Former mayor, judge Asa Kelley’s papers part of King book series

ALBANY — Walter Kelley considered the warning offered by his friend and fellow Dougherty Library Board member Brenda Hodges-Tiller, a woman with considerable knowledge of the Albany Civil Rights Movement.

“When I was approached by the researchers about using my father’s papers for a collection of books on Martin Luther King Jr., I talked with Dr. Tiller about it,” Kelley, a partner in the Albany Kelley, Lovett & Blakey law firm, said. “She suggested I not allow the researchers to use them; she told me, ‘They’re not going to say nice things about your father.’

“I considered — and appreciated — her warning, but in the end I decided to allow them to use the papers for their research. The history is what it is.”

Kelley’s father, two-term Albany Mayor Asa D. Kelley, who later served as a Superior Court Judge for the Dougherty Judicial Circuit for 30 years, had kept meticulous records on small pocket calendars throughout his time in office and on the bench. The information on those calendars, and other papers of Asa Kelley’s that had been stored in the Dougherty County Courthouse, were used as authentication in the seventh book of a series entitled “The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr.”

Initiated by the Atlanta-based King Center in association with Stanford University, the painstakingly researched series of books offers a historic look at every known writing that influenced the career of King during the tumultuous years of the Civil Rights Movement. Asa Kelley’s are used prominently in the seventh book in the series, a volume titled “To Save the Soul of America: January 1961-August 1962.”

“I think the law of the land during the time that dad was mayor (1960-1963) was irreconcilable, to go so far as to have separate entrances, water fountains and restrooms (for blacks and whites),” Walter Kelley said. “But in office, he was in a position where he was obligated to uphold the law.

“I find it so ironic, looking back, that the black ladies who worked for our family during that time of segregation really adored my father. That was just such a strange time for our family and for our country.”

Tenisha Armstrong was one of the editors who approached Walter Kelley about using his father’s papers in “To Save the Soul of America.” She was instrumental in convincing him that the material would be used fairly.

“About a year ago, Tenisha contacted me out of the blue,” Walter Kelley said. “She said she was Googling my father and saw that he had sons. She called me and when she found out I’d saved all of his papers I could get my hands on, she asked if she could use them for the King Papers project. I’d saved 18 boxes of material myself, and (current Dougherty Superior Court Senior Judge) Loring Gray had called and asked if I wanted more boxes of his papers they’d found when remodeling the courthouse.

“I was concerned at first at how my father’s legacy would be treated, and frankly I expected anything written about him to be tainted by liberal bias. But after meeting and talking with the researchers, I was 100 percent confident that he’d be treated fairly. They shared their research methodology, and I trusted them. They proved to be true to their word.”

Walter Kelley was a small boy during the time that his father served as mayor of Albany, but he remembers clearly the turmoil that surrounded the elder Kelley.

“He caught if from both sides,” Walter Kelley said of his father. “He was really in a no-win situation. If he made a decision that was considered favorable to the (Civil Rights) marchers, he caught hell from the KKK. If his decision went the other way, he got it from the marchers.

“Before we moved to Lake Blackshear, our house at 414 Pinecrest Drive was the scene of constant activity. A lot of people, especially those from outside Albany, thought that was the ‘mayor’s house.’ It was, but only because my father owned the house. When we were at home, there was always some description of police presence there.”

Asa Kelley, who also served as a state senator, was part of an Albany law firm that included historic local figures Taxi Smith, B.C. Gardner and Motie Wiggins. Told it was “your turn” in 1960 to run for mayor, Kelley served during perhaps the most racially sensitive era in Albany’s history.

After leaving office, he returned to his law practice for a period before being appointed state director of corrections by then-Gov. Lester Maddox. A short while later, though, Dougherty’s lone Superior Court judge died, and Maddox appointed Kelley — who had been hoping for an appointment to the Georgia Court of Appeals — to the bench.

“My dad was appointed by Lester Maddox in 1968, and he served until 1997, right up until just before he died,” Walter Kelley said. “I always that it was amazing that he never had opposition for the office.”

Walter Kelley has copies of Volumes 4, 5, 6 and 7 of the King Papers series. He said he plans to purchase copies of the first three volumes and donate the set to the Dougherty County Library. He’s also considering donating his father’s papers to the library or the local Albany Civil Rights Institute.

“I want to donate my set of the books in Tenisha Armstrong’s honor because she was such an honorable person,” Kelley said. “I also think my father’s papers are an important part of our community’s history. I can see them going to the King Center or some other Civil Rights organization. But I feel that these papers are part of our community and belong here.”