Throughout downtown Savannah there are many monuments, markers, and statues commemorating the Civil War and the people involved. Forsyth Park is home to the Confederate Monument, which stands prominently near the center of the park. There is a marker dedicated to the Union Army headquarters at what is now the Oglethorpe Club and another marking General Sherman’s headquarters at the Green-Meldrim House. The Beach Institute, opened in 1867 as the first school in Savannah designed for the education of African Americans, represents change in the city after the war. The Second African Baptist Church, where General Rufus Saxton read Sherman’s Field Order No. 15 to the citizens of Savannah and promised the newly freed slaves “40 acres and a mule” also illustrates the lives of African Americans in post-war Savannah. Near the river is a slavery memorial depicting an African-American family with broken shackles at their feet, whose inscription by Maya Angelou reads:

Watch the video below to hear more about the Confederate Memorial in Forsyth Park from Dr. Todd Groce: