School Activities
Esther F. Garrison
Law devoted himself to the fight for equality in Savannah for more than half a century. Read his powerful introduction to a collection of Freedom Songs to learn more about the founder of this museum and his passion for social justice. In the picture, Westley Wallace Law, gives a speech at a Savannah church during the Civil Rights Movement. Edna Jackson, seated on the far left, was active in the Civil Rights Movement. Later she served on the Savannah City Council, then went on to become Savannah’s Mayor from 2012 to 2016.
Earl T. Shinhoster
Earl T. Shinhoster came of age as a teen in Savannah’s 1960s Civil Rights Movement and left a legacy across two continents.
Gathering Voices, The Bloc Vote Strategy
Bloc voting is a political strategy, used into the 1970s, where citizens of a community choose common candidates. In the 1960s, groups like the Political Guidance Committee and the Political Advisory Council gave Savannah's Black community recommendations for who to vote for. Read a newspaper article from our archives that stresses the importance of the bloc vote. The above image shows Democratic party primary candidates for a Savannah election in 1964.
Gathering Voices, The Political Advisory Council
Earl T. Shinhoster came of age as a teen in Savannah’s 1960s Civil Rights Movement and left a legacy across two continents.
Hosea Williams and Voting Rights
In the 1960s, the registration of black voters, in Savannah, was under the leadership of Hosea Williams who headed up the Chatham County Crusade for Voters (CCCV) the political wing of the National Association of the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). In the picture, Hosea Williams joins long lines of teens at the voter registration window of the Chatham County Court House on Wright Square.
NAACP Sunday Mass Meeting
Williams was an important part of the Savannah Civil Rights Movement. He then continued his work with Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). Read a newspaper article from our archive describing the call, from Williams, for the community to boycott Savannah stores. This was during the Jim Crow Era of segregation in the South when Blacks could shop in these stores but not be hired to work in them.
Ralph Mark Gilbert
Our museum is named after Gilbert, a courageous figure that built the foundations of the Civil Rights Movement here in Savannah and throughout the Deep South. Learn more about his many accomplishments here.
Savannah Sit-In Newspaper Article
Take a trip into archives of the Museum and read a newspaper article from Savannah Morning News, written on March 17, 1960. It records the first sit-in or ('sitdown') protest in Savannah.
Wade-In at Savannah Beach
Take a trip into archives of the Museum and read a newspaper article from Savannah Morning News, written on March 17, 1960. It records the first sit-in or ('sitdown') protest in Savannah.