FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 29, 2025
Sugar Hill History Museum Exhibit Premiere
“First In Our State: A Revolutionary Achievement”
November 1, 2025
Sugar Hill, Georgia — The City of Sugar Hill, in collaboration with the Sugar Hill Historic Preservation Society, will premiere a new exhibit titled “First In Our State: A Revolutionary Achievement” on Saturday, November 1, 2025, at 12 p.m. at the Sugar Hill History Museum, 5010 West Broad Street. The exhibit, which is free and open to the public, honors Michael Nolden Henderson, Lieutenant Commander, U.S. Navy (Ret.), the first African American member of the Georgia Society, Sons of the American Revolution (SAR).
Prior to the exhibit opening, the city will host a patriot grave marking ceremony at the Sugar Hill Historic Cemetery, across from Sugar Hill City Hall at 5039 West Broad Street, beginning at 11:00 a.m. The ceremony will feature the Georgia Society SAR Color Guard and is hosted in partnership with several Georgia SAR chapters, including Button Gwinnett, Blue Ridge Mountains, Joseph Habersham, Lyman Hall, Piedmont, and Robert Forsyth.
The multi-media exhibit highlights Henderson’s groundbreaking genealogy research, his rise to the office of President of the Button Gwinnett Chapter, Georgia Society SAR, and his advocacy for recognizing forgotten patriots of color. It also explores his national and international impact, his appearance on the PBS program History Detectives, and his award-winning book, Got Proof! My Genealogical Journey Through the Use of Documentation (The Write Image, 2013).
“We’re excited to bring this exhibit to Sugar Hill. The Sugar Hill Historic Preservation Society is dedicated to highlighting stories that are often overlooked, and this exhibit celebrates one of our own residents who helped open the door for many others to join the Sons of the American Revolution,” said Sugar Hill Historic Preservation Society Chairman Kathryn Baskin.
A New Orleans native, Henderson began researching his family’s history nearly four decades ago, documenting six Patriots of the American Revolutionary War who served under General Bernardo de Gálvez in Spanish Colonial Louisiana. “I am a composition of my African, Native American, French, French-Canadian, and German-Swedish ancestry. They all deserve to be acknowledged,” Henderson said.
His research into an enslaved woman named Agnes, who gained freedom in 1779 through Spanish law, led to the discovery of his fourth-generation great-grandparents: Agnes and Mathieu Devaux, a Frenchman who served under General Gálvez and helped secure her manumission. Their story exemplifies the intertwined legacies of freedom and perseverance that define Henderson’s lineage.
About Sugar Hill
Incorporated in 1939, the City of Sugar Hill is a northern suburb of metro Atlanta and the third largest city in Gwinnett County. What began as “the hill where the sugar spilled” is a thriving live/work/play city where residents and visitors enjoy “the sweet life.”
Its downtown entertainment district is home to outdoor amphitheater The Bowl, the Eagle Theatre, restaurants, boutiques, luxury apartment homes, the Sugar Hill Art Gallery and History Museum, City Hall, and Veterans Memorial. To learn more about Sugar Hill, visit cityofsugarhill.com.
For more information, please contact Victoria Richburg, Director of Communications, Marketing & Outreach at vrichburg@cityofsugarhill.com.
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