Read Further
- W. W. Law and His People by
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ISBN: 9780970821539Publication Date: 2013 
The Way It Was in the South by
"The Way It Was in the South" is the only book-length treatment of the African American presence in a single state. From the legalization of slavery in the Georgia Colony in 1751 through debates that preceded the Confederate emblem's removal from the state's now defunct flag, it chronicles the stunning record of black Georgians' innovation, persistence, and triumph in the face of adversity and oppression.
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ISBN: 9781559721530Publication Date: 1993- "Nowhere But Heaven: Savannah, Georgia in the Era of the First Great Migration" byPh.D. Dissertation, University of California, Berkeley, 2003.
From Jim Crow to Civil Rights by
From Jim Crow To Civil Rights spells out the political and social context within which the Supreme Court Justices operate and the consequences of their decisions for American race relations. In a highly provocative interpretation of the decision's connection to the civil rights movement, Klarman argues that Brown was more important for mobilizing southern white opposition to racial change than for encouraging direct-action protest. Brown unquestioningly had a significant impact--it brought race issues to public attention and it mobilized supporters of the ruling. It also, however, energized the opposition.
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ISBN: 9780195351675Publication Date: 2004- From "N Word" to Mr. Mayor by
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ISBN: 9781681840857Publication Date: 2016 
Beyond Atlanta by
This sweeping history of the civil rights movement tells of many Georgias. On one extreme is Atlanta, a metropolitan center of relative black prosperity and training ground of many movement leaders. On another is Albany, the site of Martin Luther King Jr.'s greatest civil rights setback. Somewhere in between is yet another Georgia, a Georgia whose communities once constituted hundreds of Jim Crow fiefdoms. In places like "Bad" Baker County near the southern border, or in the relatively moderate town of Rome, black-white relations were as crude or as nuanced as the outlook of the local sheriff.
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ISBN: 9780820325286Publication Date: 2003
Landscapes of Exclusion by ISBN: 1613763603Publication Date: 2015
Race, Riots, and Roller Coasters by
Throughout the twentieth century, African Americans challenged segregation at amusement parks, swimming pools, and skating rinks not only in pursuit of pleasure but as part of a wider struggle for racial equality. Well before the Montgomery bus boycott, mothers led their children into segregated amusement parks, teenagers congregated at forbidden swimming pools, and church groups picnicked at white-only parks. But too often white mobs attacked those who dared to transgress racial norms. In Race, Riots, and Roller Coasters, Victoria W. Wolcott tells the story of this battle for access to leisure space in cities all over the United States. Contradicting the nostalgic image of urban leisure venues as democratic spaces, Wolcott reveals that racial segregation was crucial to their appeal. Parks, pools, and playgrounds offered city dwellers room to exercise, relax, and escape urban cares. These gathering spots also gave young people the opportunity to mingle, flirt, and dance. As cities grew more diverse, these social forms of fun prompted white insistence on racially exclusive recreation. Wolcott shows how black activists and ordinary people fought such infringements on their right to access public leisure. In the face of violence and intimidation, they swam at white-only beaches, boycotted discriminatory roller rinks, and picketed Jim Crow amusement parks. When African Americans demanded inclusive public recreational facilities, white consumers abandoned those places. Many parks closed or privatized within a decade of desegregation. Wolcott's book tracks the decline of the urban amusement park and the simultaneous rise of the suburban theme park, reframing these shifts within the civil rights context. Filled with detailed accounts and powerful insights, Race, Riots, and Roller Coasters brings to light overlooked aspects of conflicts over public accommodations. This eloquent history demonstrates the significance of leisure in American race relations.
ISBN: 9780812244342Publication Date: 2012
Right to Ride by
Through a reexamination of the earliest struggles against Jim Crow, Blair Kelley exposes the fullness of African American efforts to resist the passage of segregation laws dividing trains and streetcars by race in the early Jim Crow era. Right to Ride chronicles the litigation and local organizing against segregated rails that led to the Plessy v. Ferguson decision in 1896 and the streetcar boycott movement waged in twenty-five southern cities from 1900 to 1907. Kelley tells the stories of the brave but little-known men and women who faced down the violence of lynching and urban race riots to contest segregation. Focusing on three key cities--New Orleans, Richmond, and Savannah--Kelley explores the community organizations that bound protestors together and the divisions of class, gender, and ambition that sometimes drove them apart. The book forces a reassessment of the timelines of the black freedom struggle, revealing that a period once dismissed as the age of accommodation should in fact be characterized as part of a history of protest and resistance.
ISBN: 9780807895818Publication Date: 2010
Sources for Further Research at the City of Savannah Municipal Archives
Some documents are accessible online through links below ("View documents online.") For other documents, a link to the finding aid is provided.
City of Savannah, Ga. “Buildings and Grounds Maintenance Department - Plans and Designs.” City of Savannah Municipal Archives.
City of Savannah, Ga. “City Code.” City of Savannah Municipal Archives.
City of Savannah, Ga. “City Council Minutes.” City of Savannah Municipal Archives.
City of Savannah, Ga. “Engineering Department Retrospective Plans and Designs Collection.” City of Savannah Municipal Archives. (Record Series ) Finding aid: https://www.savannahga.gov/DocumentCenter/View/508/3121-010-Engineering-Department-Retrospective-Plans-and-Designs?bidId=
City of Savannah, Ga. “Mayor’s Annual Reports/Municipal Annual Reports, 1855-1953.” City of Savannah Municipal Archives (Record Series 5600MY-050/060). View documents online: https://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/savannahmayor/.
City of Savannah, Ga. “Mayor’s Speeches File Books.” City of Savannah Municipal Archives. (RS 5600MY-020) View documents online: https://dlg.usg.edu/collection/gsg_56000my?page=3
City of Savannah, Ga. “NAACP Savannah Branch Records, 1941-2000.” W.W. Law Collection. City of Savannah Municipal Archives (RS 1121-102). Finding aid: https://www.savannahga.gov/DocumentCenter/View/8898/1121-102_WWLaw-NAACP_FindingAid
City of Savannah, Ga. "Minutes of the Park and Tree Commission, 1896-1972. City of Savannah Municipal Archives (RS 5600PC-10). View documents online: https://dlg.usg.edu/collection/gsg_5600pc-10?canvas=0&x=2361&y=3437&w=15.
City of Savannah, Ga. Park and Tree Commission, all documents (RS-5600PC). Finding aid: https://www.savannahga.gov/DocumentCenter/View/576/Park-and-Tree-Commission-Department?bidId=
City of Savannah, Ga. “W.W. Law Photograph Collection.” City of Savannah Municipal Archives.
City of Savannah, Ga. “Petitions, City Council Committee of the Whole.” City of Savannah Municipal Archives.