Calhoun Square needs a new name. How about that of an iconic Black journalist?
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This commentary is by Aberjhani, an author, artist, veteran of the U.S. Air Force, and native of Savannah.
People in Savannah can feel particularly good about Savannah City Council’s unanimous vote to remove former U.S. vice president and slaveholder John C. Calhoun’s (1782-1850) name from a downtown square. The council’s proactive move has less to do with any attempts to “correct history” than to balance representation, and promote sanity, in the present.
The unanimous vote contrasts sharply with the Georgia state legislature’s steadfast refusal to delete former governor and white supremacist Eugene Talmadge’s (1884-1946) name from the beautiful bridge spanning the Savannah River.
When I first met the late civil and human rights leader Westley Wallace (W.W.) Law (1923-2002) many years ago, he was campaigning to have East Broad Street School renamed Robert S. Abbott Elementary School. Knowing very little at the time about the history-shaping Great Migration or the Harlem Renaissance in
the previous century, some years went by before I understood why Law felt so strongly about the issue.
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More recently, I enjoyed with a group of writers a conversation concerning how little many Savannahians, based on what we had experienced and observed, seemed to know about how much the city, or its native sons and daughters, have impacted not just Georgia’s history, but America’s and the world’s. The election of Rev. Raphael G. Warnock to the U.S. Senate in 2020 and his runoff battle against Herschel Walker in 2022 are exciting exceptions where awareness is concerned.
It was something I discussed via emails with the late Jane Fishman. We felt it important enough to begin compiling names of African Americans who fit the category.
One such noteworthy name, I propose, is that of Robert Sengstacke Abbott (1870-1940).
Who was Robert Abbott?
A historical marker dedicated to Abbott, courtesy of the city and the Georgia Historical Society, can be found at West Bay and Albion streets.
The marker acknowledges how Abbott’s stepfather, John H. H. Sengstacke, taught him the printing trade and how Abbott later further developed his skills to establish in 1905: “…the Chicago Defender, a newspaper that revolutionized African-American journalism. He fought to abolish Jim Crow laws and establish a non-discriminatory society. The Defender played a major role in initiating the Great Migration (1915-1919)….”
Only so much information, however, can be placed on a marker. The word count is too small to explain the extraordinary impact Abbott’s newspaper had on the phenomenal success of what we call the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. Nor is it sufficient to detail the publisher’s beginnings on St. Simons Island, or the traditions of philanthropy established by him and which have benefitted Blacks and whites alike.
How all of this links Savannah to the Great Northern Migration and the Harlem Renaissance, now celebrated worldwide, is particularly significant in light of the potential it holds for Georgia’s booming film industry.
Abbott’s former home in Chicago is now a national landmark. In 2017, artist Kevin Pullen unveiled a sculpture called “Abbott and His Boys” as a tribute to the great publisher and in celebration of Gullah Geechee Heritage Day on St. Simons Island.
Several volumes documenting the importance of his legacy have been published in recent years; literary rumor has it a prominent local historian is hard at work on another.
Almost two decades ago, I was fortunate enough to participate in a project which led to an appearance on an early morning news show where I discussed Abbott’s historical importance with WSAV’s Kim Gusby, and, corporate trainer and poet Iris Formey-Dawson.
Right now seems an excellent time for citizens of Savannah to renew that conversation. It’s one I have no doubt W.W. Law would have encouraged.
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Savannah Calhoun Square renaming candidates to include Robert Abbott
