Hidden Histories

Georgia Historical Society Hidden Histories

The Beach Institute

This Hidden History was created by SCAD student Maria Couchell as part of a SCAD SERVE course collaboration with the Beach Institute with guidance from Dr. Holly Goldstein, Ph.D., in 2025.

The Beach Institute Historical Marker was dedicated in 2008.

Introduction

The Beach Institute is vital to the city of Savannah for both its historical significance and contemporary influence. Founded in 1867 by free African Americans, and named after its benefactor Alfred Ely Beach, the Beach Institute was created as the first school for Blacks in Savannah after emancipation. The building functioned as a school for over fifty years, until it closed in 1919. In 1988, the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) acquired the Beach Institute’s then-empty building, and thanks to SCAD President Paula Wallace’s friendship with renowned Civil Rights activist Dr. Westley Wallace Law, the college restored the Beach Institute building and donated it to the King-Tisdell Cottage Foundation. The Foundation reopened the Beach Institute in 1990, and the building has since functioned as a museum dedicated to African American culture and art. This hidden history explores the building’s function, use, and preservation.

The Neighborhood

In 1759, the education of the enslaved was made illegal in the state of Georgia, and thus following emancipation, the African American community of Savannah was in need of a school. The founders of the Beach Institute knew that the school’s location would be a major factor that determined its success. Following the Civil War, a community had begun to form on the outskirts of Savannah. In 1843, The Central Railroad station was built, which provided a reliable source of employment for emancipated slaves and resulted in the establishment of a burgeoning neighborhood within a quarter of a mile of the station on the east side of Savannah’s downtown. An additional appeal of this location was its proximity to the bustling Historic District of Savannah, where most homes employed domestic workers on a regular basis. The Beach Institute was built within this eastside working-class neighborhood, and its initial student body consisted primarily of the children of emancipated slaves whose families needed guaranteed access to job opportunities in order to pay their tuition.

Founding and Years as a School

Figure 1: “Freedman’s School” photographed by Daniel J. Ryan in 1870 / Savannah Stereoview Collection / SCAD Libraries Digital Collections.

The Beach Institute was established by the Colored Education Committee in 1865 during the early days of Reconstruction. Its primary benefactor was philanthropist and inventor, Alfred Ely Beach of New York, the editor of Scientific American Magazine. Beach’s donation to the Institute amounted to a sum of over $10,000, and resulted in the school being named in his honor.

In 1867, the Beach Institute welcomed its first class of 177 students, then referred to as ‘scholars.’ Each scholar paid a weekly admission fee of 25 cents, amounting to $1.00 a month. At that time, it would take about three days of work either at the railroad or in the rice fields to earn $1.00.

The building itself had no modern conveniences such as electricity or running water. What is now the Beach Institute’s garden was once the teacher’s house. There, educators would live with their families at a convenient distance from the school building, where they also had access to a private garden. The teachers were primarily women who had been trained in education in northern cities such as New York, Boston, and Chicago. The Beach Institute curriculum included Science, Mathematics, Literature, Latin, Greek, and Comportment, also known as etiquette.

Figure 2: Harper's Weekly, Oct. 3, 1868, Beach Institute, Articles of Savannah Archive.

By the early 1900s, the Beach Institute had remained a school for African American children with an average of four hundred students and nine teachers, and an annual expense of $4,600. Since 1867, the Beach Institute functioned as a place of education solely for African Americans, but unfortunately it was forced to close in 1919. Newly-established free schools in Savannah made it hard for the tuition-charging Beach Institute to attract students.

Figure 3: William Newton Hartshorn, An era of progress and promise, 1863-1910 : the religious, moral, and educational development of the American Negro since his emancipation (Boston: Priscilla Publ., 1910), 151 (photo).

Preservation

In the mid 1980s, the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) was in a constant state of growth, purchasing historic buildings under threat of demolition and reconstituting them as college facilities. The Beach Institute, which had remained empty since 1919, was one such building.

