The Georgia Historical Society and the Waters Foundation have partnered together to dedicate a historical marker in honor of Susie King Taylor 11 a.m. March 26 at the Midway Presbyterian Church and Cemetery.

According to public historian and the Executive Director of the Susie King Taylor Institute Hermina Glass-Hill, the dedication in honor of Taylor will take place at the site of the former Medway Chapel and school, which is now the Midway Presbyterian Church and Cemetery, she said. The unveiling of the marker will be across the street at MFPC’s cemetery.

The keynote speaker for the event is former Georgia State Labor Commissioner and current Dekalb County CEO, Michael Thurmond.

“The dedication of the historical marker is significant for three reasons,” Glass-Hill said. “First, it is the first historical marker that recognizes the individual contributions of an African American person in Liberty County. Second, it acknowledges the great odds that Susie King Taylor overcame as an enslaved person to read and write as well as her enterprising spirit which led her to open three schools during Reconstruction between Savannah and Midway. Third, it demonstrates the indomitability of the human spirit when it is free to express life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness - an expression of the inalienable rights guaranteed in the United States Constitution, but did not include anyone in America’s race-based slave caste system. To have this marker dedicated in the first county named for “Liberty” for an African American-Geechee woman illustrates that Georgians are interested in a more comprehensive human story of what makes Georgia and America great.”