Rising Voices: Underrepresented History (by Walk With Me Savannah Tours)

Walk With Me Savannah Tours presents 'Rising Voices', a Savannah history tour exclusively featuring underrepresented narratives and figures.

Historically too many narratives have been minimized or just left out of society's carefully crafted histories. Take a walking tour where we instead exclusively highlight those underrepresented voices.

We will focus on the lives and accomplishments of black, native, queer, and female residents of Savannah and how they impacted the world around them, in such a way that Savannah as it stands would not exist without each and every one of them.

Tours start in Franklin Square and conclude in Monterey Square.

Itinerary
This is a typical itinerary for this product

Stop At: Franklin Square, Savannah, GA

In Franklin Square we will discuss how Haiti volunteered during the American Revolution, clandestine schools that operated in Savannah that taught literacy to black students while such an education was outlawed, the First African Baptist Church which houses the oldest African Baptist congregation in the country, and its role in the Underground Railroad.

Duration: 15 minutes

Stop At: City Market, Jefferson at West Saint Julian Street, Savannah, GA 31401

Passing through City Market, we will see Club One, the home performance venue of Lady Chablis, a Savannah LGBTQ icon. We will also see the building that was home to one of the most active markets for the selling of humans as property, which was immediately converted into a freedman's school after emancipation by some of the very people who were sold as property inside.

Duration: 10 minutes

Stop At: Telfair Academy, 121 Barnard St, Savannah, GA 31401-3612

We will stop in front of Telfair Academy and discuss Mary Telfair, a woman who defied the expectations placed on her by gender roles at the time and began the legacy of preservation in Savannah.

Duration: 10 minutes

Stop At: Wright Square, Bull Street Between West State and West York Streets, Savannah, GA

Here we will discuss the impacts of two key native figures in Savannah history: Tomochichi, chief and founder of the native Yamacraw tribe, and Coosaponakeesa (AKA Mary Musgrove) a Creek woman. Both were as instrumental in the shaping of Savannah as Oglethorpe who is considered the founder.

Duration: 15 minutes

Stop At: Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace Museum, 10 E Oglethorpe Ave (corner of Bull St. and Oglethorpe Ave.), Savannah, GA 31401-3707

Here we will discuss Juliette Gordon Low, the founder of the girl Scouts, as well as other unconventional female family members, and how they impacted the roles women would play in the future, and will also touch on Julliette's hearing loss.

Duration: 5 minutes

Stop At: Chippewa Square, Bull Street Between Hull Street and Perry Street, Savannah, GA 31401

Here we will briefly discuss the original site of the Savannah Catholic Church, founded by the Haitian community discussed earlier. We we also discuss Susie King Taylor, a self-freed woman who served as a nurse and teacher during the Civil War, published a memoir, and opened a school for black children just off of Chippewa Square.

Duration: 15 minutes

Stop At: Madison Square, Bull Street Between West Harris and West Charlton Streets, Savannah, GA

Here we will stop in front of the Green-Meldrim house and discuss Field Order 15, as issued by General Sherman but formed and negotiated by a group of 20 black pastors and community leaders led by Garrison Frazier, how it was the birth of practical reparation efforts, and why it implementation was prevented.

Duration: 15 minutes

Stop At: Monterey Square, Bull Street Between Taylor and Gordon Streets, Savannah, GA 31401-4913

Here we will discuss Jim Williams, famous from Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, but a prominent Savannah gay man who also began Savannah's entire restoration movement. We will also see the monument of Count Casimir Pulaski, and discuss his impact on the Revolution and the recent discovery that he was likely an intersex person.

Duration: 15 minutes

You can present either a paper or an electronic voucher for this activity.

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours in advance of the start time of the experience.