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.

1. 1

   Franklin Square

   15 min

   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.

2. 2

   City Market

   10 min

   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.

3. 3

   Telfair Academy

   10 min

   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.

4. 4

   Wright Square

   15 min

   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.

5. 5

   Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace Museum

   5 min

   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.

6. 6

   Chippewa Square

   15 min

   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.

7. 7

   Madison Square

   15 min

   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.

8. 8

   Monterey Square

   15 min

   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.

• Wheelchair accessible
• Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
• Service animals allowed
• Public transportation options are available nearby
• Transportation options are wheelchair accessible
• All areas and surfaces are wheelchair accessible

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.