Girl Scouts Storm State Capitol To Get Savannah Bridge Renamed
Girl Scouts Veronica Ward, 11, right, and Audra Duncan, 12, look at a signed banner on display Tuesday at the Georgia Capitol during a rally to convince legislators to strip the name of segregationist former Gov. Eugene Talmadge from a Savannah bridge. They hope the bridge will be renamed in honor of Girl Scouts founder Juliette Gordon Low.
David Goldman / Associated Press
Hundreds of Girl Scouts flooded the Georgia Capitol on Tuesday with a mission to change the name of a bridge in Savannah.
The Savannah City Council recently asked state lawmakers to change the name of the Eugene Talmadge Bridge. The late Georgia governor was a segregationist.
The Girl Scouts suggested that the bridge recognize their group’s founder, Juliette Gordon Low, who was a Savannah native.
“The bridge is such a prominent site in Savannah that having the bridge named after Miss Juliette would just show how empowering she was to girls and how influential she was,” said 15-year-old Sydnie Roberds.
The Girl Scouts already have support for the idea. As they gave out cookies at the Capitol, state Rep. Ron Stephens of Savannah introduced a bill that would make the designation official.
Stephens claims the roadway was never legally given a name, although signs on the bridge bear the name of Talmadge.
Most of the Girl Scouts at the Capitol said they were unaware of the history of the bridge and the man that it’s named after. They only expressed support for honoring Juliette Gordon Low.
11-year-old Sarah Rambhatla of Alpharetta said she’s confident state lawmakers are going to listen to their request.
“What matters is what the people think,” Rambhatla said. “And a lot of people here think Juliette Gordon Low was a big inspiration.”
Since 1956, the span crossing the Savannah River at the Georgia-South Carolina line has been named for Talmadge, a populist Democrat who served three terms between 1933 and 1942.
Talmadge railed against the New Deal for offering blacks hope of economic parity with whites. He defended whites-only primary elections in Georgia. And he once proclaimed a black man’s place was “at the back door with his hat in his hand.”
A similar effort to remove Talmadge’s name occurred in 2013, but it failed after the former governor’s descendants lobbied hard at the state Capitol to oppose the proposed change.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Top Stories
