MOULTRIE, Ga. — In a dedication ceremony in February for 2,000 unmarked graves found at St. James Pallbearers Cemetery No. 1, the cemetery’s co-owner, Luke Strong III, announced that details on a new historical society would be forthcoming.

Fast track to almost seven months later and no new details have been revealed.

The plan, described at the dedication Feb. 2, was to preserve as much as possible about the history of African Americans (and all people in general) in Colquitt County.

The thoughts about it were that “it collapsed,” but Strong assured that isn’t the case. For him, it’s about patience.

“My thing is not to rush in anything unless it’s put together right,” he said. “What we don’t want is miscommunication [or] misinformation.”

He said the goal is to gather community members with knowledge of Colquitt County history and those who can research and vet that information—a roundtable, essentially.

The society would work in phases from there. It’d start with first finding the information, leading to verification, re-verification, and its accumulation into a written form of communication to give to the community.

This is just the baseline with nothing assured, Strong said. The society hasn’t gone anywhere since the dedication, therefore, it’s in its initial phases.

“Everything is kind of dependent upon me—and a few people—to start organizing it,” he said. “We still haven’t gotten the complete list of people that are going to actually participate.”

Strong said no one on his list has officially said, “I am going to serve on this committee.”

According to John Strong Jr., cemetery property manager, a few of the people on the list include District 1 Commissioner Barbara Jelks, Greater Newton Grove Baptist Church Head Pastor Rev. Cornelius Ponder III and District 1 Board of Education Member Trudie Hill.

Jelks said Luke Strong approached her about being in the society shortly after the dedication. The last time she heard anything about it was a few weeks after the dedication.

She’s still on-board though.

“I have a real concern and a passion for whatever they do because my entire family is buried in that cemetery,” she said. “When he (Luke) calls a meeting, I will definitely be a part of it.”

Jelks said she’ll more than likely help in gaining funds—it’s her strength, she said. According to her, grants are the first choice.

“Naturally, we’d like to see what grants and money are out there available,” Jelks said. “So, the first place to approach would be the historical society and secondly would be local contributions.”

Ponder said he’s still set to be a part of it. It’s his duty to the community.

“We all should want to be a part of anything positive that enhances the life of our community and honors our ancestors,” he said. “Anything I can do to help make the community better, I’m always going to be a part of it.”

Hill was unavailable for comment. But Luke Strong said he wants to make things fair by opening the society to the entire community: “Whoever wants to participate can participate”

“I’m only 39 years old so I only know limited history about Colquitt County,” he said. “I think it’ll be good to get people that know, that actually [were] here during their time.”

He expects this to be a one-to-two-year process but hopes to be holding pre-organizational meetings by the end of 2019.