January was a right good name for the first month. He was a watchful old fellow and had two faces, and could look before him and behind him at the same time. It is a good idea for a man to look back over the year that has gone and review his conduct, and then look forward and promise to do better.
-Bill Arp
William Henry Smith is a famous son of my hometown, Rome, Georgia. He owned Oak Hill before Martha Berry's family did. I have enjoyed some of his writing for years. I have thought of using some of his stories -written under the pseudonym "Bill Arp" in my storytelling. Alas, I hesitate to do that as I have learned more about him. He went beyond the casual endemic racism that afflicted the vast majority of white folks in our area before and after the Civil War to becoming an apologist for even lynchings.
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| Oak Hill, Bil Arp's home and later the home of Martha Berry. |
I love much of my heritage as an eighth-generation Georgian, but the stain of racism seeps in to every part of it. Racism is a cancer on whites as well as people of color, in my opinion. So I will continue to admire and share the bits of love and creativity and imagination and honor from the only heritage I have, while also decrying the stench of cruelty and racism that pervades it.
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| William Henry Smith aka "Bill Arp" |
