Encyclopedia article about the Ralph Mark Gilbert Civil Rights Museum in Savannah, Georgia, which chronicles the civil rights struggle of Georgia's oldest African American community. The museum is named for the father of the civil rights movement in Savannah, Ralph Mark Gilbert, who served as pastor of the historic First African Baptist Church from 1939 to 1956. Gilbert worked with many organizations to help African Americans including the Savannah Branch and the Georgia Conference of the NAACP. Due to Gilbert's efforts with a black voter registration drive in 1947 Savannah became one of the first cities in the South to hire black policemen. W. W. Law, who became president of the Savannah NAACP in 1950, almost single-handedly led a movement to secure funds for the museum, which is housed in an historic building in the African American community.

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Cite as: "Ralph Mark Gilbert Civil Rights Museum," New Georgia Encyclopedia. Retrieved [date]: http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org.

Forms part of the New Georgia Encyclopedia.