Kirjahaku

Having survived the turmoil of Reconstruction, several hundred African American tenant farmers were settled on Skidaway Island, Georgia, and led a fairly quiet existence. In 1877 Benedictine monks intruded into this relatively safe, if desperately poor, haven and built a Catholic mission and boys’ boarding school. For the next two decades, the Benedictines and locals negotiated for influence over the islanders’ religious convictions and education. Faith in Education at the Skidaway Island Benedictine Mission brings together the recovered archaeological data and extensive Benedictine archives to reconstruct the intersecting lives of monks, students, lay brothers, and African American neighbors on Skidaway Island. Unlike a purely historical treatment, this book amplifies the documentary evidence with archaeological findings, including glass from arched church windows, writing slate and slate pencil fragments, a kerosene lamp, and harmonica fragments. The narrative balances the chronological story of the Skidaway Island mission with the larger history of African American education in Savannah and Chatham County from 1865 to the mission’s closure circa 1900. Ultimately, Laura Seifert’s analysis shows how the roots of our educational system resulted in inequities today, particularly because racism is a prominent thread that connects past and present problems.

Having survived the turmoil of Reconstruction, several hundred African American tenant farmers were settled on Skidaway Island, Georgia, and led a fairly quiet existence. In 1877 Benedictine monks intruded into this relatively safe, if desperately poor, haven and built a Catholic mission and boys’ boarding school. For the next two decades, the Benedictines and locals negotiated for influence over the islanders’ religious convictions and education. Faith in Education at the Skidaway Island Benedictine Mission brings together the recovered archaeological data and extensive Benedictine archives to reconstruct the intersecting lives of monks, students, lay brothers, and African American neighbors on Skidaway Island. Unlike a purely historical treatment, this book amplifies the documentary evidence with archaeological findings, including glass from arched church windows, writing slate and slate pencil fragments, a kerosene lamp, and harmonica fragments. The narrative balances the chronological story of the Skidaway Island mission with the larger history of African American education in Savannah and Chatham County from 1865 to the mission’s closure circa 1900. Ultimately, Laura Seifert’s analysis shows how the roots of our educational system resulted in inequities today, particularly because racism is a prominent thread that connects past and present problems.

Fort James Jackson has been the silent sentinel protecting Savannah, Georgia, for over 200 years. Never taken by force, its soldiers also never fired a shot in anger, only in celebration. On Halloween in 1863, Confederate president Jefferson Davis received a 21-gun salute while touring the Savannah River defenses on the steamer Beauregard. However, the soldiers at the fort faced many challenges, including disease, cold, heat, mosquitoes, poor nutrition, and stress. Active during wartimes, the fort was often quietly abandoned between wars. Union soldiers last fired the fort's guns on April 11, 1865, when Savannah got news of the fall of Richmond and the war's end. After the Civil War, the fort's longest wait began, despite 1870s renovation attempts. The mid-1960s saw renewal through historic preservation and archaeology as the fort became a museum. The fort was even a filming location for the movie Glory, which was appropriate as the 55th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, an African American unit, was briefly stationed here.