Susie Baker King Taylor was a slave, teacher, nurse and author from Georgia during the Civil War. She is a testament to black strength in the face of overwhelming odds. As a young child she was taught how to read and write in an underground secret school even though it was illegal. In 1862 she fled to Union-occupied St. Solomon Island. When the Union Army discovered she could read, she was charged with the responsibility of educating other escape slaves, making her the first black teacher to work in an operating Freedmen School. After teaching freedmen for a year she was sent by Union forces to assist the 33rd U.S. Colored Troops during their Civil War campaign. For four years she served with the 33rd as a cook, assistant and nurse. Taylor served four years in the Civil War and never received a penny for her services. After the war she continued her work, briefly opening up a school that taught children and adults. This week Savannah decided to rename a downtown square after her.
