Advocates citing slavery want new names for Savannah squares

SAVANNAH, Ga. — Two promoters of African American history want to rename two of Savannah’s historic squares, saying they’re currently named for people who promoted slavery.

Patt Gunn and Rosalyn Rouse tell the Savannah Morning News they will seek historic markers in Calhoun and Whitefield squares, noting slaves were buried in each.

They hope to rename Calhoun Square to Sankofa Square. The Sankofa bird is a Ghanaian symbol expressing the importance of knowing one’s history, the word itself translating to “go back and fetch it.”

They seek to change the name of Whitefield Square to Jubilee Square, after Jubilee Freedom Day. That’s the day that Union troops arrived in Savannah in 1864 to announce freedom under the Emancipation Proclamation. Gunn and Rouse recently led the seventh annual commemoration of Jubilee Freedom Day.

“Let the record show that we are looking for some good trouble, and we’re looking for some community change agents as we begin to request the city of Savannah for this name change. We know this is a beloved city, but we want no more redacted history,” Gunn said.

“According to the city of Savannah Archives Department, they have confirmed what all of us already know as Gullah Geechee people: that this here be a sacred ground. This here be where our ancestors lay,” Gunn said.

Gunn said urban slaves who died in Savannah were either buried in the backyard of the homes of their owners, or in the burial grounds where these two squares now stand.

In 1851, the city elected to turn the burial grounds into squares.

She made note of George Whitefield’s historical marker in his namesake square.

“George Whitefield was a Methodist minister, and they’ve got a marker down there that tells all about him. But they don’t say he was also an owner of slaves at Bethesda Orphanage,” Gunn said.

John C. Calhoun, for whom Calhoun Square was named, wrote that slavery was not a “necessary evil,” but a “positive good.”

“I would not want a pro- slavery advocate’s square built on top of me if I were a slave. It’s our job in the 21st century to ask for a replacement,” Gunn said. “We’re taking that cause on.”

Gunn said the center will work with the city to “put the history back.” She hopes to begin working collaboratively on the renaming, noting that in Charleston, a statue of Calhoun was taken down back in June.