E s c a p e to F r e e d o m
The Life and Legacy of Georgia Geechee Susie King Taylor
A website created by the Susie King Taylor Women's Institute & Ecology Center for research and exhibition purposes.
The Susie King Taylor Women's Institute and Ecology Center, located and grounded in Midway, coastal Georgia, is devoted to honoring the memory of American Heroine of Freedom, Susannah "Susie" Baker King Taylor, also known as Susie King Taylor.
“There are many people who do not know what colored women did during the war.”
~ Susie King Taylor in Reminiscences of My Life in Camp with the 33rd United States Colored Troops, 1902
Institute Named Georgia Historical Society
2022 Affiliate of the Year
"I am in awe of how resigning from my job as associate director of the Center for the Study of the Civil War Era at Kennesaw State University thirteen years ago and answering a spiritual calling from G-d and Ancestors, and then living the dream with integrity, the highest professional standards of public history, interpretation, and dignity manifests in the world for all to enjoy. I did not do it alone. So many of you prayed and believed in this endeavor with me." Hermina Glass-Hill, Executive Director
Susie King
Taylor: Geechee
Heroine
of Freedom
For her heroism, bravery, courage, and trailblazing leadership during and after the American Civil War, Susie King Taylor is celebrated nationally in the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. and on the Women's History Trail in Boston, Massachusetts.
Now, Susie is celebrated locally in her birthplace in an exhibit in her home state and in her home county-Liberty County, Georgia!
This permanent exhibit is titled: "SUSIE KING TAYLOR: Our Town. Our Geechee Heroine of Freedom. Our American Patriot of Liberty." Join us in celebrating our namesake, our Geechee Heroine of Freedom, Our American Patriot of Liberty!
Exhibit located at the Liberty County Historical Society office at 101 N. Commerce St in downtown Hinesville.
Free admission! Masks are mandatory.
Open by appointment only. Contact us for an appointment.
visit the institute's permanent exhibit in hinesville
The Institute is raising funds to preserve the memory of Susie King Taylor- Civil War nurse, teacher, and early social justice advocate who escaped slavery at the age of thirteen in Liberty County, Georgia. There is a Underground Railroad park for Susie's friend, Harriet Tubman, in Church Creek, Dorchester County, Maryland. Likewise, our goal is to build the Susie King Taylor Escape to Freedom Underground Railroad Park in her birthplace in Liberty County, Georgia. Any donation you make will help us advance this worthy cause to build a memorial for Susie. Please click the link to donate: https://www.gofundme.com/f/susie-king-taylor-underground-railroad-park
Donate to the Susie King Taylor Escape to Freedom Underground Railroad Park
While enslaved on the Isle of Wight (now Midway) in Liberty County, Georgia, she escaped the bondage of slavery on April 13, 1862 during the War Between the States - The American Civil War.
The exceptionalism exemplified in her life can be explained by the Divine belief systems cultivated and practiced within her Geechee family and community, her grandmother's broad social connections across plantations and within towns like Savannah in coastal Georgia, and through her intellect, will, and ability to observe the natural and social world around her.
The quote from her memoir,"There are many people who do not know what colored women did during the war," Reminiscences of My Life in Camp with the 33rd United States Colored Troops, resonates deeply throughout our mission and goals at the Institute and it guides the programming facilitated by the Institute.
We hear and we respond to our American Heroine of Freedom - our Ancestor - calling us through the spirit and desperation of her words. In them, she beckons us to unfurl each page of Reminiscences, to cultivate her garden of experiences with care, and to water the seeds which she planted more than one hundred and fifty years ago.
American Battlefield Trust, the premiere American battlefield preservation foundation, recognized Susie King Taylor Women's Institute and Ecology Center executive director Hermina Glass-Hill as someone #YouShouldKnow in May 2021.
The Susie King Taylor Women's Institute and Ecology Center is honored to be a recipient of a 2022 grant from the 1772 Foundation. We will use the grant funds to facilitate programs on climate change, environmental justice, and the resilience of Geechee communities in Georgia.
