Savannah, Georgia

There are more museums and more references to the Civil Rights Movement than to slavery. Perhaps that is inevitable. Really Whitney Plantation is the only museum of slavery that we have come across, although in the beautiful town of Savannah, Georgia there is this fine memorial to the slaves of the south, although interesting enough Georgia, founded by Act of Parliament in 1730s, was not itself a slave state.

All the Civil Rights movement exhibitions have been done very well indeed and a great deal of money has been spent on them, particularly those in the Martin Luther King Memorial site which have been funded by the federal government.

You can't tell the story of the civil rights movement without telling the story of the church's central role and all the exhibitions we have seen fully recognise this.

The significance of the black church was three fold. It was one of the few areas of life where black people could build strong communities without interference from whites or from the authorities. Secondly, their clergy were some of the best educated people in their community. Thirdly, the core messages of the Christian faith, about the value and dignity of every person, about freedom, justice, and liberation were the inspiration for the civil rights struggle.

Savannah is a very beautiful city indeed, based around a series of squares with grand houses and huge trees.

In the middle of the Savannah is the first church, built by their own hands, of the free African Americans of the city.

 

Savannah is also the city where the young John Wesley came as a missionary before he was converted. He found he had little to offer, but he learnt a lot from the Moravian Christians he met in that city and in due course - back in London - he came to share in their gospel inspired joyful assurance. His time in Savannah is remembered in a statue in one of the city squares

From Savannah we drove into the next state, South Carolina for our visit (tomorrow) to Charleston. Before that we spent some time walking along the beach at nearby Folly Beach

before heading to our AirBnB for the night