Nettie Washington Douglass’s paternal great grandfather, David T. Howard, was the first licensed mortician in the state of Georgia and a survivor of the 1906 Atlanta Race Massacre. The shared clan of Washington-Douglass have deep roots in the city of Atlanta to this day. Howard rose from slavery at his birth in Crawford County, Georgia in 1849, to being called “Atlanta’s most beloved citizen and the city’s pioneer businessman” in the Atlanta Daily World’s obituary of him in 1935. A noted philanthropist and civic activist, Howard supported Butler Street YMCA, Big Bethel AME Church and education on behalf of Booker T. Washington High School and the Atlanta University Center. Read Nettie Washingon Douglass’s full bio.