Susie King Taylor was born enslaved in 1848 in Liberty County, Georgia. Taylor was a woman who wore many hats; in addition to being a nurse and veteran, she was the first African American woman to openly teach Black children in the state of Georgia in the Civil War era.
She is also credited with being the first Black woman to write a memoir about her service during the Civil War.
On Wednesday’s edition of “Closer Look,” Patt “Sistah Patt” Gilliard Gunn, a master storyteller and founder of the Savannah-based Susie King Taylor Center for Jubilee, talked with host Rose Scott about the mission of the center, Taylor’s legacy and the work being done to preserve it, including the renaming of a historic city square in downtown Savannah.
