Morton, Monroe B. (Pink)

Pink Morton was an enterprising and resourceful man who came from humble beginnings to become a pillar of the local community. Monroe Bowers Morton was born in May of 1853, the son of a white father and an African-American slave. He was unable to get much education, but through dilligence and hard work, was able to eventually go into business as a building contractor. In this capacity, he designed the Wilkes County courthouse in Georgia and took part in the construction of a government building in Anniston, Alabama. In 1896, he became a state delegate to the Republican National Convention, and was on the committee that informed William McKinley of his nomination as the Republican Party candidate for President. After McKinley was elected, Morton was appointed Postmaster for Athens, Georgia, an office which he held for five years.

Pink lived on Prince Avenue in Athens, a street of Victorian mansions where many prominent citizens lived.

By 1914 Morton was the owner, publisher, and editor of the Progressive Era, a local black newspaper. Unfortunately, few copies of the newspaper are known to have survived from the period of his ownership. Five years after establishing this newspaper Monroe Bowers “Pink” Morton died at the age of 66.