Johnny Cash Rides the Rails Through Georgia

By Donnie Summerlin

In September 1974, country music legend Johnny Cash spent several days in west central Georgia to film scenes for an ABC television documentary titled Ridin’ the Rails: The Great American Train Story. Cash hosted and narrated the musical homage to the history of American railroads. It was a memorable occasion for the locals who participated in the production and got to meet with the Man in Black during his brief Georgia stopover. For Johnny Cash, it was a bit of a homecoming.

Johnny Cash shaking hands with Melville Brown, who owned the land in Pike County where they filmed portions of the television special. From the September 16, 1974 issue of the Griffin Daily News.
Johnny Cash shaking hands with Melville Brown, who owned the land in Pike County where they filmed portions of the television special. From the September 16, 1974 issue of the Griffin Daily News.

Cash and the television crew filmed historical reenactments in Pike and Spalding Counties and took a breathtaking train ride through the Georgia countryside. They also shot scenes in Rossville, the Big Shanty Station in Kennesaw, Stone Mountain, and Six Flags Over Georgia in Austell. Among the events highlighted in Georgia for the TV special were the Great Locomotive Chase that took place during the Civil War and a reinactment of the story of train engineer Casey Jones.

During a stop in Griffin, Cash (accompanied by his father Ray) visited the Spalding County jail. The country singer was a high-profile advocate for prisoners’ rights and famously recorded two live albums at the Folsom and San Quentin state prisons in the late 1960s. As Cash talked with local officials outside, the inmates called out to him from the top floor of the jail and asked him to come inside for a visit. Although Cash was asked not to go upstairs, he shouted to them from the parking lot. The Griffin Daily News was on hand to photograph the country legend with excited locals and those photos are available on the Georgia Historic Newspapers website. The issues were digitized with funding from the Spalding County SPLOST via the Flint River Regional Library System.

Johnny Cash with Spalding Sheriff's Department secretaries Linda Fields and Rosa Howard. From the September 14, 1974 issue of the Griffin Daily News.
Johnny Cash with Spalding Sheriff’s Department secretaries Linda Fields and Rosa Howard. From the September 14, 1974 issue of the Griffin Daily News.
Johnny Cash talking with inmates at the Spalding County jail. From the September 14, 1974 issue of the Griffin Daily News. Talking with prisoners on top floor of jail, waves goodbye and wishes them luck.
Johnny Cash talking with inmates at the Spalding County jail. From the September 14, 1974 issue of the Griffin Daily News.

During his conversation with the Griffin residents, Cash mentioned that he had a grandfather who lived in the area and still had cousins in the surrounding counties. In fact, his great-great-great-grandparents John and Lucy Campbell Cash moved to Georgia after the end of the Revolutionary War and eventually settled in nearby Henry County. Many of Johnny Cash’s descendants also lived in Elbert County before his grandfather William H. Cash moved his family to Arkansas, where Johnny Cash was born. Evidence of his genealogy can be found in the Georgia Historic Newspapers and Chronicling America websites.

Legal notice concerning the estate of Johnny Cash's great-great-grandparents who resided in Elbert County, Georgia. From the January 17, 1854 issue of the Daily Chronicle & Sentinel (Augusta).
Legal notice concerning the estate of Johnny Cash’s great-great-grandparents who resided in Elbert County, Georgia. From the January 17, 1854 issue of the Daily Chronicle & Sentinel (Augusta).
Obituary for Johnny Cash’s Georgia-born grandfather William Henry Cash from the Pine Bluff Daily Graphic (Arkansas). Courtesy of Chronicling America. Headline 'Rev W.H Cash Died at Rison Monday Night'.
Obituary for Johnny Cash’s Georgia-born grandfather William Henry Cash from the Pine Bluff Daily Graphic (Arkansas). Courtesy of Chronicling America.

Ridin’ the Rails: The Great American Train Story premiered on ABC on November 22, 1974. The nostalgic television special featured Cash performing several train songs including “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” “The City of New Orleans,” and “Ridin’ the Rails.” Over the course of an hour, the film captures not just the history of railroads, but also a moment in time when Johnny Cash reconnected with his Georgia roots. The American Rail Club currently hosts the special on YouTube.

Newspaper ad for the Ridin' the Rails television special on ABC. From the November 22, 1974 issue of the Griffin Daily News. "Tonight on ABC, a musical extravaganza, ' On The Saga Of the Railroads', told in song and story by Johnny Cash, "Ridin' the Rails".
Newspaper ad for the Ridin’ the Rails television special on ABC. From the November 22, 1974 issue of the Griffin Daily News.
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New collection features over 50 years of digitized African American funeral programs from Evans County, Georgia, and are now available freely online.

