SAVANNAH, Ga. — We were standing in front of the First African Baptist Church in Savannah, a registered historic landmark. It’s home to the oldest continuous Black congregation in the nation, established in 1773. The current church building, with its tall bell tower and duo red doors, was completed in 1859.
“The red painted doors meant the property was paid for,” said Fritz Rumpel, local historian and owner of 40 Acres and a Mule tour company. “It was financed and built by enslaved people who worked on its construction mostly at night, after working on plantations all day.”
We went to Savannah to learn about the city’s rich African American and civil rights history, and Rumpel was a wellspring of knowledge. He and his wife, Lorrie, spent 12 years researching letters, stories, and archival materials, then created and produced the play “Let My People Go,” about the history of slavery in Savannah. His 90-minute private walking tour throughout historic Savannah includes much of his findings, detailing the city’s role in promoting slavery throughout the South and the driving force of faith to survive and triumph over it.
We lingered in the square as Rumpel told us the story of Andrew Bryan, one of the founders of the First African Baptist Church, who was publicly whipped and imprisoned for preaching. Many slave owners had forbidden their slaves to listen to Bryan’s sermons. Bryan would not capitulate and would later be revered and honored for his actions.
Later, Congregationalists would gather at the church to raise some $2,000 for the Bryan School, one of the first schools for Blacks, established in January 1865.
“More than 350 schoolchildren walked right down here, singing for freedom,” said Rumpel, as we walked through City Market and he played the gospel song “We Shall Be Free,” from his portable speaker. He pointed out the former school building (now a storefront) that was ironically (and sadly) once the office and brokerage for a prominent slave trader.
“There were still stacks of bills of sale for slaves. The children turned them over and used them for paper,” Rumpel said. “I guess that’s what you call turning the page.”
We walked to Johnson Square, the oldest and largest square in Savannah, surrounded by some of the city’s most opulent buildings, including City Hall, Christ Episcopal Church, and several banks. “The slave traders were operating right here,” Rumpel said. “At the end of the block was Negro Yard, where the slaves were held before auction. The first Tuesday of the month, families walked down the street in handcuffs to be auctioned off.”
The first Civil War secession rally was also held in Johnson Square. On Nov. 8, 1860, a large crowd gathered to oppose the election of Abraham Lincoln and called for a state secession convention. They raised the first secession flag in the South, with the image of a coiled snake and the words “Southern Rights. Equality of the States. Don’t Tread on Me.”
Leaving the square, Rumpel stopped again to show us a copy of a poster advertising a slave auction. In March 1857, during two rainy days at a racetrack located just outside downtown, 436 men, women, and children were sold. It was one of the largest slave auctions in the history of America.
“Some thought it became known as The Weeping Time because of the rain,” Rumpel said. “But we know it was the heavens that were weeping. The rain stopped when the auction was over.”
Our final stop was Madison Square, where Rumpel pointed out the Green-Meldrim House. This grand 1864 Gothic Revival home is where Union General William Tecumseh Sherman headquartered during the end of the Civil War after his March to the Sea, and where he famously gifted Savannah to President Lincoln. It is also where he issued, on Jan. 16, 1865, his legendary Field Orders, No. 15, the first attempt to provide a form of reparation to newly freed slaves.
Four days before, Sherman and Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton had met with 20 Black ministers and asked them what they would need to take care of themselves and succeed in life. They answered: land. Sherman confiscated 400,000 acres of private land owned by Confederates, largely along the Sea Islands, and redistributed it to freed slaves in 40-acre plots. It came to be known as the 40 Acres and a Mule Order. (Mules weren’t officially mentioned in the order but some freed slaves received them.) Alas, it was very short-lived. On April 15, 1865, President Lincoln was assassinated and Andrew Johnson, a sympathizer with the South, took office, overturning the order in the fall of 1865.
“Isn’t it ironic?” Chuck Ward, our traveling companion said. We were dining at Planters Tavern in the cellar of The Olde Pink House, enjoying blackened oysters, sweet local crab cakes nestled between two fried green tomato slices, and sauteed shrimp with country ham gravy and a cheddar cheese grits cake. Ironic because when James Oglethorpe founded Savannah and the colony of Georgia in 1733, slavery was forbidden. His vision: to create a classless, egalitarian society where all could make a better life.
Learn more
Savannah has several other places to learn about its Black history and African American heritage. The Pin Point Heritage Museum, located in a former oyster and crab factory on the banks of the Moon River, is a fascinating place to learn about Savannah’s Gullah Geechee culture. The museum, with pretty views of the marshlands, includes a variety of exhibits and multimedia presentations exploring the history and lives of the freed slaves who worked and lived here (about 150 descendants of Pin Point still do) and were isolated enough to keep their own traditions and language.
The Owens-Thomas House and Slave Quarters offers a peek into the lives and relationships of the wealthy families and their enslaved people during the early 19th century.
The Savannah African Art Museum has an impressive display of 19th- and 20th-century art from West and Central Africa, including ceramic, metal, wood, glass, and fiber. All visits are guided, with free admission.
The Ralph Mark Gilbert Civil Rights Museum, named after the Rev. Dr. Ralph Mark Gilbert, the 13th pastor of the First African Baptist Church, details the history of Savannah’s civil rights movement and the story of the “freedom fighters” of the local chapter of the NAACP. There are three floors of exhibits, documentaries, and photos.
Diane Bair and Pamela Wright can be reached at bairwright@gmail.com