The 2010 Promised Land Community Center Top 50 Difference Makers in America.

The Livseys have created the "Promised Land Difference Maker Awards", that acknowledge Americans of all races that are visionaries too, who are keeping Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream, alive, not for fanfare or community recognition, but merely by the way they choose to make a difference one person at a time.

Part of the Promised Land plantation Livsey's grandfather purchased in 1920, the community includes the original 1820 Thomas Maguire house that survived General Sherman's March through Georgia (www.gwinnetths.org/Tour/) and is home to many members of the extended Livsey family.

The Promised Land community is located off Centerville Highway& Lee Rd., south of Snellville,Ga.

"We are the Livseys. ... For the first time this past summer, the white and black Livseys celebrated a family reunion together. It was a wonderful occasion. No one owed no one an explanation or excuse for the past. No animosity. No guilt. The only thing each and everyone left with was a whole new family tree. How about that?

Since then, we have become one family." The Livseys were one of the first families to settle in Gwinnett", Livsey said.

Four years ago, his parents, Thomas and Dorethia Livsey, received a lifetime achievement award from the Gwinnett Chapter of the NAACP for their service in the community.

He and his father learned about the many branches on their family tree from their white cousin, Annette Livsey Merritt of Decatur.

She and her sister Avis, accompanied father and son to the National Archives in East Point a couple of years ago, to help patch up holes in their family research", he said.

Dr King's, infamous last public speech, made strong inferences to this historic Promised Land, once a large plantation during the Civil War, that he discovered from the mountaintop of Stone Mountain, once an exclusive site for the KKK rallies, seven miles away, "Mine eyes have seen the fertile land of promise, as illustrated by the last paragraph of his speech,( no recorded evidence though).

Dr. King's last public speech:

"Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord"

source: ( http://www.afscme.org/about/1549.cfm)

The 2010--- Top 50---Promised Land Difference Makers Award ( In random order)

Read the full story, click the link below:

http://www.ourtown.com/snellvillega/article/2010/2/5/2010-promised-land-community-center-top-50-difference-makers-in-america.html

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