The blacks only balcony of Macon's Grand Opera House has remained largely unchanged since it was built in 1904.

The blacks only balcony of Macon's Grand Opera House has remained largely unchanged since it was built in 1904. / GPB

It's a piece of Jim Crow history, preserved in amber. 

The blacks only balcony of Macon's Grand Opera House was built back in 1904 and has been pretty much untouched since. Local historians say it was so miserable that it inspired prominent black businessman Charles Douglass to build his own show house, the Douglass Theatre, across town. 

Now with a $23,500 grant from the Fox Theatre Institute, the Grand Opera House will renovate and preserve the balcony so that people can visit and get a sense of just how inadequate and physically dangerous "Separate but equal" facilities were in the days before integration. The grant is part of the $500,000 in grant money the Fox Theatre Institute has given to historic theatres around the state this year. 

Walk up to the Jim Crow balcony of the Grand Opera House in this video. 

https://youtu.be/_34HMbokhvM