Slavery and Freedom in Savannah

Preface

xi Preface With the preservation of the Owens-Thomas House slave quarters in the mid-1990s, Telfair Museums began introducing visitors to a broader spectrum of its former inhabitants than before—white and black; men, women and children; enslaved and free. This new effort in interpretation began a process of telling a more complete story, “the whole story,” as Alice Walker would say, about the house and all of its inhabitants. Slavery and Freedom in Savannah focuses on the lives and labor of the enslaved people who built, maintained, and serviced the house, and contextualizes the Owens-Thomas House within the social environment of its neighborhood, where more than 50 percent of the residents were people of color—enslaved and free. Special emphasis is given to the Telfair family and their enslaved servants in an effort to bridge and contextualize their story as part of Telfair Museums’ history. For over a half century, Telfair Museums’ architecturally significant Owens-Thomas House has been interpreted as the home and stylish showplace of two former owners: Richard Richardson, the merchant and banker who first commissioned the residence, and later George Welshman Owens, plantation owner, alderman, mayor, Georgia state senator and representative, and U.S. congressman. Attention was also paid to the most famous guest at the house, the Revolutionary War hero the Marquis de Lafayette, who stayed there in 1825 when the house was between owners and run as an upscale boardinghouse . The Telfair Academy of Arts and Sciences (now Telfair Museums), following the bequest of Margaret Gray Thomas, opened the Owens-Thomas House to the public for tours in 1954. Tours focused primarily on the architecture and decorative arts, with limited information about the families who owned and lived in the house and nothing about the enslaved household workers. In 2005 and 2006, the museum received two National Endowment for the Humanities consultation and planning grants, which allowed the institution to move forward with its reinterpretation efforts. In 2010, the museum received a Museums for America grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, which supported the “Slavery and Freedom in Savannah” symposium presented in October 2011 and the publication of this book, which includes material presented at the symposium. I believe that the truth about any subject only comes when all the sides of the story are put together, and all their different meanings make one new one . . . the whole story is what I’m after. —Alice Walker, “Beyond the Peacock” xii p r e f a c e The Johanna Favrot Fund for Historic Preservation of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the City of Savannah, the Second African Baptist Church, Live Oak Public Libraries, and the Friends of the Owens-Thomas House also supported the symposium. Slavery and Freedom in Savannah will broaden public understanding of American history and culture by exposing audiences to the complexities of urban slavery and freedom . Providing the foundation for the entirety of the reinterpretation project, the new research generated by nationally and internationally prominent scholars provides a crucial informational base for future interpretation and exhibits at the Owens-Thomas House. The complete picture of this largely unstudied form of slavery in Savannah—a microcosm of urban slavery throughout the nation—unfolds through the Telfairs’ own historic assets and stories. tania sammons, Senior Curator Decorative Arts and Historic Sites ...