People You Should Know for Black History Month February 2023

Alumnus Perly Toliver was one of the first black students at Mercer University.

60 years ago, Toliver served on a special planning committee to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the university’s integration. She now sits on a committee to choose a physical representation of the progress and ongoing mission of integration.

After graduating from Mercer, Toliver went on to a successful career in retail banking and mortgage lending, retiring after 37 years as vice president of Branch Banking and Trust Co. She previously worked for a bank for 12 years as a reinvestment specialist/community lender. .

In 1985, Toliver graduated from Leadership Macon, a one-year program that introduces a group of future community leaders to the qualities and challenges of Macon Bibb County. In 2017, she received the Robert F. Hatcher Award for Outstanding Leadership for her participation in the program. In addition, she is the recipient of the Macon Women’s Achievement Award and the Liberty Bell Award from the Macon Bar Association.

Toliver is currently Chairman of the Macon Housing Authority Board of Commissioners. Previously, she was a member of the Bibb County government’s Joint Transition Team, where she was chair of the Finance Committee.

She has also served on various boards and commissions in Macon and the state of Georgia such as the 1999 Macon-Bibb Unification Commission, the Georgia Tobacco Commission, and the Georgia Student Funding Commission. Representing Mercer, she participated in the Delivering the Promise of Genuine Community and Higher Education Summit.

Toliver is a life member of the Greater Macon Chamber of Commerce and has served on local and state councils for the League of Women Voters. In her spare time, she loves music and helps others achieve economic success and financial security. She is married to her husband John Toliver.

(INFORMATION: MERCER UNIVERSITY)

The legendary Hump Swain was Macon’s first African-American disc jockey. He began working for WMBL in 1954, later moving to WIBB AM 1280.

Its place in time has made it a historic factor in the fame of artists such as “The Godfather of the Soul” James Brown, Otis Redding and rock and roll founder Little Richard.

Hump ​​Swain was nicknamed “The King Bee” after singer Slim Harpo’s song “I’m a King Bee”.

Music was in Swain’s mind long before he was on the air as a disc jockey. He went to college for a while and then went to work as an insurance salesman for Atlanta Life, but it was his enjoyment of playing the saxophone that led him to form his own band called the Hamptones. He occasionally used his high school friend Little Richard Penniman on vocals.

The Hamptones toured the country. Some specific concerts are noted, such as the Los Angeles Wrigley Field concert on July 10, 1949, and the San Diego Lane Field show on September 3, 1949.

Hump ​​Swain will be remembered for opening doors to many Central Georgia music legends. Among the biggest names is James Brown. In 1956, King Bee played “Please, Please, Please” on the radio.

Hamp Swain hosted the famous Teen Parties, a talent contest most often won by local singer Otis Redding.

Swain started his own label in Macon in the late 1960s. Var-Val was named after his children Jarvis and Valencia.

Swain is quoted as saying, “Why Macon? I used to say it was water, something in the water.” By the way, “Something in the Water” became the title of Ben Wynn’s book about the history of Macon’s music.

Swain is considered the driving force behind the R&B scene in Macon and was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 2008.

Swain died at the age of 88 of natural causes in 2018. Charles Davis of 100.9 The Creek in Macon said, “The world has lost a great man.”

“Hump is gone,” Little Richard Penniman, who died in May 2020, two years after his high school friend, told the Telegraph by phone from his Nashville, Tennessee home. “Old Hump Swain, my friend. He gave me my first job as a vocalist.”