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Black history month day 4: Susie King Taylor
Susie Baker King Taylor was an Army nurse in the Civil War, and the first African American to teach openly in a school for former slaves in Georgia. As the author of Reminiscences of My Life in Camp with the 33d United States Colored Troops, Late 1st S.C. Volunteers, she was the only African American woman to publish a memoir of her wartime experiences.
While Georgia had harsh laws against the education of slaves, Susie attended two secret schools taught by black women as a young girl and learned the rudiments of literacy. Later she was educated by two white youths who knowingly broke the law. In April 1862 She and many other African Americans fled to St. Simons Island, occupied at the time by Union forces. While there, her education became known and she was asked to teach at a freedman’s school, teaching freed slave children how to read. At night, many adults would also come to her, eager to learn. She eventually married a black Union soldier and served in the army as a nurse, as well as educating the soldiers.
For more information, visit this website: http://m.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/susie-king-taylor-1848-1912
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