Savannah Rising Voices History Walking Tour

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.

Meeting Point

901 W Saint Julian Street

901 W Saint Julian Street, Savannah, GA 31401, USA

We meet in Franklin Square (Montgomery St and W St Julien St intersection) in front of the Haitian Monument, 10 min before start time.
Your guide will wear a bright orange polo shirt with our logo.
If you are running late, give us a call. We will wait for late arrivals for 5 min before beginning.

What's included:

• Fully narrated interactive tour

What to expect:

Duration: 2 hours

Franklin Square

Savannah, Georgia

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.

15 minutes

City Market

219 W Bryan S, , Savannah, 31401, Georgia

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.

10 minutes

Telfair Academy

121 Barnard St, , Savannah, 31401-3612, Georgia

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.

10 minutes

Wright Square

Bull Street, Between West State and West York Streets, Savannah, Georgia

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.

15 minutes

Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace Museum

10 E Oglethorpe Ave, (corner of Bull St. and Oglethorpe Ave.), Savannah, 31401-3707, Georgia

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.

5 minutes

Chippewa Square

intersection of Bull and McDonough Streets, Savannah, 31401-3923, Georgia

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.

15 minutes

Madison Square

Bull Street, Between West Harris and West Charlton Streets, Savannah, Georgia

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.

15 minutes

Monterey Square

Bull Street, Between Taylor and Gordon Streets, Savannah, 31401-4913, Georgia

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.

15 minutes