’s family on Willow Street. Grogan’s bonds also stretched into the greater Roswell community.

The Black community in Roswell was small, according to Grogan. It made it easier for him to find the history of everyone around him.

“It’s interesting to have (the history) since I have a relationship with a lot of people,” Grogan said. “They felt like family, they even were family,”

Grogan left his community behind when he graduated from school in 1965. As a young man, he was drafted into the United States Army in 1966. Grogan said Roswell officially integrated in 1967, so he wasn’t around for the change.

“That portion of Roswell I kind of missed,” Grogan said.

It was an easy adjustment for him. He grew up with white friends, playing basketball and throwing rocks as children.

“We didn’t get the learned behavior that had been before me,” Grogan said. “You have to be taught to hate.”

Grogan made more white friends in the military. When they all came back to Roswell, they joined an integrated

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