Selected by statewide cultural heritage stakeholders and funded by the DLG’s competitive digitization grant program, over 3,000 pages of digitized African American funeral programs from Evans County, Georgia, and other Southeastern towns and cities are now freely available in the Digital Library of Georgia and can be seen online here:

African American Funeral Programs, 1960-2022

The collection of 637 individual programs dates between 1961-2022, with the birth dates of the people represented going back to 1870.

Pharris D. Johnson, former mayor of Bellville, Georgia, chairman of the Savannah College of Art and Design Board of Trustees, and Vice President of the Evans County Historical Society says:

“The Evans County Community Center and African American Archive Museum serves our community in an outstanding manner. They accomplish their mission with a small budget and through dedicated volunteers. As we know, funeral programs provide valuable social and genealogical information.  [These materials from] the Evans County Community Center Archives are an important resource for the residents of Evans and surrounding counties.”

Documenting an underrepresented region of Georgia, this collection provides important information for genealogical research and for understanding African American life during different time periods. 

Funeral programs provide valuable social and genealogical information and typically include a photograph of the deceased individual, an obituary, a list of surviving relatives, and information about the funeral service. Some programs provide more extensive genealogical information such as birth and death dates, maiden names, past residences, accomplishments, affiliations, and burial locations. For marginalized populations, this information can often be difficult to find, as the records of many in these communities were often either destroyed, kept privately, or never created in the first place.

The Evans County African American Archive Museum has collected funeral programs for over twenty years. Since then, residents have contributed to the collection. 

Darin McCoy of the Evans County Historical Society notes: 

“[Our] facility operates within an under-served rural county in terms of digitized African American history. However, the Evans County Historical Society alumni and the Evans County African American Archive Museum leadership team are well-known advocates for the preservation and collection of local African American history and artifacts. Our featured displays, public events, and family presentations are unique and emphasize the historical value of these entities. The vision, collections, and the preservation of artifacts, begun over twenty (20) years ago, have now come to fruition.”

Digitization and access have been made possible through the Digital Library of Georgia’s competitive digitization subgrant program and are displayed and searchable within their online portal. The Digital Library of Georgia has also partnered with local libraries and the Georgia Public Library Service to digitize African American funeral programs for people connected to the Atlanta, Augusta-Richmond County, and Thomas County areas. 

 

About the Evans County African American Archive Museum (Claxton, Ga.)

The mission of the Evans County African American Archive Museum is to provide means for all citizens of Evans County to obtain an excellent quality of life through programs and services. The Archive was the recipient of a 2021 GHRAC Award for History Advocacy. Their Facebook group is: https://www.facebook.com/Evans-County-Community-Center-343942125941003/ 

Selected images from the collection:

Funeral program for Charles L. Bailey. Date of funeral service: June 18, 2011. Location of funeral service: St. John Missionary Baptist Church, Claxton, Georgia, 11:00 a.m. Birth date: November 19, 1916. Death date: June 12, 2011.
Title: Funeral program for Charles L. Bailey
URL: https://dlg.usg.edu/record/eccca_aafp-ec_ecaaam-470
Collection: African American Funeral Programs, 1960-2022
Courtesy of the Evans County Community Center (Claxton, Ga.)
Description: Funeral program for Charles L. Bailey. Date of funeral service: June 18, 2011. Location of funeral service: St. John Missionary Baptist Church, Claxton, Georgia, 11:00 a.m. Birth date: November 19, 1916. Death date: June 12, 2011.
 Funeral program for Earlene Harris. Date of funeral service: November 4, 2021. Location of funeral service: Beulah Baptist Church, Atlanta, Georgia, 11:00 a.m. Birth date: April 8, 1935. Death date: October 28, 2021.
Title: Funeral program for Earlene Harris
URL: https://dlg.usg.edu/record/eccca_aafp-ec_ecaaam-632
Collection: African American Funeral Programs, 1960-2022
Courtesy of the Evans County Community Center (Claxton, Ga.)
Description: Funeral program for Earlene Harris. Date of funeral service: November 4, 2021. Location of funeral service: Beulah Baptist Church, Atlanta, Georgia, 11:00 a.m. Birth date: April 8, 1935. Death date: October 28, 2021.
Funeral program for Reverend Lee Jones. Date of funeral service: June 5, 2008. Location of funeral service: Pittman Park United Methodist Church, Statesboro, Georgia, 1:00 p.m. Birth date: October 6, 1926. Death date: June 02, 2008.
Title: Funeral program for Reverend Lee Jones
URL: https://dlg.usg.edu/record/eccca_aafp-ec_ecaaam-402
Collection: African American Funeral Programs, 1960-2022
Courtesy of the Evans County Community Center (Claxton, Ga.)
Description: Funeral program for Reverend Lee Jones. Date of funeral service: June 5, 2008. Location of funeral service: Pittman Park United Methodist Church, Statesboro, Georgia, 1:00 p.m. Birth date: October 6, 1926. Death date: June 02, 2008.
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