King-Tisdell Cottage Foundation
Building History
New Beginnings
The Beach Institute was established in 1867 as the first school built specifically for newly emancipated African Americans in Savannah following the Civil War. It was born of the Reconstruction Era effort to provide education for formerly enslaved people. In 1865, a meeting at the First African Baptist Church in Savannah brought community leaders together to consider how freed people should educate their children. The result was the formation of the Savannah Education System (SEA), and there was support from the American Missionary Association (AMA) and the Freedman's Bureau. The new school was largely funded by Scientific American magazine founder Alfred Ely Beach.
As a School
The land was cleared and the structure was built by free and formerly enslaved African Americans. The original building design featured eight classrooms. It was a two-story frame building on a raised basement, with a prominent pedimented gable front facing East Harris Street.
Soon after the Institute opened, it enrolled around 600 students in the early years. It initially operated as a tuition-based school with fees of $1 per month. At the Beach Institute, students were called scholars. These scholars attended classes inlucing science, mathematics, literature, Latin, Greek, and comportment (etiquette). In 1875, the Beach Institute was turned over to the Chatham County Board of Education. The building functioned as a school for nearly 50 years.
Building Preservation
After years of operation as a school, the building was taken over by the Chatham County Board of Education. Then in 1988, the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) bought the building from the Board, when the structure was placed up for auction. Inspired by her friend Civil Rights leader W.W. Law, President Paula Wallace of SCAD donated the building to the King-Tisdell Cottage Foundation. SCAD also funded the labor costs and materials for the building's exterior renovations. Today the Beach Institute continues to use its gallery, lecture hall, and cultural center to research, preserve, and teach African American history.
Hidden Histories Online Exhibition
This research project illuminates the Beach Institute building history. From contstruction through founding and preservation, the building at 502 East Harris Street has been an anchor for its community. The historical marker outside the building connects the Beach Institute with the Georgia Historical Society (GHS). GHS's Online Hidden Histories Exhibition reveals lesser known narratives of historical marker sites.
Founder of the King-Tisdell Cottage Foundation Inc
W.W. Law
Founder
The King-Tisdell Cottage Foundation Inc (Foundation) was founded by Wesley Wallace Law, more commonly know as W. W. Law, and a renowned preservationist, visionary and community activist. The Foundation is the parent operating organization for the King-Tisdell Cottage and The Beach Institute.
W. W. Law was a crusader for justice and the civil rights of African Americans. He served as president of the Savannah Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) from 1950 to 1976 and came to be widely known as “Mr. Civil Rights.”
Law believed that nonviolent means were the best way to open the city for blacks.
After retiring from the NAACP, he turned his attention to the preservation
of African American history and historic buildings. He established the Westley Wallace Law Savannah-Yamacraw Branch of the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History (ASALH).
As president of ASALH, he established the Ralph Mark Gilbert Civil Rights Museum, Negro Heritage Trail Tour, King-Tisdell Cottage Museum, and the Beach Institute of African American Culture.
Law received honorary doctorates from Savannah College of Art and Design (1997) and Savannah State University (2000), the Distinguished Georgian Award (1998) from the Center for the Study of Georgia History at Augusta State University, the National Trust for Historic Preservation's National Preservation Award (2001), and the Governor's Award in the Humanities (1992). Law died on July 28, 2002, at his Savannah home.
