African Americans of Note In Savannah
The Savannah area is steeped in African American history. Here is a little information on some (but certainly not all) notable African-Americans from Savannah.
Andrew Bryan
Born, enslaved in Goose Creek, S.C. in 1716 but was later transported to the Savannah area. He was a well-known Baptist leader in both white and black Baptist circles in the U.S. and England, and helped found the First African Baptist Church in Savannah, one of the oldest black congregations in the nation.
Colonel John H. Deveaux
Appointed clerk of The Custom House of Savannah in January 1870 and served at every desk in the Collector of Custom’s office. He was appointed collector at Brunswick, GA in 1889, and resigned his post when President Grover Cleveland took office. In 1898 he was appointed by President William McKinley as Collector of Customs at Savannah and reappointed by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1902. He also served as an officer of the black Georgia State Troops for more than 21 years and was in charge of the First Battalion for many years. Deveaux was one of the oldest Masons in the state, and also established the Savannah Tribune in 1876, serving as the paper’s editor and manager until 1889. He was also on the board of directors of Wage Earners Bank.
W.W. Law
A crusader for justice and civil rights for African Americans. He was instrumental in the desegregation of public schools in Savannah, led wade-ins at Tybee Beach and sit-ins at Kress and Woolworth’s lunch counters. He also led an 18-month boycott of Broughton Street merchants that forced Savannah’s white leaders to compromise on civil rights. He served as president of the Savannah Branch of the NAACP from 1950-1976 and was widely known as “Mr. Civil Rights.” Mr. Law also established the Savannah-Yamacraw Branch of the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History. As president of that organization he founded the Ralph Mark Gilbert Civil Rights Museum, Negro Heritage Trail Tour, King-Tisdell Cottage Museum, and the Beach Institute of African-American Culture.
Learn more about African American Cultural Attractions in the Tybee & Savannah area.
Cornelius McKane & Alice Woody McKane
Made medical history only 20 years after Reconstruction ended in the South. The McKanes developed a nurse-training program for blacks in Savannah and in June 1893, advertised for the first regular session of the McKane Training School for Nurses and graduated 3 in 1897. The McKanes left Savannah to develop a hospital in Liberia to fulfill the wishes of Mr. McKane’s African mother. They returned to Savannah and opened a more comprehensive medical facility and operated a hospital for women and children later known as the Charity Hospital. Cornelius McKane was a civil rights activist, a clergyman, teacher, scholar, author and speaker; Alice McKane was an advocate for women’s suffrage, a Republican committee woman, NAACP member and published author.
Susie King Taylor
Known as the first African-American to teach openly in a school for former slaves in Georgia. She was born the daughter of slaves and at age 7 she went to live with her grandmother in Savannah. She attended two secret schools taught by black women and at age 14, she fled to St. Simons Island, occupied at the time by Union forces. Recognizing her educational abilities, they asked her to organize a school.
Clarence Thomas
Supreme Court Justice was born in 1948 in Pin Point, a small, struggling community built on the grounds of a former slave plantation south of Savannah. He was sworn in as an associate justice of the US Supreme Court in 1991 and at the time was the youngest member of the court. He is only the second African American member after Thurgood Marshall, whose seat he filled.
