By Dr. ENOLA MOSELY

English, Statesboro High School

Instead of, in spite of, because of — these are the phrases that usually relate to great leaders. Instead of being silent and complacent, they speak up and act out.  In spite of opposition, they keep striving. Because of their strong sense of fair play and empathy for others, they are willing to be vilified, bullied, victimized, or even martyred. So was it for King, Parks, Malcolm X and Thurgood Marshall. However, all great leaders are not textbook topics. Many live as local unsung heroes yet to be recognized. However, today, we pause to honor and commend David Shumake, Statesboro’s first Black City Council member.

A Dekalb County native, Shumake, the youngest of six siblings, was born in Lithonia, Georgia, near Atlanta in 1958. His parents, John Thomas and Bernice Harper Shumake, were always involved in the politics of their community and ingrained the same mindset into their children — stay involved. Excellence in education was always expected. His piano-teaching grandmother Nona Mae Carter Harper graduated from Spellman and was the roommate and lifelong friend of Martin Luther King Jr.’s mother. According to Shumake, “She had a knack for politics.”  A teacher herself, she started the first Black kindergarten in Dekalb.  Moreover, his mother was also civic minded and outspoken, speaking up and out when necessary.  Undoubtedly, civil rights and politics are in Shumake’s DNA. 

Among the top five Lithonia High graduates, in 1976, Shumake enrolled at Georgia Southern College (now GSU), majoring in Mechanical Engineering Technology.  Born to lead, first, he became treasurer of his dorm, then president. Always politically minded, he realized that Black fraternities were non-existent. Therefore, Shumake, Reginald Mosley and 11 others chartered the Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity in 1978.  

After graduating in 1981from Georgia Southern and still leadership oriented, Shumake founded the investment firm of Shumake, Crawford and Hendrix, Inc., serving as president and chairman of the board. As a citizen, Shumake affirms that he observed several disparities in the Black communities such as “poverty, joblessness, poor housing, educational inequities, unequal allocation of city services and tremendous blight such as run-down houses and overgrown lots.” Something, he said, “had to be done.”  

Next step — put a minority in a city office, and God chose him. He chuckles when he remembers that he was not first choice; but in a serious tone, he reveals that as councilman in District Two, he had “a unique position to do what I could while I could.” And he did!  For 17 ½ years, Shumake changed the status quo of Statesboro and made history.  In December 1982, Shumake became the first Black city councilman in Statesboro. Moreover, because he was only 24 years old when elected, he became the youngest elected official ever in Southeast Georgia. Remember, it is in his DNA.

Actions as a council member

As councilman, settling the ongoing NAACP’s class action suit regarding redistricting voting lines and then holding elections based upon these new districts took priority.  If two predominately minority districts were formed, then two blacks could possibly be elected to the city council. With Shumake’s influence and logic, the U.S. Justice Department approved the new district lines and ordered new elections by these districts with four-year terms. 

Delving into his role as councilman, Shumake chaired several committees, utilizing his Georgia Southern College (GSU) degree in Mechanical Engineering. As chairman of the City Council and Development Authority, he spoke out against misappropriation of city funds for use on private property and nepotism in regard to giving out city contracts. For the Black community, he wrote a grant for $400, 000 to relocate Tillman Quarters since there was a horrific flooding issue. Moreover, he led the fight to get Whitesville annexed. According to the Justice Department, Whitesville “had to be annexed before any other area.” Shumake helped to make this happen.

As chairman of the gas committee, he used his knowledge of “MGAG’s operation” to expand natural gas distribution and efficiency, resulting in a 2.4% yearly surplus.  Chairing the Special Task Force to Eliminate Blighted Areas, he orchestrated the following improvements:  street surfacing and lighting for Hendrix Street, Butler Street and West Grady Extension; and improved police and fire protection, which included a new fire truck and more fire hydrants along with improved trash pickups. To ensure that community communication lines remained open, he sent out surveys to “keep in touch with the concerns of the people throughout our community.” Moreover, he pushed for old cars and dilapidated houses to be fixed or fined or removed. 

As chairman of the Governmental Relations Committee, he received countless letters from state legislature officials, namely, Zell Miller, lieutenant governor of Georgia; Sam Nunn, U.S. senator; Cynthia McKinney, 11th Congressional District representative; and Walter Mondale, 1984 Democratic presidential candidate. Shumake was a Georgia representative candidate for the Democratic National Convention.

Outspoken, Shumake was an advocate for higher education for Black children. In a 1985 letter to Supt. Edwin Wynn, he wrote that “this system does not prepare students for the challenges after high school” and assumes that “black students have no other ambition than to be unskilled day laborers.”  He wrote that there is a “need for more Black teachers,” yet a stronger need for “good white teachers” who care about the students they teach. Graduating with honors, Shumake knew the value of a sound college-prep education.

Earning honors

Loved and admired by all who know him, Shumake’s portfolio is filled with letters inviting him to join local associations or to speak at local churches or just to congratulate him. In a letter, legendary Tharon Stephens writes that he was proud to see “a young Black blood, fostering the cause of equal rights.” In addition, Shumake has been honored several times: 1983 Outstanding Young Men of America Award; 1986 Fruit of Our Roots Award for “civic-minded humanitarianism”; 1990 Millen Optimist Club Appreciation; and the Cape Jessamine Order of the Eastern Stars for his dedicated service.

Shumake has worn several hats — councilman, state representative candidate, factory worker, insurance salesman, tax adviser — but now he is fulfilling his lifelong dream. He is the owner of Princess Angus Farms, using farming skills that he learned from the late Lee Swinton Smith.  Employed by Southern Grain Exports and married 25 years to the former Dorice Sherrod, Nevils is now his residence. 

Dorice says, “He is a gentleman, a listener, an intelligent businessman, and a blessing to me.”  

His father-in-law, Bobby Anthony, the first Black councilman in Millen, adds that Shumake is “smart and a hard worker.”   

In addition, friend Carter Crawford declares that Shumake “never saw an issue as black or white, but rather as right or wrong, and then he would think it through.”

Shumake’s advice to the up and coming generation is to buy land because we are going to have to become self-sufficient and provide for ourselves.  He admires this quality in his uncles because many of them are business owners.  His one regret is not going to the Navy to fly jets, but he flew to Statesboro instead, and we are so glad that he did.