Gerri Marion-McCord, Executive Director of the Ruth Hartley Mosely Center, shares how the community and history in Macon has inspired her.

She grew up in the tight-knit Pleasant Hill community.

“When I was growing up in Macon, the Pleasant Hill area was really kind of a little on the upper crust,” she said, “Black professionals and families lived in Pleasant Hill area.” She not only knew her neighbors but was also inspired by them.

“I could see what they did and I knew that I could do the same thing. It gave me motivation to know that I can get out of this situation. I can achieve. I can accomplish. I can be a professional because that’s what I saw,” she shared.

Marion-McCord is passionate about giving back to her community. One of the ways she does this now is through her role as the Executive Director of the Ruth Hartley Mosely Center. She is to keep Mosley’s legacy alive.

Born in 1886 in Savannah, Georgia, Ruth Hartley Mosley became one of the wealthiest people in Macon in her lifetime. She was one of the first Black registered nurses in Georgia in 1910 and she eventually owned a funeral home and became a licensed mortician.

“I want others, especially young women, especially young, Black or African American women in this community, to know that they can achieve too. If she could do that, with all the obstacles in her path. Come on, what’s stopping you?,” McCord asks.

Mosely made so much money in her lifetime, that the Ruth Hartley Mosely Center now functions off a trust that she left behind 45 years ago.

“When you talk about your legacy, you put your money where your mouth is,” Marion-McCord says, “She talked about what she wanted to do and she paved the way for this to happen by donating money to make it happen, so I think it’s now it’s our turn to make sure that we keep her legacy alive.”

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