In 1988, SCAD purchased the building. However, the university’s initial intention of repurposing it into classrooms and studios was soon redirected into community cultivation and preservation, when its historic significance was highlighted by Dr. Westley Wallace Law. A renowned Civil Rights activist and founding member of the King-Tisdell Cottage Foundation, Dr. W. W. Law had a vision for the Beach Institute. Being acquainted with SCAD President Paula Wallace, Dr. Law supported her goal to restore the Beach Institute and gift it to the Kind-Tisdell Cottage Foundation.

Figure 4: November 15 1989, Savannah Tribune, Pg. 1, SCAD presented keys to W. W. Law, Articles of Savannah Archive.

Cultural Institution and Current Use

Figure 5: The Beach Institute, 2025, The King-Tisdell Foundation website, Home Page (photo).

In 1990, the King-Tisdell Foundation reopened the Beach Institute, which has since functioned as a center for African American art and culture. The museum hosts several exhibits, including a gallery that circulates the work of African American artists while also functioning as a formal event hall. Permanent exhibits include the Ulysses Davis Treasures collection. Ulysses Davis, otherwise known as the ‘Barber’ due to his life-long profession, was a self-taught artist who became one of America’s most skilled African American woodcarvers. Davis donated his ‘Treasures’ to the Beach Institute, saying, “If I had sold them, I would have been poor.”

Additionally, the upstairs rooms of the Beach Institute are dedicated as classroom exhibits. Much like the scholars who once filled those rooms, visitors are able to learn more about Savannah’s history during and after the American Civil War, as well as the days of Reconstruction.

Artist Statement

The following project was completed as a SCAD SERVE course (a collaborative class where SCAD students from an array of majors participate in a community service project as part of a credited course). This particular SCAD SERVE project focused on the Beach Institute with the intention of enhancing the museum’s storytelling both online and onsite.

My classmates and I had the honor of collaborating with the Beach Institute’s staff and Board members, and our priority swiftly became to highlight preservation and public education. This resulted in the design and implementation of outdoor and indoor signage. These signs enhance visitor wayfinding and assist in telling the hidden history of the Beach Institute from its founding to its preservation. The signs were created with a visual emphasis on historical continuity, having drawn inspiration from archival signs as well as the Georgia Historical Society’s historical marker dedicated to the Beach Institute. The sign designs were additionally created with a consideration for preserving the exterior and interior of the building, for which our team determined techniques to mount the signs without damaging the walls. Therefore our sign designs are historically accurate in appearance, and historically appropriate in materials and mounting hardware.

Our decision to implement these signs was made according to our user-based research. We realized that visitors often had difficulty finding their way to the building’s entrance through the gift shop, via the garden. Additionally, we determined that the incredible history of the Beach Institute was not easily accessible to the public, either online or onsite. The Beach Institute marks a historic chapter in the state of Georgia, as it represents a demographic of people who were vital to the founding and development of Savannah. Not only that, but the Beach Institute also represents a moment of redefinition for African Americans as a free people. It is a result of the unimaginable grit of its founders who provided a school to their community, and who had previously been deprived of legal education for hundreds of years. Our SCAD SERVE class was inspired by this story, and it became our main goal to tell it creatively and effectively through these signs. The SCAD students involved in the design of these signs include Mars Arico, Kylie Bromwell, Haven Burke, Pullen Tafadzwa Chenjerayi, Alexandra Clough, Elieth Cortez, Donovan Daniel, Alex Guerra, Derick Ma, Eliza Nelson, Paiten Prescott, Lucas Qin, Olivia Russin, Emma Sellner, Ariana Wilkes, Jared Yost, and Yuting Zhou, as well as Alumni Advisor Jennifer Graham.

Figures 6-11: SCADSERVE Signs

List of Illustrations

Figure 1: “Freedman’s School” photographed by Daniel J. Ryan in 1870 / Savannah Stereoview Collection / SCAD Libraries Digital Collections.

Figure 2: Harper's Weekly, Oct. 3, 1868, Beach Institute, Articles of Savannah Archive.

Figure 4: November 15 1989, Savannah Tribune, Pg. 1, SCAD presented keys to W. W. Law, Articles of Savannah Archive.

Figure 5: The Beach Institute, 2025, The King-Tisdell Foundation website, Home Page (photo).

Figures 6-11: SCADSERVE Signs.