Janice White Sikes Rogers, who shaped how Atlanta preserves Black history, dead at 73

Historian Janice White Sikes Rogers was a foundational figure in Atlanta, helping shape how Black history is preserved, understood and passed on.

The former librarian served the Atlanta-Fulton County Library System for nearly 40 years and was a community historian and cultural writer throughout her adult life, her friends and family said.

Rogers died of cancer on March 27. She was 73. She is being remembered as a devoted public servant, guided by a calling to share cultural knowledge so others could understand their history and carry it forward.

A graveside service was held for Rogers on April 2 at Westview Cemetery. A memorial was held April 11 at Calvary United Methodist Church.

She lived and breathed history, her son Troy Sikes said.

At the age of 24, Rogers became the youngest researcher ever to head Special Collections at the Central Library branch, Sikes said.

She was also on the planning committee for the development of the Auburn Avenue Research Library.

Rogers was praised last weekend by Atlanta City Councilmember Jason Dozier for helping to define the West End community.

She helped establish West End as a National Historic District and twice served as president of West End Neighborhood Development. She and her late husband, Dan Sikes, were founding members of the organization, her family said, and among the organizers of the West End Festival.

Documents chronicling West End’s evolution are preserved in the Janice White Sikes collection on Southern Culture at the Auburn Avenue Research Library.

Dozier said on social media that the city issued a proclamation in Rogers’ honor.

“Through her work, she preserved stories that might have otherwise been lost, lifted up the voices of longtime residents, and ensured that the richness, complexity, and beauty of the community would endure for generations to come,” he wrote on Instagram.

Preserving history was essential to Rogers.

“She instilled in our family to learn about history and document it,” her brother Paul White said. “‘You can talk all day,’ she said, ‘but have things documented, so people will know.’”

Rogers was born in Meridian, Mississippi, and was shaped by both rural and city life.

“My sister was a genius,” White said. “She loved knowledge. Her pursuit of history was because of our family, and the role that our family played in our area in Mississippi.”

Her grandfather farmed in Kemper County, and relatives were also builders and contractors, sparking Rogers’ interest in “the history of buildings, how things were built, why things were built,” White said.

The other side of her family in Philadelphia, Mississippi, was involved in the civil rights movement, supporting their community in the aftermath of the 1964 murders of activists James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner, White said.

Rogers’ grandmother was a member of the Choctaw Nation, he added. Growing up between rural and urban life gave Rogers a nuanced understanding of people and community — a toughness and a sensitivity.

“You still have the same dynamics in rural areas as in cities, but it was more intensified because of the smaller populations,” her brother said, adding that close proximity required people to engage directly with one another and plan collectively for the future.

That perspective helped shape a lifelong commitment to preserving history and connecting communities.

Rogers is an alumna of Spelman College and graduated in 1973 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. She later earned a master’s degree in library science from Atlanta University.