HSF Lecture Series: "Susie King Taylor and the Making of Taylor Square”

Historic Savannah Foundation's 2024 Lecture Series continues with a special Juneteenth discussion featuring storyteller and grassroots activist Patt Gunn.

Historic Savannah Foundation (HSF), in collaboration with the Davenport House Museum, will host a special discussion on "Susie King Taylor and the Making of Taylor Square” on Thursday, June 20 at the historic Second African Baptist Church, as part of the 2024 Historic Savannah Foundation Lecture Series, “People, Places and Stories That Define Savannah.” The discussion will start at 6 p.m.

This free Juneteenth event will feature Patt “Sistah Patt” Gilliard Gunn, the National Policy Fellow for the Truth Telling Project, master Gullah Geechee storyteller, co-founder of the Savannah-based Susie King Taylor Center for Jubilee and co-chair of the Coalition to Rename Calhoun Square. Gunn will discuss her pivotal role in the three-year campaign to officially rename the square to commemorate and honor Taylor.

Susie King Taylor was a nurse, teacher and barrier-breaking figure in Savannah’s history. Born into slavery in Liberty County, Georgia in 1848, she moved to Savannah at the age of seven to live with her grandmother and attended two secret schools run by free women of color. Her accomplishments range from joining the Union Army to participating in military expeditions and camp life; nursing soldiers; teaching soldiers, women and children in the camps; running her own private day and night schools; and becoming an author with the publication of her book, “Reminiscences of My Life in Camp with the 33rd United States Colored Troops”.

The June Historic Savannah Foundation’s Lecture is free and open to the public. For more information about the 2024 HSF Lecture Series, please visit myhsf.org.