Friends, family and supporters of one of Liberty County’s giants in civil rights got a glimpse at the honor that will stand on the courthouse grounds.

The bust of Ralph Waldo Quarterman, which will be part of a statue built to honor him, was unveiled Friday afternoon at the Liberty County Courthouse Annex.

“A story seldom told is soon forgotten,” state Rep. Al Williams ( D- Mi d way) said. “You’ve got to tell the story of Ralph Quarterman.”

Quarterman, a native of Allenhurst, was the first Black person to run for county commission since the days of Reconstruction. A graduate of the Dorchester Academy and Albany State College, he was also a successful business owner, operating a sawmill and a poultry farm. He even was tasked with going to Liberia to start sawmills in the west African nation.

Quarterman died in 1964, at just 46 years old.

“In this day, let us get excited about telling the story,” said Rev. Hermon Scott, pastor of Baconton Missionary Baptist Church, where Quarterman worshipped.

Williams said he once took his young sons to Morehouse College and the site of a Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. statue, lifting them up so they could touch the feet.

“Be blessed by doing something for coming generations,” he said of the drive to build a statue for Quarterman.

The cost for making and erecting the statue is about $135,000, which in 1964 was “a double stack of money,” Williams jested. But now African Americans have the spending power of $2 trillion annually in the

U.S., he said.

“Thank you for Mr. Quarterman. Thank you for all he meant to us and what he means to us today,” Rev. Scott said. “Thank you for the statue that will be placed here to say what he will mean to the future generations — a fearless man, a courageous man, who wanted to see Liberty County better.”