Things to Do in Savannah, GA: 30+ Best Things to See & Do

Savannah’s African American History & Civil Rights

Savannah’s African American history reaches from the colonial period to the modern civil rights movement. Black communities shaped the city’s churches, businesses, neighborhoods, culture, and political life.

The story also includes slavery and the transatlantic slave trade. Savannah’s port connected the city to a wider system that brought enslaved Africans to the Georgia and South Carolina Lowcountry. Their descendants helped shape the region’s distinctive Gullah Geechee culture.

Visit First African Baptist Church

First African Baptist Church is one of Savannah’s most important African American historic sites. Its congregation traces its roots to the 1770s and George Liele, an enslaved man who became a Baptist preacher.

Andrew Bryan later continued the congregation’s work in Savannah. The present church building was completed in 1859, after years of construction involving both free and enslaved Black workers.

The church preserves original features that help tell this story. These include its baptismal pool, historic light fixtures, stained glass, and other surviving details.

First African Baptist Church also became important during the civil rights era. Reverend Ralph Mark Gilbert served as pastor from 1939 to 1956 and helped strengthen Savannah’s 【entity-NAACP¦canonical_name=NAACP】 movement.

History tours can provide more context than viewing the building from outside. Check the church’s current tour schedule before visiting.

Visit the Ralph Mark Gilbert Civil Rights Museum

The Ralph Mark Gilbert Civil Rights Museum focuses on Savannah’s modern civil rights history. It is named for Reverend Ralph Mark Gilbert, a major local civil rights leader.

Gilbert reorganized Savannah’s NAACP chapter and helped expand the organization across Georgia. He also led voter registration efforts and challenged segregation through organized activism.

The museum occupies a building with its own Black history. The structure originally served as an African American bank before later becoming an NAACP office.

Allow time to read the exhibits rather than treating the museum as a quick stop. It provides important context for Savannah’s civil rights movement and the people who organized it.

Explore Savannah’s African American Heritage

Several historic churches and cultural sites offer different views of Savannah’s Black history.

Second African Baptist Church dates to 1802 and became an important center of Savannah’s African American community. In 1865, Black religious leaders met there with General William T. Sherman after the Civil War.

The church also has a civil rights connection. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke there in 1963 before the March on Washington.

First Bryan Baptist Church adds another important chapter. Andrew Bryan, a formerly enslaved preacher, helped establish the congregation and later secured property for the church.

You can also visit the Beach Institute African American Cultural Center, King Tisdell Cottage, and Savannah African Art Museum. Visit Savannah includes these sites among its Black heritage experiences.

Learn About Slavery and Savannah’s Port History

Savannah’s historic wealth cannot be separated from slavery. The city’s port played a role in the transatlantic slave trade, while cotton and rice production depended heavily on enslaved labor in the surrounding Lowcountry.

The National Park Service documents the lives of enslaved and free African Americans in the Savannah area. Its research also covers Black religious communities, labor, resistance, and emancipation.

The Weeping Time historical marker offers another way to confront this history. In 1859, Savannah hosted one of the largest slave auctions in United States history.

These sites add context to Savannah’s historic architecture. They show that the city’s preserved buildings and public spaces also carry difficult stories about forced labor, wealth, freedom, and resistance.

Understand Savannah’s Gullah Geechee Connections

Savannah sits within the broader Gullah Geechee cultural region of the coastal Southeast. The Gullah Geechee people descend from Africans who were enslaved on plantations along the Atlantic coast and Sea Islands.

The culture preserved African influences through language, food, crafts, music, and traditions. In coastal Georgia, the term Geechee is commonly associated with these communities.

Savannah’s connection to this history reflects the city’s place within the larger Lowcountry. It is better understood as part of a living cultural tradition than as a tourist label.

For a deeper experience, look for heritage tours and cultural programs that focus on Savannah’s Black history and Gullah Geechee connections. Visit Savannah lists Black heritage experiences and local tour providers.

Take a Black History or Civil Rights Tour

A guided Black history tour can connect individual sites into a larger story. Look for tours covering slavery, Reconstruction, Black churches, Jim Crow, the civil rights movement, and Savannah’s African American neighborhoods.

Visit Savannah lists experiences such as Day Clean Journeys, Footprints of Savannah, and Freedom Trail Tour among its Black history options.

A guided tour can be especially useful if you want historical context while walking through the Historic District. It also helps connect landmarks that you might otherwise see as separate attractions.

For a self guided visit, combine First African Baptist Church, the Ralph Mark Gilbert Civil Rights Museum, nearby historic churches, and African American monuments. Check opening hours and tour schedules before setting your route.