About Ralph Mark Gilbert Civil Rights Museum
Savannah's civil rights museum is named for Ralph Mark Gilbert. Born in Jacksonville in 1899, Gilbert became pastor of the historic First African Baptist Church on Franklin Square in 1939. He also served as the president of the Savannah NAACP Chapter for 8 years (1942-1950). He remained pastor at First African Baptist for the duration of his life until his death in 1956 at the age of fifty seven.
During his lifetime, he was a leader who made a difference and his legacy is still felt today. More than halfway through his tenure as president of the Savannah NAACP, Gilbert's outspoken leadership for equal rights finally led the Savannah Police Department to hire its first black officer in 1947. Beyond his influence in Savannah, Gilbert inspired black leaders in other communities in Georgia to organize. He's credited providing the leadership that led to the creation of local chapters of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in more than three dozen other small towns and cities across the state of Georgia.
The location of the Civil Rights Museum is particularly interesting. In 1914, the five story building was erected to house the Wage Earners Savings Bank. Its customer base was strictly the black community in Savannah and it became the largest black bank in the United States in the early 20th century.
An introductory video and interactive features that inspire reflection on the time from emancipation right through the struggles of the modern civil rights era will be the most interesting items in the museum, which opened in 1996. Information is available on the non-violent demonstrations such as boycotts and sit-ins that led to social change in Savannah. While Martin Luther King, Jr. visited Savannah during the civil rights movement, the focus of the Ralph Mark Gilbert Museum is on the local leaders who inspired black and white Savannahians to change.