In honor of Juneteenth and freedom, the award-winning Susie King Taylor Museum in Hinesville will be open to the public on June 19 from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. This event is free and open to the public.
“Juneteenth” is a federal holiday that commemorates the day when 250,000 African-descended slaves in Galveston, Texas were declared free by U.S. Major Gen. Gordon Granger on June 19, 1865. The word “Juneteenth is a blending of “June” and “Nineteenth.” While many African American communities across the country had already been observing the day as “Jubilee Day,” “Independence Day,” or “Freedom Day” for more than a century, it was officially made a law on June 19, 2021 when President Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act.
“Juneteenth is a joyous occasion to celebrate freedom at the award-winning Susie King Taylor Museum,” said Hermina Glass-Hill, the museum executive director. “The Susie King Taylor Museum is named for one of Georgia’s native daughters. Young Susie was a Gullah Geechee girl enslaved in Midway (Isle of Wight) and Savannah until 1862 when she successfully escaped the horrors of slavery from the Grest Plantation in Liberty County during the Civil War.”
Taylor was self-emancipated on February 13, 1862, which is nearly a year before the Emancipation Proclamation issued by executive order of President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863 and three years before General Order No. 3 issued by Maj. Gen. Granger. “This shows the agency of enslaved people and that there was always individual resistance to the institutions of slavery. And Civil War military records show that there were many African American soldiers in the United States Colored Troops who escaped with their families,” said Glass-Hill.
In addition to a copy of General Order No. 3, the Susie King Taylor Museum will display a copy of the Emancipation Proclamation as well as slave and Civil War-era artifacts that interpret the life of Susie King Taylor and millions of others enslaved in the antebellum South including shackles, slave tags, a rice pounder or mortar and pestle, and historic photographs.
In the antebellum period, Black people were chatel property and they were constantly being bought, sold, traded, and some were even used as collateral for loans by planters and well-to-do businessmen, continued Glass-Hill.
“Families were ripped apart and never ever seen again. Now, imagine someone selling your wife, husband, or child to pay off a gambling debt as was the case with the Weeping Time, the second largest slave sale in America. It is a horrifying thought,” she said.
“I think that Savannah’s newest square, Taylor Square, is symbolic of freedom which is universal. As Americans, history helps us all to understand why Juneteenth and freedom is still meaningful today. In Texas and many other places there were slave owners who refused to relinquish enslaved people even after Juneteenth, and this is why the 13th Amendment (December 6, 1865) was necessary — to completely abolish slavery in the United States and to unify our country under one flag — the American flag.
“This is why freedom — whether taken by one’s feet like Susie King Taylor, manumission, or law — it is important. It is an ‘inalienable’ right, a God-given right. Juneteenth is a celebration that reminds us of the importance freedom for all people.”
In 2018, Susie King Taylor’s historical importance was recognized by Georgia Women of Achievement. See Susie King Taylor GWA video here https://vimeo. com/257579497.
The award-winning Susie King Taylor Museum is located at 100 S. Commerce Street in downtown Hinesville. For more information visit www. susiekingtaylorinstitute. org.