AUG 13, 2011 - The Veal Solomon Highway (formerly Sandersville Highway 24) Sign Unveiling began at 8 AM across from a gorgeous, green Baldwin County 400 acre-field  once owned by Dorsey Solomon, Sr., Mamie Solomon Veal's uncle; click here to see the early 1900's Solomon Land Deed, The ceremony started under the early morning sun in the Friendship Church Missionary Baptist Church Society Cemetery, at the grave sites of Henry and Mamie Veal, as well as, all of the Pearson Solomon Webster Ancestors born before 1930. The African Ceremony performed by Jumoke Ifetayo, an African Cultural Expert, with Ancestral Name and History Recitations by Johnette Brooks, African American Baldwin County Genealogist and Veal/Solomon Granddaughter, consisted of the Consecration (blessing) and Libation (praying to give honor & pouring of water/wine while calling the names of Ancestors who have passed on)  and repeating "Asha" (Egyptian word meaning "And it is so" or Amen). We also asked and were granted permission from the Eldest Family Member in attendance, Willie B. Collins, to both enter the holy temple and to speak. You can see GA Rep. E. Culver "Rusty" Kidd looking on at the ceremony in the Baldwin Bulletin article image.
 
 

Honoring Henry Veal, Sr., and Mamie Solomon Veal and dedicating a road in their honor; and for other purposes.

WHEREAS, Henry Veal, Sr., and Mamie Solomon Veal were the proud owners of The Veal Café in downtown Milledgeville, Georgia; and

WHEREAS, they were the first African Americans to own a restaurant with a Coca Cola sign in downtown Milledgeville; and

WHEREAS, they were considered the Founders of Education in Georgia with 22 descendants and cousins with master's degrees that includes one university president, five doctorates, one Harvard Ph.D., three Double Masters, and two Ivy League Masters; and

WHEREAS, Henry and Mamie parented three generations of Ph.D. recipients and raised six siblings who became educators, collectively with 170 years of service, even though they started as cotton pickers with only a fifth grade education; and

WHEREAS, Henry Veal served in WWI as a Mess Sergeant for white army officers, and while stationed in France he learned to speak French; and

WHEREAS, there is a historic bench in downtown Milledgeville dedicated in honor of the Veals, and it is said that The Veal Café is where the WWII soldiers came to eat. In the 1940's the white city hall workers made the café the first take out restaurant in Milledgeville; and

WHEREAS, many of the Veals' children and other relatives worked in the café to help put themselves through college; and

WHEREAS, at The Veal Café you could order a fish sandwich and a coke or "a pig ear samish anna cocola" for a nickel; and

WHEREAS, it is only fitting and proper that a lasting memorial to this outstanding couple be established; along the portion of SR 24 to be dedicated in their honor are the graves of three generations of slave ancestors and 300 members of the Veal and Solomon families.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA that the members of this body honor Henry Veal, Sr., and Mamie Solomon Veal by dedicating the portion of SR 24 in Baldwin County from its intersection with Kings Road to the Washington County line as the Veal – Solomon Highway.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Transportation is authorized and directed to erect and maintain appropriate signs dedicating the Veal – Solomon Highway.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Clerk of the House of Representatives is authorized and directed to transmit an appropriate copy of this resolution to the family of Henry Veal, Sr., and Mamie Solomon Veal and the Department of Transportation.

Submitted by Johnette Brooks, a Milledgeville native, 3rd generation family historian, member of the National Association of Professional Genealogists, Guest Lecturer for the Atlanta History Central,  Central Georgia Genealogy Society Baldwin County African American Genealogist Specialists; AAHGS Metro Atlanta and Founder of HOLLA at ya ANCESTORS.org.