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It was suppose to be a drive by……..Savannah. Part 1.

 

 

 

I was proud. I was amazed. I was sad. I was disappointed. I was in awe. I was in shock. I felt a lot of emotions. On one end I was so proud to learn my history and on the other I was disappointed in myself for not knowing and not making it a point to know sooner than now. I felt a sense of pride knowing where my people came from and what they overcame. I kept thinking ”I have no choice but to be great. . . . how could I slack off when my people fought for the same rights I take for granted.”

So let me take it back a minute. I celebrated my 26^th birthday on Tuesday the 1^st! I know. I’m getting old. Anywho, I decided to celebrate my birthday by taking a road trip.  I didn’t have much of a theme, I just wanted it to be random. My mom gave me the idea to do a civil rights tour. So I did. The idea was dope and I was definitely down to learn my history.

Our first scheduled stop was St. Augustine, FL. As we packed up the car, my cousin Tiffany mentioned Savannah. Neither one of us had ever been. We heard it was beautiful there and I was sure there was some African-American history there.  So we went. My friend had just mentioned Savannah earlier asking if I was going to make a stop. I never could have imagined what I would experience once I got there.

After a 3-hour drive, we finally made it. We pulled into a Kroger parking lot to post up and regroup. The plan was to spend 2 hours here and head on south. Little did I know, Tiffany had a friend from college who lived in Savannah. Turns out, not only was William from Savannah, he knew a lot about the history of Savannah as well as the African-American history here. Jackpot! AND he happened to have the day off! What are the odds?! We had our very own tour guide at our fingertips. The plan was to hit downtown see a few sites, head over to Warehouse Bar & Grille to get $.50 shrimp and wings and get back on the road. Definitely didn’t follow this schedule at ALL!

I was blown away by all of the history William knew about Savannah. It was like I was a kid back in grade school, but I was actually intrigued by what I was learning. Not learning just to past a test.

 

Savannah is the oldest city in th U.S. state of Georgia–nicknamed “The Hostess City of the South.” Established in 1773. Because of its location, Savannah was a strategic port city during the American Revolution and American Civil War. Did you know that Savannah was the birthplace of Juliette Gordon Low, founder of Girl Scouts of the United States of America? Yeah, me neither.

The first stop was Savannah High. One of the two historically black high schools in Savannah. At one point it was the largest high school in the nation. It was a originally a hotel that was bought by the city of Savannah after the great depression.

We made our way downtown on Bay Street. Talk about taking a step back in time. The architecture and the Oak trees covered in Spanish moss was a beautiful sight.

The Savannah Cotton Exchange building was completed in 1887 during the era when Savannah ranked first as a cotton seaport on the Atlantic and second in the world. In it’s heyday as a cotton port over two million bales moved through Savannah.

Johnson Square. Years ago slave auctions took place here. No coincidence that the banking hub of Savannah is located in Johnson Square.

Yes, I came to Savannah to learn about the civil rights movement but I couldn’t neglect the antebellum slave trade era. We walked the same path slaves walked when they first arrived to America. The very cobblestone we were walking on was layed by slaves.

Our time was running out so we HAD to make our way to the First African Baptist Church just to get a picture at least. My dad told me that we couldn’t leave Savannah without visiting this church.

On the way to the church, we came across the Haitian Monument in Franklin Square, which was a tribute to the Haitian Soldiers who fought in the Revolutionary War’s bloody siege of Savannah. The soldiers played a major in helping America gain its independence.

Haitians been trill!

A few feet away from the Haitian monument was the First African Baptist Church. I knew we didn’t have much time so I looked for a marker that had some general history and information about the church. As I was exploring and poking around, the tour guide for the church informed us that the last tour had be taken and we were just too late.  Tiffany, William and I turned on that good ole southern charm. We told him about my project and mission to visit civil rights sites and how it relates to Can’t Stay Put ™–low and behold he agreed to give us our own private tour. (Mr. John Bush– if you are ever in Savannah, you MUST seek him out for a tour. He is a living history book) Mr.Bush joked about us keeping him away from his dinner. He hadn’t eaten all day but when I told him that I travel the world to inspire others to travel I hit a soft spot as he was a military brat as a kid and had lived in 3 different countries. As he took us in , I had no idea what to expect but I was ready to learn. He took us to the basement, which housed all of the oldest artifacts of the church. (Couldn’t take any pictures in there)

When he started his presentation of how everything started, you should have seen our faces. It was like he was about to tell us the “key to life” We couldn’t take our eyes off of him and what he was showing us. With every word I felt myself feeling more and more empowered-to change the world, to be great, to have an impact. The timeline of historic events was overwhelming. It is the oldest black church in North America. It was organized in 1773, under the leadership of Reverend George Leile, and constituted December 1777.

As you can see, I was pretty intrigued.

The light fixtures, baptismal pool, and 1832 Pipe Organ are all original to the church. The pews located in the balcony are original to the church.  These pews were made by slaves, and are nailed into the floors. On the outside of the pews are markings written in the African dialect known as “Cursive Hebrew”. If you notice the design of the ceiling, it is formed like a “9-Patch Quilt,” which represented that the church was a safe house for slaves.

 

 

The holes in the floor are shaped as an African prayer symbol known as a Congolese Cosmogram. These holes were actually air and communication pathways for the underground railroad tunnel that ran underneath the floor of the church.

What I thought would be a quick 30/45 minute tour turned into a 4 hour lesson down in that basement! And Mr.Bush said we got the quick version! There are too many stories to tell. I could dedicate a whole post just to the First African Baptist Church. I challenge you to do your own research or even visit yourself. I promise you won’t be dissappointed.

So let me tell you how small the world is! Reverend Thurmond Neill Tillman’s (current pastor) daughter attended Howard University when I was there! I remembered her face and name. We weren’t best buddies but it is amazing to be connected that way. (Howard we outchea!!)

Mr. Bush made note that 95% of the African-Americans in Savannah had never heard the history we heard that day. Most don’t care to know or even know that it exist.  As you can imagine, this made us sad and upset with our current generation. I couldn’t understand why? Why has there been a disconnect between generations? I thought about my own experience in grade school. Why wasn’t I as intrigued then to learn about my history? Why wasn’t it important to me? There are so many stories that are left unheard by the very people that need to hear them. Hearing about the struggles and triumphs of my ancestors makes my everyday struggles seem like walks in the park. No this is not to point out how terrible life was during this time or to bash other races of people. But instead, this is to empower you and me! We have a responsibility to be GREAT! If we only knew a slither of our history we would do better and act better. Another game changer for me was realizing that I had made it through grade school in Atlanta, and attended the illustrious Howard University and still had NO clue of many historic events. I am considered a young black professional and even this young black professional has much to learn.

What was suppose to be a 2 hour stop turned into an overnight stay! One more post on Savannah coming:)