The historic downtown of Savannah, Georgia, boasts nearly two dozen public squares.
People stroll through the space formerly known as Calhoun Square in Savannah, Ga., on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. Savannah's city council voted in November 2022 to remove from the square the name of former U.S. Vice President John C. Calhoun, an outspoken advocate for slavery in the decades before the Civil War. As the city council prepares to vote on a new name, a list of recommended finalists includes the names of four Black people, a Native American tribe and a group of women.
Instead, the nominees are four Black people — a pastor, a formerly enslaved woman, a civil rights hero and an Army pilot — as well as Native Americans who inhabited the area when Savannah was founded and a group of women who in the 1950s put Savannah on the path to preserving its past. For more than 170 years, the park-like space was named for John C. Calhoun, a South Carolina politician who served in Congress and as U.S. vice president in two administrations before his death in 1850.
Gunn leads a group of activists that wants the square to honor Taylor, who also assisted the Union Army as a nurse during the Civil War and went on to establish multiple schools for freed Black children. “I don’t know what the city council will do, but this family is honored that Clay was considered,” said Colette Carpenter, who didn't know her pilot son was being nominated until his Army buddies submitted an application.
“He was a major figure in American history, whether we like him or not," Tootle said of Calhoun."I don’t agree with some of the things he did, but it doesn’t take away his contribution to the country.”
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Savannah considers Black people and women for city square to replace name of slavery advocateNine months after leaders of Georgia's oldest city stripped the name of a pro-slavery U.S. vice president from one of its public squares, nominees being considered for the green space's new name include a Black woman who taught formerly enslaved people to read and write. Susie King Taylor, who started a school for Black children and adults on the Georgia coast in 1862 with support from occupying Union soldiers, is among the finalists recommended for an honor Savannah hasn't bestowed in 140 years: choosing a name to adorn one of the historic squares that are among the city's signature features. A pair of citizen advisory panels has submitted six names for Savannah's city council to consider for a scheduled Aug. 24 vote on a new name for the square.
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