‘Don’t hang up your marching shoes’ | News

The dinner is named for William Yates Atkinson and Ellis Gibbs Arnall, the two Georgia governors who were from Coweta County.

Georgia Sen. Jason Esteves, Sen. Josh McLaurin and Rep. Tanya Miller also spoke at the event.

Frank Smith Jr., who grew up in Newnan, spoke about his time in the Civil Rights movement during the annual Atkinson-Arnall Dinner.

The annual dinner is named for William Yates Atkinson and Ellis Gibbs Arnall, the two Georgia governors who were from Coweta County.

The dinner also featured remarks from Sen. Jason Esteves, Sen. Josh McLaurin and Rep. Tanya Miller.

Smith is a commentator, civil rights activist and politician, and is best known for establishing the African American Civil War Memorial and an accompanying museum. It is the only national memorial to the colored troops who fought in the Civil War.

Smith was born in Newnan on Sept. 17, 1942. His mother was a homemaker and his father was a farmer and truck driver.

In 1959, Smith earned his high school diploma from Central High School, where he was a member of the New Farmers of America as well as the debate team, choir and drama club.

From 1959 until 1962, Smith attended Morehouse College in Atlanta, where he was a founding member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.

“We were students and nonviolent, but we weren’t very coordinated,” he joked. “But we had lofty goals. From that point, we saw if you could use Atlanta to change Georgia, then if we could change Mississippi, we…