On Wednesday, June 18, 2024, the Friends of the Concord Covered Bridge Historic District of Cobb County, placed a Bench by the Road, a memorial monument project of the Toni Morrison Society, to honor an enslaved family who lived near the Covered Bridge District in Cobb County.
The Bench by the Road Project of the Toni Morrison Society is a commemorative community outreach project established in response to comments Morrison gave in a 1989 interview with World Magazine where she lamented the absences of historical markers that help us remember the lives of those who were enslaved. “There is no place,” she told the interviewer, ”where you and I can go to think about or not think about to summon the presences or recollect the absences of slaves. There is no suitable memorial or plaque or wreath or wall or park or skyscraper lobby. There is no 300-foot tower. There is no small bench by the road. There’s not even a tree scored, an initial, that I can visit or you can visit in Charleston or Savannah or New York or Providence or better still on the banks of the Mississippi.” The Society launched the Bench by the Road Project to begin to establish such places and create historical sites of memory to fill the void that Morrison expressed in her interview.
The history of the enslaved family that was honored with the Bench placement was discovered by Ms. Patricia Burns, a member of the of Friends of the Concord Covered Bridge Historic District. At the ceremony, she shared with the audience how after moving to her new home in the Covered Bridge District thirty-five years ago, she discovered in the kitchen cupboard a tattered note card with the names “Matilda”, “Calvin ,””Zeida,” and “Rhoda” written on the card. “I felt in my bones” Ms. Burns recalled, “that those names meant something to somebody.” She says she “carefully tucked away the little card until she had time, time to explore: who is Matilda?” When she read about the Bench by the Road Project of the Toni Morrison Society, established to honor little known sites, people, and events in African American history, Ms. Burns said she believed that a bench would be the perfect way to commemorate Matilda Ruff and her family and the over 3,000 enslaved people of Cobb County that their lives represented. She wanted a place where people could read about the story of Matilda and her family and sit and reflect on their journey as enslaved people and later as free Blacks in Cobb County.
On a beautiful summer morning, in the exact area where Matilda Ruff and her children had been enslaved and later where they had lived as free people, nearly 60 people gathered to tell Matilda’s story and dedicate a Bench by the Road to honor and commemorate their lives. In attendance at the ceremony were a cross-section of members of the community, musicians, a young poet who offered a poetic tribute, and representatives from the offices of many county and state legislators. Mr. Dave Mahloy of the Friends of the Concord Covered Bridge Historic District welcomed the audience to the ceremony. Cobb County Manager Joyce Summitt gave remarks on behalf of District 4 Commissioner Monique Sheffield. Ms Summitt also thanked all those in the county who had made the Bench placement a reality: The Friends of the Covered Bridge Historic District, the Toni Morrison Society, the office of Representative Terry Cummings, Delta Sigma Theater Sorority, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, the Cobb- Sheriff Foundation, the Cobb Parks and Recreation, and Keep Cobb Beautiful. A special thanks was extended to Smyrna’s Jonquil Garden Club and Girl Scot Rowan Stufflebeam for the garden of flowers planted on each side of the Bench that will be known as “Matilda’s Garden”.
Representative Terry Cummings gave a moving keynote address highlighting the history of the Ruff family in Georgia, and, on the eve of the Juneteenth holiday, she noted how appropriate it was to celebrate the history of African Americans like the Ruffs who survived slavery and who continue to thrive in their daily lives and as leaders in the county, the state, and the nation. Representative Cummings also thanked those who provided the financial support for the Bench placement.
Co-Chairs of the Bench by the Road Project Drs. Carolyn Denard and Craig Stutman greeted the audience on behalf of the Society. They congratulated the Friends of the Concord Covered Bridge Historic District for honoring the Matilda Ruff and her children and pointed out that the Bench being placed for them at the ceremony was one of 33 other Benches that have been placed by the Toni Morrison Society throughout the country and abroad since the Project was launched in 2006. They noted that there had been four other Benches that have already been placed in sites in the state of Georgia ( First Congregational Church of Atlanta, Woodruff Library at Clark Atlanta University, the historic Southview Cemetery, and the Train Depot in Cartersville) but this would be the first Bench placed for an enslaved Georgia family.
The Bench Placement in the Concord Covered Bridge Historic District was the culmination of a full community effort, where the members of an enslaved family, representative of all the over 3,800 people who had been enslaved in Cobb County Georgia were remembered in a beautiful ceremony and the unveiling of a commemorative Bench by the Road in their honor. The program was a testament to the importance of creating meaningful historical markers not only to honor those who survived and thrived but also to provide a place for the community to share a moment of collective remembrance and reflection.