Susie King Taylor is honored by the City of Savannah by having one of the city’s famous squares named after her. She is the first woman and the first African American to be so honored. Susie King Taylor was born into slavery in Georgia in 1848. In secret schools in Savannah she received an education from a free woman of color and an Irish girl studying to become a nun. In 1862, Taylor escaped slavery and found protection behind Union lines. She was taken to St. Simon’s Island where the Union Commodore Goldsborough asked her to set up a school for refugee children on the island. She became a nurse to help the wounded of the United States Colored Troops. After the United States victory over the Confederates, Taylor returned to Savannah where she opened a school for children kept as slaves and a night school for Black adults.
The square had been named for leading proponent of White Supremacy John C Calhoun. The former Senator and Vice President was a leading advocate for spreading slavery into previously free territory. Calhoun said that the United States was founded for the White Race and said that he “never dreamt of incorporating into our Union any but the Caucasian race the free white race….Ours, sir, is the Government of a white race.”
The honor of having the square’s name now belongs to a self-emancipated Union nurse.
“It’s one thing to make history. It’s something else to make sense. And in this case, we’re making both,” Savannah Mayor Van Johnson said, according to the Associated Press.
Note: The photo shows Susie King Taylor.
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Yay! This is wonderful news! Suzie King Taylor deserves all the accolades she can get!
Very Good!